Southern Paranormal - Investigations
The Dove Inn, Hammersmith Investigation
Saturday 25th April 2009
Attending Investigators – Julie Harwood, Jackie Gilmartin, Gary Catlin, Maria Street, Lee Barrows & Ross Richardson.
Time of Investigation 12am – 5am
The Dove Public House
The Dove in Upper Mall Hammersmith is one of London’s favourite riverside pubs and is supposed to have the tiniest public bar in Britain, at just four feet two inches wide and seven feet ten inches long. It has black oak settles, stone floors and a Thames side terrace. In the London’s telephone exchanges the pubs number was RIVerside 5405 and it still has that to this day with the first part of its number 8748, being 8RIV. This pub along the years has seen many famous faces drinking in its bars.
Securing an investigation at this pub was special as it had been a long time since the group had investigated in the city. Thank you to Nick, Dan, Lee, Sian and all the members of staff that accompanied us on the night, making our visit possible. We hope you found it as interesting as we did.
The History of the Building
According to HISTORY ON LINE there was once a house and two adjacent cottages under the same roof. At an earlier period however, the eastern room was divided off from the Doves Inn and parts were extended towards the south. The character of the architecture which dates from the middle or early portion of the 18th century is quiet and unassuming, the northern part facing a footpath being of two storeys. The entrance to No. 17 has a wrought iron grille this building is The Seasons. The river front and gardens of No.19 which is the Dove Inn have not changed much since 1867 which was when J T Wilson made his water colour drawing. The lead figure of a dove used to been seen attached to the building as a sign.
THE FACTS
The first documented evidence for the Dove’s existence does not come until November 1790, when the local manorial court rolls record that Julian Bere, spinster died ‘seized of the Doves coffee house then in the ownership of James Cade’. Two years later Montague Beer, evidently a relative of Julian, was shown in the manorial records as taken up ownership of ‘a coffee house called the Dove, near Chiswick’.
The manorial records say Beer surrender the Dove coffee house by the creek to the use of John Thompson of Chiswick and in 1796 is when Fullers, Smith and Turner brewery records state that they acquired the Dove. It is noted that London’s coffee houses were places where the middle classes met, bought highly taxed newspapers and transacted business. By the time Pigots trade directory of 1826/7 came out, listed under ‘Taverns and Public Houses’ the place is simply called the Dove – no mention of coffee. Through the years to the present day the public house was either called the Dove or the Doves.
The smallest bar came about according to George Izzard a licensee of the Dove from 1931 to 1965 in a book he wrote called ‘One for the road’ when the previous owners Alfred and Elizabeth Mayes who came to the Dove in 1911 – which was at that time a one bar beer house, licensed to sell beer only not wine and spirits. They wanted to apply for a licence to turn the pub into a fully licensed pub selling the more profitable whisky, gin and rum alongside the four-ale. To put an extra bar in would mean structural alterations and costly upgrades such as new toilets. In the dead of night Elizabeth Mayes who had two brothers living next door running a boatyard. There names were the Coles. They supposedly sneaked the parts into the Dove after closing time and worked all night to add the extra bar inside the original bar. Therefore allowing the Mayes to apply for the licence to sell wine and spirits. It is a terrific story but whether or not is true we do not know for sure.
The fact is that the Dove was never a beer house it always had a full licence and there was no need for the Mayes to build the second bar. It is true that the licensing act states that a pub must have two separate public rooms to be able to sell spirits. But the act also said that this rule does not apply for any premises which had an on licence from before 1872. The Doves history as a licensed premises went back further than that as it predated the Beerhouse Act 1830.
PEOPLE CONNECTED TO THE LAND
John George 1678
John Medley 1700
Jonas Durand 1718
PEOPLE KNOWN TO OWN DOVE COFFEE HOUSE OR PUBLIC BAR
James Cade
Julian Bere 1790
Montague Beer 1792
James or John Thompson 1796
Not much known after that until
Alfred and Elizabeth Mayes 1911-1930
Alfred died in 1921 and Elizabeth carried on running the bar until her death in 1930
George Izzard 1931 to 1965.
