History men bring ghostly tale to book
TWO local historians have got together to record the ghostly goings-on which have been the stuff of folklore and legends for hundreds of years in a complete collection.
Illustrator and former Reddish Vale School teacher David Kelsall, and writer Steve Cliffe, retired editor of Stockport Heritage Magazine, have recorded tales that have haunted the now-demolished Marple Hall for centuries.
Steve said after meeting up recently they had the idea to do a book together.
He said: “I felt Marple Hall was a suitable subject as nobody else had done anything on it before.
“These are all ghost stories that have not been told as fiction - they are supposed to be true.
“They have been told for hundreds of years.”
Marple Hall was sadly demolished in the 1950s, erasing 300 years of history.
Steve and David researched the stories through archived articles and from local historians.
The book is titled The Strange Haunting of Marple Hall and the family who lived there.
Steve added: “In its day it was the most haunted place in Stockport, and by far the strangest story I ever covered in my days as editor of the Heritage Magazine.
“There were at least three separate ghosts, each with its own history, including the headless ghost of Charles the First who was condemned to death by a son of the Bradshaws who owned Marple Hall.
“Charles was supposed to roam the corridors near Judge Bradshaw’s bedroom.”
The other ghosts include a girl who runs screaming through the woods and along the riverbank, searching for a drowned cavalier lover and an older woman who dislikes and attempts to abduct infants staying at the hall.
The novelist Christopher Bradshaw Isherwood was a victim as an child in the 1900s and tells the story in one of his books.
Steve continued: “I also interviewed an old gentleman who rented a cottage at Marple Hall and saw the Grey Lady on the terrace. He could see straight through her. He was a very sensible level headed chap, not given to seeing ghosts.”
All that now remains of the hall is a memorial stone and outline near footpaths.
The new book by SH Publications is on sale at WHSmiths, Marple Bookshop, Staircase House and Stockport Heritage Centre on the Market Place.
It is illustrated with old photographs of the hall and striking recreations of spooky events by David Kelsall.