Recorded on location. In September twenty twenty five, I was lucky enough to interview Amy, the paranormal host and historian at Dudley Castle. This interview explores the castle's long and often brutal history, uncovering the surprising connections between Dudley Castle and some of the most colorful and at times bloody
periods in British history. We also delve deep into the ghostly encounters and paranormal events which have solidified Dudley Castle as being one of the most haunted locations in Great Britain. Now this interview ended up being so rich that it's been split into three parts. In Part one, we focus on the history and the people who once lived within these walls and walked these beautiful grounds, and we wet your appetite with a few ghostly tales along the way.
In Part two, we dive much deeper into the ghosts, legends and strange happenings associated with the castle. And in Part three, Amy takes me out on location around the castle and its grounds, visiting some of the remarkable places where spirits and ghosts are said to rome. So join me now for Part one of my return to Dudley Castle. A huge welcome from the shadowed heart of the Black Country,
where stone remembers and silent speaks. We're honored to be here at Dudley Castle, an ancient fortress packed with sorrow, legend, and lingering spirits. This place is no stranger to the uncanny. The mournful gray lady, believed to be Dorothy Bowmont, wanders the chapel ruins, denied her final wishes and bound by grief.
The phantom cavalier patrols the battlements, his plumed helmet and ghostly presence of relic of the Civil War, And in the quietest corners, the cries of the screaming child echo through time, chilling the bones of even the bravest of souls. I'm here today with Amy Hickman, who has been incredibly kind to help organize this amazing opportunity for the show. Amy is Dudley Castle's resident historian and seasoned paranormal host who have spent many years exploring the secrets of this
incredible site. Together, we'll be talking about the castle's dramatic past, the spirits that may still walk its grounds, and what lies behind some of these lockdoors which the public never gets to see. We've also recently launched Haunted UK Fiction, a podcast for original fictional, paranormal and supernatural tales, perfect for stories born in places like Dudley Castle, where every
stone has a secret. So whether you're a believer, a skeptic, or simply drawn to the mystery, we invite you to listen closely because here in the ruins of Dudley Castle, the past never sleeps and the spirits are always listening. Thank you so much for welcoming us here today, Amy. We find ourselves based in the incredibly impressive undercroft, and with us we have two stone We have two stone
coffins to keep us company. So I'd like to start off by asking you, for those who are unfamiliar with Dudley Castle, can you walk us through its origin story, when it was built and what was its original purpose?
Okay, so we believe that he was built around ten seventy ten seventy one. So you're going back to the Norman conquest in ten sixty six and William the Conqueror comes over to England. He conquers England but not Wales or Scotland, so he puts the steel ring around the court the country to protect it from invasions. Dudley Castle is part of that chain that was actually put round. Originally, he sort of left Saxons in charge and the guy that had this area was called Edwin and Mercier, and
he left them in charge. As long as they swore felty to him, they could keep the lands, keep the grounds. Unfortunately, Edwin got it into his head that he's going to marry one of William the Conqueror's daughters. And basically William the conker like, you're not marrying a daughter, so he rebelled. Edwin rebelled against William and was murdered by his own supporters as he was trying to leave for Scotland. Dudley
as the part of Mercy. The grounds were taken and divided up between william supporters and he sort of cut this part off because originally this part of Dudley would have been in wood Seton and Sedgeley, and he cut this end off and gave it to one of his most trusted knights, who was Hanscorffed of Pickiney, who took part in the Battle of Eistings, and he'd got also given him another eighty manners of land throughout the country, and he basically said to Hanscorf, right, you've got a
nice big ill there, build your castle there.
And that's why he did right fantastic.
What major historical events have unfolded within or around the castle and has it ever seen in conflict and scene?