ASSOCIATION WITH THE DOVE
J T Wilson
James Thompson said to have written part of Winter a poem from his poetic cycle The Seasons. The Dove was then the Dove Coffee House. James frequented between the times of 1725 to 1748 when he died at his home in Kew aged 48.
Alex Guinness who drank Guinness
Ernest Hemingway
Dylan Thomas who liked a mild and bitter
Elizabeth Taylor
Richard Burton
A P Herbert who wrote The Water Gypsies
David McCallum
Robert Vaughan
Dirk Bogarde
MYTHS
It is said that Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwynne used to visit the Dove. As the Dove was not built until 60 years after Charles died this is an untruth.
It is said that James Thompson composed rule Britannia in an upstairs room – he did not. In fact it was Thomas Arne composed the tune and James Thompson wrote the words most probably at his home in Kew.
The Investigation
Teams
Team 1
Julie
Jackie
Lee
4 x guests
Team 2
Maria
Gary
Ross
3 x guests
Available Vigil Area’s
Bar Area
Cellar
Seating Area
Conservatory
Kitchen (upstairs)
3 Staff Bedrooms
Itinerary
12.00am Arrive at location
12.15am Meet location hosts
12.30am Quick tour of building and vigil area’s
1.00am Vigil 1
Team 1 – Lower end of bar
Team 2 – Upper end of bar (by conservatory)
2.00am break
2.15am Vigil 2
Team 1 – Upper end of bar (by conservatory)
Team 2 – Lower end of bar
3.15am break
3.30am Vigil 3
Team 1 – Staff Bedrooms
Team 2 – Kitchen
4.00am Vigil 4
Team 1 – Kitchen
Team 2 – Staff Bedrooms
4.30am Pack up
5.00am Thank hosts and depart
Location Baseline Tests
Name of Location:-The Dove Date:-25-26 April 2009 Start Time:-12:00am Finish Time:- 12.15am Readings taken by:- Maria, Ross, Gary Also in attendants:- Nick, Dan, Lee| Room/Area | Temperature | EMF Fluctuations | Other Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patio Area | 19.5°C | Fluctuation on bar | Near back |
| Upper Bar Area | Doors to outside | ||
| Lower Bar Area | 21°C | Fluctuations near fire Font doors | |
| Lower Bar Area | 21°C | ||
| Kitchen Area | 24°C | None | Appliances running |
| Basement Area | 27°C | Fluctuations due to Power cables and other appliances running | Appliances running |
Core Members Personal Reports
Julie Harwood
I always get excited when an investigation is out of my locality and London investigations are always special as you get to work with a different branch of our team. Maria & I travelled up together and after marvelling at the lights of the big smoke we picked up Jackie and Gary and headed over to the pub.
What we found was a very quaint little pub tucked away behind houses and the minute you walked in the door it felt welcoming. The hosts were just that as well and so we unpacked our kit and had a quick tour of the building before starting our vigils.
I was in a team with Jackie, Lee and some of our hosts. We started off in the lower bar, with Maria, Gary and Ross’ team covering the upper bar. We all settle down and I sat in the corner with the fireplace and Lee on my left. Lee voiced that he felt wrong sat there and I agreed saying that I felt it was wrong that a woman was sat where I was. With this we decided to change seats and both felt better after this. During our time in this area we had had varying temperature readings but these were not backed up by emf readings unfortunately. Sian and Dan felt the most severe drops in temperature and I believe one of the team also felt there was someone standing behind Sian. While we were calling out there were some loud cracking noises. At first we put these down to the area cooling down however after a while some of the staff expressed that they had not heard the noises to this extent before even though they spent a lot of time in the bar after closing. Jackie also picked up on a woman in this area and felt she had a problem with drink. The other odd thing that happened was one of the credit card/till machines lit up, while the other one stayed off. According to staff this was also not a normal occurrence as it has to be switched on to light up.
After a quick break we swapped with Maria’s team and settled ourselves in the upper bar seating area. As soon as we sat down some of us were sure we could hear whispering. There were also noises coming from upstairs yet we knew all the team were accounted for and so Jackie went to the bottom of the stairs to investigate. She reported seeing a shape moving backwards and forwards at the top of the stairs and so Lee went over to have a look as well and I believe they both saw it. They both then jumped out of their skins as they felt like something was coming down the stairs at them. We heard so many clicks, thumps and taps from this area but it was very very hard to differentiate between any noises that could be paranormal and those noises coming from the coffee machine located at the bottom of the stairs. The general feeling despite the taps and knocks was that it was a man at the top of the stairs that did not like the thought of us venturing up there.
