Southern Paranormal - Investigations
Ye Olde George Inn, Colnbrook, Berkshire Investigation
21st July 2007
Investigating Members - Ken Taylor, Val Butler, Louise Williams, Laura Brown, Lisamarie Ball, Chris Green, Sammy Eldridge, Clare Roake, Bridgette (guest), Steen Spencer.
Introduction
Ye Olde George Inn is located in Colnbrook in Berkshire. The first mention of Colnbrook occurs in 1106 in connection with an inn kept there by Ægelward on the London road. In recognition of the skill of Abbot Faricius as a physician, Miles Crispin then gave the inn with the adjacent land in alms to Abingdon Abbey. Many deaths from plague are recorded as having taken place in 1664 when the town of Colnbrook was decimated, whereas in 1665 it passed unscathed.
Colnbrook is also known as the home of the Cox’s pippin apple which was grown here in the 18th century.
Colnbrook was well known to the royals in the Tudor period as it would have been the main route from London to Hampton Court and Windsor and many royals in fact did stay and pass through it over the years. Colnbrook became a busy town when it became popular with cloth makers transporting their goods to London. It is said that Ye Olde George Inn got its name from the statue of St George which a clothier removed from the parish church of Dursley in Gloucestershire which dropped from his wagon on his way to London. Colnbrook in turn became even busier when the Bath Road (the route from London to Bath) was opened to stage coaches and post coaches. During this time the area became infamous as a hide out for highwaymen and footpads and any bad sort wishing to steal their fortune. There were many highwaymen operating in this area including the infamous Dick Turpin and Claude Duval. It is alleged that a toll house keeper was shot in the face by a highwayman (alleged to have been Dick Turpin) a stones throw from this inn.
In 1777 Ye Olde George Inn was purchased by a local miller who spent £800 enlarging and renovating the inn. It has been used as a coaching inn a hotel a gym. There have been 25 owners since records began and 33 licensed innkeepers.
Teams
- Val Butler, Chris Green, Bernadette (guest), Jim (landlord)
- Lisamarie Ball, Louise Williams, Laura Brown, Steen Spencer
- Ken Taylor, Sammy Eldridge, Clare Roake, Cindy(landlady)
Rota
Team 1
Vigil 1- Room 204
Vigil 2- Room 206
Vigil 3- Room 203
Team 2
Vigil 1- Room 203
Vigil 2- Room 205
Vigil 3- Room 204
Team 3
Vigil 1- Room 206
Vigil 2- Room 204
Vigil 3- Room 205
Baseline Tests
Room 202
Locked off camera, trigger objects EMF right side bed 1-5mg temp 21c
Room 204 EMF 0mg Temp 22c
Room 203 EMF 7mg near bed by window 0 other areas
Room 205 Temp 22c EMF 0mg (middle of room off the scale)
Vigil Notes
Team 1
Vigil 1- Room 204
10pm start
EMF 1-2mg in the entrance.
Chris moved further into the room with the EMF it was still reading 1-2mg but then astonishing results an amazing 10mg on the right side bed, over and over again Chris moved the EMF and still the same readings.
Val is given the name Edward Seymour which is the same name as she was given at Marwell Great Hall.
Val calls out, no response.
Val calls out again and all hear a bang, bang, bang all along the wall that separates the 2 rooms. Knowing that team 2 was in the next room we thought they had banged the wall. Nothing else was seen or heard in here.
At break Val asked team 2 if they had knocked the wall, they were as surprised as we were as they had thought we had banged it, team 3 were along the passage in another room and they heard the bangs as well.
Vigil 2- Room 206
EMF reading by the door 4mg but by the bed reading 9mg this room felt unusually creepy. Chris started to call out and then Val but nothing was heard, we decided to do glass divination but alas all was very quiet. Out of the blue the name Rupert came to mind the only Rupert I know was the bear. I could see Roman soldiers fighting, a lot of scruffy dirty children and the name of Queen Elizabeth. Apart from my mind going into overdrive no other occurrences happened.
Vigil 3- Room 203
As soon as I had walked into this room I noticed it had a different atmosphere to the others. There was a large double bed and 1 single; we decided to do a Ouija in here. Jim had the shivers all down his back. The board was placed on a table with a torch placed to the side of it and we began.
I asked if there was any spirits with us and the planchette spelt out HRH
I asked then for a name and we had the letter E I asked for the year and the reply was 1755, then for no reason whatsoever the torch moved and dropped onto the floor. I was then touched on my right hand trouser pocket. I asked if this was Queen Elizabeth 1st and the reply spelt out yes. I asked had she ever been to Colnbrook, the reply came yes. Asked how long she was on the throne answer 37 years. asked when she was in Colnbrook reply 1748. I then said was there any one else in the room with us and the planchette spelt out R U Q E R then S T when did you die I asked the reply was 1821.Question have you got any children answer yes 6. No other communication came through all went very quiet and we closed the séance down.
