Cranmore Tower

24th March 2018

For our latest investigation, the team found themselves at the remote location of Cranmore tower. The biggest challenge was trying to find the tower itself. The tower seems to be well sign posted from the main road and then off of the main route through Cranmore village. However; after this last sign, nothing… We arrived at a house that had Cranmore tower on its wheelie bin but was obviously not the tower. Dave and I turned around and travelled back through the village and found ourselves back on the main road. We turned back around and retraced our steps back to where the house with the wheelie bin was. By now, some of our other team mates had arrived at this place and were all puzzling how to find the tower. Luckily, somebody was in the house we were all parked outside of and kindly gave us directions. Literally, approximately 20 yards back behind us was a very small arrow pointing up a track in the woods, signposting the tower (which we had all missed in the dark). We convoyed it through the woods along a very bumpy track which got worse and worse. We then reached a gate which somebody got out and opened. It was now that we weren’t sure if we had gone the right way! Maria’s car had also got stuck in a very muddy patch.

Matt managed to get hold of Dan on his phone that was already at the tower. While we were waiting for Dan to come and rescue us, we all (somehow) had to try and turn around. This was a very delicate operation as there wasn’t much room for manoeuvre.

When we eventually managed to get back down the track, Dan pointed us in the right direction and we all set off again. Eventually we arrived at the Tower and were greeted by Tracy and Molly.

History

Cranmore Tower is 45 metres (148 ft) tall. The tower was built in 1862-1864, by Thomas Henry Wyatt for John Moore Paget of Cranmore Hall (now part of All Hallows Preparatory School). There is a viewing area at the top with pair of semi-circular headed openings to each face with a restored iron-railed balcony beneath each pair. A similar balcony just over half-way up is continued right round the tower. It has been designated by English Heritage as a grade II listed building.

In World War II it was used as a lookout tower by the Home Guard and the Royal Corps of Signals but by 1984 the tower had fallen into disrepair and was sold to Donald Beaton who undertook repairs. During the course of the repairs the remains of a Roman fort with a hoard of coins was discovered adjacent to the tower.

The investigation

We had a cabin (complete with bunk beds) to use as a hub and the lovely Cranmore Tower. Tracy told us that the owner had said the there was a spirit presence at the base of the tower and also that a man called Mr Moon (who used to live nearby) and had now passed on was thought to still be visiting the area.

I also know that there are some Bronze Age burial mounds very nearby the tower.

When the whole team had arrived, some of the braver members went to explore the top of the tower. Unfortunately, I have a great fear of heights and could not even bring myself to look up the stairwell.

In the base of the tower, luckily there were 2 large tables. We decided to utilise one of them and see if we could get some energy going. Dave, Dan and Matt had decided to go and explore the wooded area. Maria started by calling out to see if we could get any spirit response going. We did not get an immediate response but this can be normal. It can take some time for the energy to build up. I attempted to call out. Rachael thought she felt a tap under the table near her. I called out again but did not get any more responses. Maria then asked Tracy if she would like to call out. Tracy had told us the while at the tower earlier; Molly had thought she had seen a figure in the tower. Tracy called out and I must admit that the atmosphere started to change. With that though, Dan popped his head around the door and asked Tracy to come out for a moment. Maria carried on. Tracy came back inside and said that the owner had returned and was not very happy.

I stepped out with Tracy for a while and Maria carried on with the séance in the tower with the rest of the team. Tracy and I were going to find where Dave, Dan and Matt had gone but as we were leaving, we saw the owner going into the cabin where we were keeping our equipment. The owner then came back out again. 5 minutes later, he called out to Tracy and asked when we were going to leave. Tracy politely replied to ask when he wanted us to leave. The owner then said 11pm, and added it was 10:30pm now. Maria had heard all of this and came out of the tower with the team. We decided to wrap up the evening as the owner had obviously changed his mind about us being there. Once we had managed to get Dave, Dan and Matt back, we packed up our gear and started to leave. It was now that I saw on the clock in the car; it was in fact only just coming up to 10pm and not 11 as we had been led to believe.

Though our investigation did not go to plan, it was still a great night but definitely a learning curve. Luckily, this sort of thing does not happen very often so it’s upwards and onward to our next investigation… We cannot wait.