It has, firstly in the eleven hundreds part of the anarchy which is th all between King Stephen and Empress Matilda. Empress Matilda was the daughter of Henry. The first he passed away, he'd asked his supporters to swear failty to her and they did. Unfortunately, she was a lady. They didn't want a lady on the throne, so his nephew, Stephen of Bulloy, he actually took the throne and there
was a big civil war in the country. Dudley Castle stood for Empress Matilda, as well as most of the houses, most of the big places around the Midlands they stood for Empress Matilda. King Stephen did come to Dudley with his whole army to attack the castle. Castle was probably one of the first that was already being refortified into
stone in the country. He attacked the castle, couldn't get in, got a bit knocked went and burnt the town down and stolen the cattle, marched off to Shrewsbury and burnt Shrewsbury Castle down. That's how we know that this was probably been refortified into stone, because if he's burning Shrewsbury, we couldn't burn this chance. Sorry, it was a stone castle by them. And also there was two sieges during the English Civil War, so Dudley Castle was a Royalist castle.
The barons and the earls have always been quite loyal to the Crown, well most of them have been quite loyal to the cow But we stood for Charles the first. After the English Civil War, any castle that had stood for the Royalists had to be knocked down. Dudley was part of that. Gentlemen we actually surrendered to was General Beretton. He actually wrote to Cromwell and said, Dudley Castle's really strong. Dow'nknock it down. We can use it.
Yeah.
Cromwell was like, now he's got to go. He wrote actually twice, possibly three times to Cromwell to try and save dudleyy. But Cromwell's adamant he gotta go. We got away with quite a lot because they only took the two first terrors there and some of the outer walls and a few bits of the gate. After that, it was like, you can never be refortified, and that's still true today. He can't out of Parliament.
That's fascinating.
It can't be refortified. And he sort of like said, well, we'll just leave it, and left it at that. Burritton actually was trying to marry two of his daughters into the Ward family who owned the castle. So the theory is, you don't want to knock down eat in Law's house if you can help it, So that's sort of that's why he wanted to keep it. But there was two sieges. The first siege was alleviated by a troop same by Charles the first because he thought I lived Dudley Castle.
It was actually relieved by the troop of four thousand soldiers led by Prince Rupert. And the second siege we surrendered because the cause was lost, so as our troops walked out. But Dudley Castle has never been took in a battle. It's never it's never lost in a battle. It's never been took. It's too strong. That's fantastic of the height.
I am going to veer off question for a minute, because I've been chatting away to Amy for quite a while as we've been setting up and in this wonderfully impressive part of the castle, and you mentioned something really fascinating to me about back then, hundreds and hundreds of years ago, it was always the male line that carried
that carried power, that carried it through. You were telling me about Dudley was really really specially in that sense because it was it was more of a female line that brought the power.
Okay, So the ladies of the castle were quite powerful ladies. Trevis Pagnell started it marrying quite powerful women the trend of marriage when he married Isabella Beaumont, who was the daughter of the Earl of Paris. So she was quite a big powerful figure herself. She'd been previously married and he was chosen to be her second husband, right, Okay, I mean she was really powerful and she would have had links to the crown. Later on, there was an
Isabella did Shelton who married into the family. She married one of the Suttons. She then took the baronet for thirty seven years and ruled it on her own. She married a second time once her husband had died, but she kept the baron Ray through her son and her grandson. And it was her great grandson, John Sutton the Sis that actually took the baron Ray when she passed away. So really yeah, yeah, I mean John did. When John dis Summery's father, Doyed Roger the Lady, his wife Agnes
actually became the baroness. And because John was underaged to take the baron Ray, so she kept it till her son was of age. Yea, And I mean Isabella just kept it. She was like, now, but he's having it on keeping it. It's mining Yeah, And she actually kept him and her husband actually changed his name to Dudley. He was actually probably one of the Fisher family, which was a big family in the area, but he changed
his name to Dudley rather than her changed her name. Yeah, and Dudley you could it was you could inherit it through the female line as well. So Francis Sutton, he was the granddaughter of Edward Sutton. She inherited the baron Ray. She later married a Ward and that's how the family come into the Ward family. But it's the women that were painful.