Vigil 4: Ouija in bar (all attending)
TEMP 22c all over.
EMF 1-5mg fluctuating
Q: Are you a child?
A: No
Q: Are you a lady?
A: No
Q: Are there a lot of spirits here?
A: Yes
Q: How many spirits are there?
A: X (Roman numeral for 10) then continues to spell out the following C E S C T R U H
Q: Were you hurt?
A: Yes then spells J A R M A N
Q: Did Jarman hurt other people?
A: Yes
Q: Did he hurt you?
A: No
Q: Did you have any ownership to this inn?
A: Yes
Q: Did he shoot you?
A: No
Q: Did he hang you?
A: No
Q: Did you die at the ostrich?
A: Yes
Q: Can you spell your name please?
A: T O M W H Y T E
Q: How old are you Tom?
A: 49
Q: Did you live in Colnbrook?
A: No
Q: Were you traveling through Colnbrook?
A: Yes
Q: What year were you here?
A: 1307
Q: Did you have a lot of money Tom?
A: Yes
Q: Did you bury any of your money?
A: Yes
Q: Where did you bury your money?
A : T A V I S T O C
Then all went quiet no response from any more questions so we closed down the séance.
Team 2
Vigil 1-Room 203
TEMP 19c and 17c near corner by window and bed.
20-22c everywhere else.
Lisa feels as if it this was a sick room. Someone not very old was confined to this room.
Lisa said that the spirit is drawn to the window and that this was also a living room.
Steen has goose bumps (is standing by the door).
TEMP rises to 29c.
LisaMarie feels very sad and feels that the female spirit may have lost a child and is given the name Mary.
LisaMarie feels that the room has been made smaller than it was originally. LisaMarie sits in the chair and feels very cold and said that spirit has told her to stay away from the window. She feels that something is looking in at them and that spirit is being called an imbecile.
Louise can see the side of the spirits face and feels that this woman was abandoned.
Louise senses a young boy sitting next to the women who is beating on the floor as he shouldn’t be in here. He is only a toddler and is wearing a blue babygrow.
The spirit Mary is described as looking ill and gaunt. She has her hair tied back that falls into small curls and has mousy coloured hair. She is waiting for something/someone to return. There is also a cat spirit here also and Mary is seen stroking him sometimes.
LisaMarie has stomach cramps
Glass divination started.
Information given below.
Mary came through.
Baby died of natural causes.
Mary died of a broken heart in her 40’s.
Many spirits in this building.
Bad male spirit detected standing between Laura and Louise.
Louise says that Mary wants us to stop as she can only relate to LisaMarie.
Baby was ill and died and Mary died in this room.
When asked if Mary had a husband the glass stops moving but Louise feels that the man was nasty and stern.
Louise feels the man pushing down on her shoulders but he is nice to Mary.
Vigil 2- Room 206
Room feels warm and inviting and all feel that this could have been a nursery
Boy spirit detected who has bent legs (rickets?). He has blood on the side of his face and has blonde hair.
There are no female spirits present.
Women probably pick up a presence in this room.
All feel that there were lots of people in here watching someone die and feel that the atmosphere stayed in this room.
All start glass divination.
No results.
Vigil 3- Room 204
TEMP 21-22c
LisaMarie feels that we are not welcome in this room as the room feels very heavy.
TEMP 23c.
LisaMarie feels very hot and the room now feels stuffy.
There are male spirits in this room (corner by the wardrobe).
Once again a dead body and a child are picked up on.
Lots of blood in this room, death not by natural causes.
LisaMarie feels very hot down her left hand side and feels intimidated and feels that someone has fallen down the stairs.
Steen picks up on a horse and cart and lots of blood and feels cold shivers down his spine.
All feel someone has been pushed and something has been broken in this room.
Louise feels a presence in the doorway.
LisaMarie feels something touch her head (she is sitting on right hand bed).
LisaMarie has been scratched.
Team 3
Vigil 1-Room 206
10pm start.
Ken picks up on the presence of a horse, when he mentions this a thump is heard.
Ken is given the name Jim and feels a lot colder now that he has moved to where Sammy is sitting.
Sammy feels the presence of a lady.
2 loud bangs heard.
Vigil 2-Room 203
11pm start.
Feels cold by the wardrobe.
Creaking and tapping is heard by the wardrobe.
Glass divination started.
Results given below.
A lady named Jane had her baby taken from her in a robbery.
Kim was the father of the child and he was the son of the innkeeper.