Our 3rd vigil was in one of the bedrooms upstairs, directly at the top of the stairs. We had some amazing emf readings on the KII in this area and it was seemingly answering Jackie and my questions. It is very very rare to see the KII behave like this. We picked up from the answers (which were very localised to a small area) that the person in this room was also a woman who felt trapped here because of the man on the landing. She felt she could not leave the room. I was sat nearest the door on this vigil and I could still hear some odd noises outside the room. As soon as I opened the door to hear them better they stopped, which was very strange.
Our 4th vigil was in the kitchen area and unfortunately I zoned out on this vigil as I started feeling sick as soon as we stepped in the area. I know Jackie felt like bodies had been brought in to this top floor room but it was not all together legal.
In summary it was an excellent location to investigate and I feel like we only just scratched the surface. My thanks again go to our hosts for the night who were only to happy to join in with us and make our visit to the Dove possible. Thanks Jackie for securing such a wonderful location for the team to investigate.
Gary Catlin
This pretty 17th, century riverside pub has everything; unspoilt surroundings, good food and excellent beer, which must explain why it gets so busy. The Dove's popularity is nothing new. It boasts a long list of celebrity customers including Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway and A.P. Herbert, whose novel The Water Gypsies features a pub called the 'Pigeon', nee the Dove.
William Morris lived next door. James Thomson, who wrote Rule Britannia, has lodged and is said to have died here. Less certain is the claim that Charles II and Nell Gwynne had secret rendezvous here. Another claim to fame is in the Guinness Book Of Records for the smallest bar in Britain, a cosy 4 ft. 2ins by 7ft. 10ins.(1.27m x 2.39m).
The saloon bar has a low ceiling with dark oak beams and is simply furnished. An open fire takes off the chill in winter. A small flight of steps leads to the dining area at the rear, which has ample seating. Double doors lead out into a conservatory which houses an old vine.
The night began with a walk around of the pub, we starting in the dinning area (upper bar) then proceeded to the lower bar area then into the basement. We then headed upstairs to the bedrooms, office, and kitchen area. Its an interesting place very old and that shows with the layout, very much everything is on a different level.
We started our investigation by splitting into two small groups. Maria, Ross, Myself, Nick (guest/host), Dan (guest), and Lee (guest) started in the Patio area. There was a trigger object placed on the window sill between the patio and dinning area (upper bar) so we were careful not to disturb it. Maria gave protection to our three guests, myself and Ross declined. After taking the baseline we began by taking it in turns calling out. The other group were in the lower bar area so this did make it difficult to understand noise we were getting with the other group being so close. Ross had taken some pictures and one showed an orb near the gents toilets. After some time we moved into the dinning area (upper bar). The EMF metre was set up on the bar and there was constant fluctuations coming from the metre. Dan then felt as if he had been pushed or felt like a hand had touched his shoulder, however after taking it in turns calling out we had very little response. It was heading towards the break and we had caught several orbs on the cameras, but had very little activity. Just before then end of this vigil a penny suddenly fell in front of Lee. The sound it made was not like it had been dropped from a great height so we agreed that Lee could not have dropped it himself otherwise it would have bounced or rolled away from him.