Wow. I just found that I found that was just really really intriguing, especially for that kind of time. We heard a load of a lot of figures you've just mentioned, But who were some of the most influential figures in the castle's history.
Well, obviously Anscoff was probably one of the most influential figures because he built the first castle, even built a modern bailey castle here, and we've still retained the shape coming down through the generation. She've got people like John Sutton the six, who is quite an un unrecognized figure. He was a fantastic politician. He was house steward for Henry the Fifth. He brought Henry the fifth body back from France when Emory the fifth died. He was in
charge of the terror. He was comfortable with the terror London at the age of eighty seven. He was eighty six. He died. He died when he was eighty seven. So he was one of our longest serving baron. And he's such an underrated figure technically terrible soldier. Every time he went on a battlefield he got caught or injured, but he knew how to change. He knew how to change when it was and how to go with the flow.
Because he started off as a Lancastrian, became a Yorkist, went back to the Lancastria, became a Yorkist, and then went back to the Lancastrians. He's probably the only figure in history that had a pension from both Richard the third and Henry the seventh. He was a really good politician. Yeah, but he's an unrecognized figure. And then, of course the main figure was John Dudley, Duke, and also Blong, who
sort of put Lady Giant Ray on the throne. He was probably our most influential baron ever because he was in charge of the country. He was looking after the country for Edward the six, the boy king after the death, and obviously he had a major influence on Dudley. It shouldn't have had the castle in all hones stay because he sort of condi his cousin. He arranged a couple of mortgages on the castle, and then his cousin, who was bad with money, said on pie. He was like,
you go, I'm taking the castle. And he took the castle, and he started a program of rebuilding because he wanted to make it more of a palace than an actual castle, and he built the bottom end of the castle which we now today is that the Sharrington Range, But he actually called the new build and he was just about to change the chapel upstairs. He started to convert the chapel from a Catholic chapel to a president chapel. When he fell from power and was executed in fifteen fifty three.
Wow.
Okay, but he was probably our most influential baron and probably one most people will know because they know the story of Lady Jane Green.
Yeah, you mentioned the Sharrrington Ranch. Ye, the castle suffered a devastating fire in seventeen hundreds, didn't it. How much of the original structure remains to die? And what do we know about what was lost there?
To be fair, we have, like I said to you before, before before you get to the fire, you had the slighting. Yeah, the very first castle, which was the Motte and Bailey. The only thing that remained is that reminds is the mott the man where the keep stands. That's all that's left from there. But that what would have been twelve feet ohier than it is to die.
Just to cut in there. So the original matt. As I was walking up to the castle, you've got animals grazing on them on the actual mat and would that would.
Be perfectly natural, That would be perfectly natural. There was probably animals. There've been definitely animals in the courtyard because in ten eighty six we were in the Doomsday Book. This is one of the first castles to be named in the Doomsday Book, and we know there was things in the courtyard, and we know there was probably animals, So there would have been animals more than lightly grazes on the bank. But when they took the wooden castle
down to make the stonecastle. To put the stone castle up, they had to take twelve feet off the top wow of the bank to take the way to the stone. So if you're thinking Dudley Castle was twelve feet higher than it is, really to die a lot of what you say, I mean the slighting took away quite a lot. It took away the first two terrors. It took a right parts of the Triple Guy. Why it took away a building that was next to this one, because this
one was quite a secretive room. And the doorway where we came in wouldn't have been there'd have been a straight run wall. You'd have come through the bat there's an arch would have been an arch in the back, and you'd have come straight there from upstairs, which is the chapel. This is why this was more than likely the crypt of the castle.
Really yeah, okay.