The robbery was by highwaymen and Jane didn’t know who they were.
Vigil 3- Room 204
Cindy has a pain in her neck which feels like she is being pushed down.
Ken is very short of breath and is feeling agitated and angry.
Everyone feels anxious and pick up on a negative atmosphere.
Kens neck and back are sore when he checks he has a red mark on his back.
He feels this was done by a man.
Personal Reports
Val Butler
It was with great excitement that I was to investigate this 12th century coaching inn, Ye Olde George Inn in Colnbrook Berkshire. Ken and I had arranged it and had waited for weeks for this one night and wondered what it would hold for us.
Jim and Cindy Murtagh were to be our hosts and would be joining with us at 10-30pm the bar does not close until 12 midnight but the investigation would start at 10pm with the upstairs rooms.
We all arrived at 9pm Louise and Laura did the baseline tests while Ken set up a locked off camera and I placed 2 trigger objects in the same room, a cross and a gold watch.
Louise, Lisa and Laura held glass divination in a corner of the bar that I could not enter, there seemed to be a man standing there who to me was horrible, he had piercing staring eyes that just glared and looked straight through me. UGH
The name of Mary came through to the girls, who she said was aged 40, and had died of natural causes. Lisa said a Robert Jameson was there and when asking for him the glass moved. No other occurrence happened so they closed the séance.
The Cellar
EMF reading 0mg temperature 14.4c at the rear and 12.8c by the door. I called out several times but all was quiet, the only noticeable thing was that my left ear was burning.
Kitchen
Temperature 32c EMF 0mg
Although it was hot in the kitchen I didn’t feel so, Jim was shivering, I didn’t like this area at all and felt that things would move around a lot, Jim confirmed that a week or two before he was working in there placed an object he was using down only to find it wasn’t there when he went to pick it up.. I was calling out but nothing strange happened.
This is a charming old inn that to me is holding a lot more than is letting on while we were there. I would certainly love to come back again to find what lies in there. I would also like to say a big thank you to Jim and to Cindy and all the staff for making us at Southern Paranormal UK so very welcome. We will return.
Ken Taylor
On arrival at Ye Olde George Inn Colnbrook I thought how beautiful it looked just as though I had stepped back in time. At 9pm we were greeted by Jim and Cindy landlord and lady off this old inn. As the bar didn’t close until 12-30 Jim gave Val the keys to all upstairs rooms to be investigated. After a look around I decided to place a locked off camera in room 202 and Val placed a cross and gold watch in this room as trigger objects. Louise and Laura did baseline tests in all areas. At 10pm we split into 3 groups mine being group 3 with Sammy, Clare and later to be joined by Cindy.
1st Vigil room 206
I felt quite comfortable in this room, then about 15 minutes I had the vision of a horse, I called out and heard a thump in the right hand side of the room. I moved across the room and felt really cold. Moving around the room the cold spot seemed to be following me. Sammy felt the presence of a young lady. I had the name of Jim come through to me.
All was quiet when all of a sudden we all heard a series of loud bangs but couldn’t make out from where they were coming from. No other things were heard or seen in here.
2nd Vigil Room 203
On entering this room, again I felt comfortable but when walking to the wardrobe found there was a very cold spot. After a few minutes we all heard creaking and tapping by the wardrobe. I called out and got the name of a lady named Jane. She had had her baby taken from her in a robbery, the person named Jim seemed to be the father of the baby and he was the innkeeper’s son. I asked Jane if she knew who the robbers were but all I could get was highwaymen. No other occurrence in this room.
3rd Vigil Room 204
In this room I felt very agitated and angry we all sat down on the beds and Cindy felt a pain in her neck just as though she was being pushed down, I called out but nothing was heard. I then began to get very short of breath, everybody then started to feel anxious and felt a negative atmosphere. I felt a pain in my neck and a burning sensation on my back, As I was getting the pain Cindy then told me the pain she had was gone, had it moved on to me? I called out again nothing was heard but I sensed a man was in this room with us and it was him who was affecting us.
When I left this room and into the light I asked the other to look at my back, and found I had red marks on the base of it.
Vigils in the bar area
We all joined in this area and decided to do the Ouija board, Val was asking many questions and it responded to what she was asking, apart from this I saw and heard nothing although I felt that we were all being watched.
Cellar
This was quite a small cellar and as cellars go it was cold. we called out but I think that whoever was with us just looked on. Nothing was heard or seen but it had an eerie feel.
Kitchen.
This room was pleasantly warm as the meat was roasting in the oven. I didn’t like this room something or someone was in there but would not come forward. I saw a flash of light by the radio that was switched off. I placed the EMF all around it and it went of the scale, I put it around the electric sockets but they gave off less reading as around the radio nothing else happened in here
This was a great Inn to investigate one of which I feel was not letting on all its inhabitants on the night, it certainly warrants further investigating.