After a break we went into the lower bar area. It was very different from the previous area we had just been in and even though the other group were in the patio/dinning area (upper bar) we could not hear them as clearly as before. We again took it in turns calling out. Once again not a lot really happened and we decided to try glass divination. Ross, Nick, Dan, and Lee took part in this experiment. Maria and I watched and took notes. There was very slight movement from the glass but nothing really positive. After some time of trying with the glass we decided to carry on calling out. Maria got the name of Penny Jane. From the fireplace we heard what sounded like a small stone being thrown across the floor. As before with the penny, it was not from a great height and sounded like it could have even skimmed across the floor. Ross and I did look for the object however we could not find anything that could have made that noise. We carried on calling out and I found that my legs had got very cold but my upper body was still warm. Maria felt warm all over but she was only a few feet away from me. We took a temperature reading. My legs were 20°C and my upper body was 27°C it was very strange. I asked Ross for the EMF metre to see if there was any fluctuation. Once I turned it on, the metre was moving constantly from green to orange, but as soon as I moved it away from my chest area it went dead. We are not sure if an appliance would have caused this. Maria then thought she had seen a person standing by the stairs that link the lower bar and the dinning area. She dismissed this as corner of eye, however after calling out again we felt that there was a maid who was either part of the pub’s history or the coffee house that was there a number of years ago, and who was standing on the stairs just watching. We were then told about a plaque of a former regular that was on the wall. With this, a sound that sounded like keys being moved in a glass came from the bar area. After finding a set of keys in a glass in the corner of the bar area we knew it was the same sound. I asked Nick if that was where the former regular’s glass was kept and he said it was. That was very interesting. At this point, Lee retired for the night. As this part of the investigation was drawing to a close we started to pack up for a break when I noticed a hand print next to where I had been seated. Maria took several photos of it. What was interesting is that we thought that I could have done it however the only problem with that idea was that the hand print was the wrong way round and that I would have had to turn my hand nearly three quarters of the way round and hold it for several minutes which would have been quite painful.
After a break we headed to the kitchen upstairs. This was a very small and hot area. Nick felt like he had ear ache and that the side of his face had gone numb. He moved away from the area and the feelings had gone. Ross moved into the same space that Nick was just in but did not get the same feelings. We called out but had no response that we could say was not something in the room. We decided to try glass divination on the work surface. Nick, Dan and I took part. The glass did move but it was not clear in any way. We felt as if something might have been there however had either gone or dissipated.
Our final vigil was in the basement. As with the kitchen this was very small, with a low ceiling and very stuffy. There was a lot of noise from the appliances which did not help when calling out. It made it very difficult to hear any reply. Nick and Dan did not take part in this vigil. It was very difficult to concentrate on this vigil due to the time of night and the noises as well. We decided to spend the remaining time in the lower bar area. Unfortunately nothing happened. Nick and Dan then showed us the old entrance to the basement which has been bricked up and a tunnel entrance that has also been bricked up which is believed to lead to local church. It would be interesting to find out if this tunnel is still there at the church end. However this marked the end of our investigation.
Overall I was happy with this investigation and feel that a return maybe in a year or two would maybe give us some more evidence. I would also like to see the photo that Maria took of the hand print we found on the chair next to me. Overall a very interesting night, as always I wished that there was more activity however I still enjoyed it.
I would like to thank all the members from the Southern Paranormal UK group who took part in this investigation for a very interesting night, special thanks to Jackie for locating this venue. Also I would like to thank all the staff at The Dove Pub for their hospitality and interest in what our group does. I look forward to the next investigation.
Jackie Gilmartin
We arrived at the Dove at 12am, 25th April 2009. The attending investigators were Julie Harwood, Maria Street, Lee Barrows, Jackie Gilmartin, Gary Catlin, and Ross Richardson.
We were met by our hosts Nick Kelly, Mark O’Keefe and Sian Griffiths and also present were friends of the hosts John and Dan.
We decided to split in to two vigil groups. We set up equipment with locked off cameras in the cellar, trigger objects in the bars and motion detectors.
1am - We started the first vigil. Maria’s group took the top bar and we were in the smaller bar. It seemed very quiet and at first we were adjusting ourselves to the natural sounds of the pub, but as time went on we knew we were not alone. Julie said she could see someone standing by Sian but Lee and I felt someone was there also. The temperature went up and down and Julie’s tape recorder seemed to switch itself off and when we asked for it to be switched back on it did. I felt a presence of a man who told me his name was Alec. He showed me the sign of Guinness. I then realised that this was Alec Guinness and I will have to find out if he had a connection with this pub. I also picked up on a young lady by the name of Elizabeth who liked to be called Lizzy. She had a young child with her but she seemed to be drunk. At this point the room became very hot, to the point where we were sweating but the radiators were off. We heard definite clicking sounds and we all felt we were being watched from behind the bar. Julie went up to the bar and was calling out and with out no shadow of doubt definite clicking in response to her calling out could be heard.
At this point Lee and I went up to the bar and we could see someone shuffling about at the top of the stairs. As this was happening we both heard a noise behind us which Julie commented on saying that we both turned around at the same time. As we turned back to continue looking up the stairs whatever was there lunged at Lee and me! Needless to say, I went one way and Lee the other. Both of us were saying “did you that did you see that”! We knew it was a man and a very angry man. The name Robinson came up but this will have to be checked out. The clicking behind the bar then started again and the coffee machine came on and then the credit card reader came on without human intervention!
We then went to Dan's bedroom. It had a very calming effect. As we all settled down, the EMF meter showed some response, and when I called out it responded to my questions through the EMF meter. We felt it a young girl again but when Julie opened the bedroom door there was nothing from the EMF meter which we thought maybe was because of this man on the stairs.
We then went in to the kitchen. This was not a nice place and made you feel sick. In fact Julie had to leave that room as it made her feel unwell. We did get some EMF activity in the kitchen but it was not as active as the rest of the pub.
Over all it was a very interesting investigation. I hope we can find connections with the names we got. At 5.15am it was time to go and we thanked our hosts who had made us feel so welcome as we left the night’s experience still going over in our minds. BUT A VERY ENJOYABLE EVENING.
Maria Street
Where oh where do I start with this one?? The beginning is usually favourable, so that’s where I’ll begin. After a horrible day, where everything seemed to conspire against me, I nearly threw in the towel, but happily did not. (Not that I would have done, I have far too much of a conscience for that). Julie arrived at mine around 7pm and it was interesting to hear her day had gone very much like mine had. She was also at her wits end but after chilling for a while, we saw the funny side and reminded ourselves that a good investigation usually follows days like these.
We set off for London around 9pm and all too soon found ourselves in Hammersmith. This was exciting enough, but how much funnier it got when we found ourselves in Central London! I am like a kid in a toy store when it comes to London and anybody who lives there probably won’t understand the sheer vibrancy of the place. I love the place and could imagine buying myself a flat there if I was to ever win that elusive Lottery jackpot! And so it was that Julie and I caught ourselves singing ‘the Lambeth Walk’ as we drove up Lambeth Road. We marvelled at all the bright lights, the heavy traffic, (very considerate drivers it has to be said) and all the sights. (Big Ben, Millennium Eye, Houses of Parliament). This was not my first visit but every time I get a thrill from it all. It was, however, the first time I had driven in Central London, so I chalked up a plus in my driving career.
We had a little trouble finding Jackie’s place so she very kindly came out to meet us. Further thrills awaited us as she showed us Ross Kemp’s flat from her balcony and told us quite casually that Kevin Spacey was a near neighbour. After I had picked myself back up again, we had a lovely cuppa and a chat. Gary joined us shortly afterwards and we set off for The Dove.
We arrived quite quickly and waited for some of the others to join us before going in. After a chat with our hosts, we set up our experiments. A locked off camera was placed in the bar with a trigger experiment opposite. Another trigger object was placed in the small bar surrounded by motion sensors.
I was in a team with Gary, Ross and our hosts, Dan, Nick and Lee and we started in the bar area close to the patio. We stayed quiet for a while and then started to call out. There was no response however. We went back inside and sat in the next bar. We noticed the K11 which had been placed on the bar kept flickering to green. It was too indiscriminate however to be of any real use to us. The most interesting thing to happen was the sound of something dropping by Lee’s feet. Investigation showed it to be a penny. We wondered if Lee had dropped it, but even from knee height, the penny dropped then rolled away. This penny was positioned right between his feet, so was very intriguing.
Our next vigil was in the lower end of the bar and it proved to be slightly more active here. I was filming and saw a light anomaly appear down the right hand side of Nick. A creak was also heard on the stairs. Dan told us of an old regular (Roy) who might be haunting the place so we called out for him. Almost immediately we heard a chinking sound come from a tankard placed above the bar. It was discovered that keys were held in this tankard and when one was placed in it, this was the exact same sound that we had heard. It was also interesting to note, that this tankard was used by Roy.