Jim and Cindy and your staff I say a big thank you, for letting us roam your interesting Inn, I for one will be coming back for a drink and another night with you.
Kerry Price
Although I did not attend this investigation, as team leader I was very interested to learn what information the attending team would be given.
As Val has said she was given the name Edward Seymour which she had also been given at Marwell Great Hall. I found this very interesting as this name is very significant to the area as he was one of the owners of Langley which Colnbrook was originally part of. Below is an extract which was taken from British History online.
‘The executors of Sir William Parsons, the first baronet, sold Langley in 1669, to Henry Seymour esq. whose son of the same name was created a baronet in 1681. His cousin and heir, Sir Edward Seymour baronet sold it in 1714 to Lord Masham, of whom it was purchased in 1738, by the late Duke of Marlborough. An act of parliament passed in 1755, for re-building the house at Langley-park; it is now the property and seat of Sir Robert Bateson Harvey baronet who bought the park and manor in 1788, of the present Duke of Marlborough’.
The name Rupert was also given which has some relevance. Prince Rupert stayed at The Catherine Wheel Inn at Colnbrook in the 1650’s so had an association with the village. After all why should a spirit stay put when someone nearby is trying to contact them?
During a Ouija session it is believed that the spirit of Elizabeth I came through. The information given was Elizabeth I HRH. Although the dates given are wrong there is a direct association with Elizabeth I and Ye Olde George Inn as can be seen in the following extract.
‘Elizabeth's popularity, as well as her own prudence and wit, saved her life; but the following Christmas she was again journeying through Middlesex uncertain of her fate, this time to appear before Mary at Hampton Court. She was brought under strong escort from Woodstock, and on her way stayed for a night at the George Inn at Colnbrook, on the borders of Middlesex and Buckinghamshire. There she was met by sixty gentlemen and yeomen from her own retinue at Somerset House, 'much to all their comforts,' for they had not seen her for several months. They were not to receive much comfort from their meeting, for Sir Henry Benefield, who had the custody of Elizabeth, would not allow them to approach near enough to speak to her, but commanded them in the queen's name immediately to leave the town, 'to both their own and her grace's no little heaviness.'
The above incident happened in 1558.
Roman soldiers were also picked up on which would be relevant as there was always a big Roman presence in most villages anywhere near the Thames.
As far as fighting is concerned it is established fact that the local country park is land which would have been utilized during the English Civil war and as parade grounds during the Georgian era to rally troupes against the French.
The Name Tom Whyte also came through. I have had a look at this name with great interest although I could find no reason for this person to be here. There was a Thomas Whyte whom was Bishop of London in 1452 and also a Tom Whyte whom was Bishop of Devon in the 13th century. Although I could not find anything to link either of these 2 with the site it is odd that the Bishop of Devon would of course been able to deposit his money somewhere in Tavistock as it was indeed his Parish.
I have checked the name Robert Jamieson and there are many people associated with Colnbrook with this name, without further information coming through I cannot expound on this name any further. I will add that most of the people that I have traced with this name have been trades people.
The name Mary was also given and the circumstance that she had her child stolen. The name Jane was also given by another team more or less detailing the same events. I can find no record of a child being stolen but as the town was a haunt for highwaymen and felons of all varieties it is a possibility. Although I cannot confirm this through my research I chanced upon the illegitimacy records and found that a Mary Guner from Langley Parish was so frowned upon by the clergy as she was not married and had 4 children that they did in fact attempt to take the children from her and put them in the workhouse. Unfortunately I can find no more on the subject however it is very possible that this was carried out. It is interesting that when asked if the spirit was married no answer came forward.
One of the most interesting pieces of information to come through was the name of Jarman which any paranormal investigator worth his salt would know as the name associated with the murders at The Ostrich Inn also in Colnbrook. I always find it interesting when a name comes through which is not directly associated with the building that the investigation is taking place in. To me this proves that if there is such thing as spirit then they can indeed travel and make themselves known to people who are trying to contact spirit.
A horse was also picked up on by 2 members; the inn did offer stabling and continued to even with the coming of the railways. There was also a lot of banging witnessed at the same time by all groups coming through the walls. This was not done by any of the team members but is interesting to note that one member of the team felt that the layout and positioning of the rooms had been changed. Maybe the wall was blocking someone’s way?
Once again, a great investigation with a varied amount of information coming through.
I very much look forward to visiting this site for myself on the 10th November. Thanks to Jim and Cindy who were kind enough to let us investigate this site and for welcoming us back to continue our investigation of Ye Olde George Inn.