Not long after we all heard something skitter along the fireplace, but we cannot find what this was. Gary also heard a loud tap to the left of him and we noticed a greasy hand imprint right in the same spot. Gary had had his hands in his lap the whole time so we have no idea what could have caused this. I had a few names on this vigil as well. They were; Jack Adams, Lizzie and Jane. With the name Jane I had the impression that she wanted to be known as Pretty Jane, the exact opposite of ‘Plain Jane’.
After a short break we made our way upstairs and our team went to the kitchen whilst Julie’s team went into Dan’s room. We stood around quietly and tried to call out but all remained very quiet in here. I got the name of Penny and wondered if it could be anything to do with the penny that had got thrown in the first vigil. We wandered on down to the cellar but once again all was very quiet for us. This concluded our investigation at the Dove and it was time to pack up and go. Thanks go to Jackie for securing this for us and for inviting us into your lovely home with its exciting neighbours! Thank you also to our very open minded hosts. It was a pleasure to work with you and I hope your evening was as entertaining as ours.
Lee Barrows
The Dove is an amazing little pub tucked away on a little lane in Hammersmith. It looks like it's got lots of character from the outside and the inside does not disappoint!
We had a walk around the location, including the tiny cellar area, which had a cupboard I instantly took a disliking to for some reason! We then split into two teams. I was with Julie and Jackie.
Vigil One - Front Bar Area
We took up our positions in the front area of the bar and took a few moments to gather ourselves. I was sat on a stool in front of the fireplace and for some reason I did not like sitting there. It felt 'wrong', as if I should not be sat there. Interestingly Julie said the same about where she was sat at a table in the corner so we swapped positions and neither of us had any problem after that. There was no EMF activity although the temperature did vary quite a lot as time went on, rising and falling. Jackie seemed to pick up on a possible spirit of a woman whilst I was suddenly starting to feel extremely sad. Jackie seemed to think that this woman might have had an alcohol problem. A little while after this I was sure I saw someone, a woman with dark curly hair, standing behind the bar watching us - just for a moment, but strikingly real!
Vigil Two - Back Bar Area
We sat ourselves in the far corner of the back area of the bar. A few times we thought we could hear whispering voices coming from the conservatory but the most obvious thing was the noises coming from the stairs and upstairs. Taps, clicks and thumps seem to come from the stairwell and whilst some of them could undoubtedly be put down to various pieces of machinery (such as a coffee machine) some of them could not - indeed, just why the coffee machine decided to turn itself on and off on at least one occasion is still a puzzle. We found ourselves in apparent communication with a male spirit upstairs who did not seem to keen on us being about and certainly was very displeased with the idea of us venturing upstairs. Communication seeming to work by us asking questions and then tapping noises in response. Jackie and I found ourselves at the bottom of the stairs watching what appeared to be a dark shape moving back and forth along the landing at the top of the stairs. Suddenly I thought I saw it start to move down the stairs and decided to move away from the stairs quickly, only to find Jackie had had exactly the same thought occur to her!
Vigil Three - Upstairs Staff Bedroom
This vigil I found to be extremely interesting! The room was positioned near the top of the stairs we had been fascinated with in the last vigil and we could still hear movement from that area. Also we got some fantastic readings on the EMF meters, firstly seemingly in response to questions from Julie and Jackie but then in extremely localised areas that seemed to move around the room. The areas of activity were about a foot or two off of the ground and roughly spherical in shape with a diameter of maybe two feet. The EMF meter would give a good constant reading in this area. I have never seen anything like it before!
Vigil Four - The Kitchen
On the walk around at the start of the night I had felt quite an unpleasant feeling in this room, especially in front of the large window overlooking the Thames. However upon re-entering the room, I found it to not quite have the same feeling for me. Although, we did get some more great activity on the EMF meter. It was a pulsing reading, almost heartbeat like in an area near the corner of the room and the window. We checked the nearby electrical equipment, but none of that registered on the meter, so what we were picking up was very strange and again very localised. Very odd!
Conclusion
This was a great investigation, I enjoyed it all however the real highlight for me was the activity on the EMF meters, and I have never seen them behave like that before. Such a constant reading in such a localised yet mobile area - very interesting! Many thanks to the staff, who accompanied us on the investigation, thank you!