The foire basically devastated the Sharrington Range and the chapel upstairs. You can see outside the big chapel window when we did the archaeology digs that we did in the eighties and nineties, that did flow in the glass from the window upstairs, and it was he had the coat of arms of the Summary family on it. Because some but one piece more or less back together they managed to give peace to all back together. He devastated that. He devastated,
Like said, the Sharrington Range. The fire did a lot of damage, but it was only confined down here. It was nothing to do with the keep. But there is quite a lot of the original structure here. There is because there Sharrington Range would have been built on on the same layout as the original Norman manor house that was here, because there was a manor house here. Because Jovespadal had to knock down the keep his keep in
the eleven hundreds, because he took part in a rebellion. Yeah, and it was for a hundred years there was just a manor house on the site. So we know there was a Norman manor house and one of them walls in the Shannington Range is a recycled war and that's the dates from that original.
Right, Okay, So it was repurpose.
It was repurposed. It's in the butchery, so we know that war is from the original Norman manor house. So although we did do a lot a lot of damage, a lot of the structure is still here.
Okay.
So have there been any surprising archaeological finds on the grounds, artifacts, human remains or structures that changed what we know about the castle? I did also, and you addressed this for me a little bit earlier. I also heard of rumor that one of the world's first condoms was discovered here and now is a muse It's now in a museum, So is that true?
That is true? There is actually six six condoms for we believe in the museum in and Amsterdam, and we believe too maybe with the artifacts they had kept to Timley haare right, So yeah that yeah, they were from the Civil War era. So of sixteen hundred sixteen forty onwards and they were pigskin, pig intestine.
Intestine, okay, sense lovely, yeah, yeah, So.
What do we know about what was found any archaeological finds.
What we found a lot of animal bone, believe in a lot of animal bones. The area that was excavating mainly was the keep and to the side which would have been Dudley Castle. We've got the automoat, but there was an internal moat right, so it cut the keep off from the courtyard motes now been John Dudley had the moat filled in. But when they did it, because of how wet it was, it actually protected a lot of they are facts that were found. So mostly it
was animal bone, so a lot of fallow deer. And then when they did the when they did DNA testing on the fallow deer bones, they found that the hours came from the Baltics. Because what happened was fallow deer were practically extinct in this country, the Saxon's etamore, believe it or not, the normals reintroduced them, but that brought them from different parts of the country. And when we like say ours mainly come from the Baltic Bulkans fainting,
So there was a lot of animal bones. They did find a beautiful it was a beautiful like tough comb and that would have been from the Shude era and their rings and jewelry battlespurs things like that. No bodies, Unfortunately, I have heard though or recent they found out while doing some research that in the nineteen twenties there was an archaeology de got done and some of the artifacts were shown as part of a fair that they had
in the castle grounds. And part of that fair would have been they showed a skull of a cavalier soldier and in that school was founding the castle and actual recorded in one of the British News Archive part of the papers, which was fantastic find. Unfortunately I can't find the archaeology report right, which is what I'm trying to do at the moment.
Yeah.
Again, being a historian, being rooted in the history of not only the castle but Dudley as well, is there a particular period in this castle's history that you find especially fascinating?
I just think all fascinating. I mean you're coming from because we think the one of the two reasons the castle was actually built, he was there was possibly something here already, so a lot of tall hill like this, and he is in line with other hill thoughts, so there could have been a hill fort here and it was just so easy just to throw the castle up. But I just find it all really, I mean I said to you earlier, think of who's walked across that
courtyard and list Emry the Second. You've got Emry the Second. You've got Edward the Third. You've got Isabella quit the she Wolf of Franz. You've got Roger Mortimer, her lover. You've got John Dudley, You've got Elizabeth the First. Possibly Robert Dudley quite quite possibly the Earl of Essex was here because he was the step son of Robert Dudley. I mean, you've got all these figures that that courtyard. Yeah, and that's not even thinking about John Dissummray, who was
a baron of Dudley. He was actually a close close friend of Edward the Third, I mean Edward the Second, sorry, and he was I mean this was his, this was his castle. He completed the keep and everything. Just thinking of the people that have walked through that courtyard is just it blows my mind. And if these stones could actually talk. What they could tell you is unbelievable.
Well, we're going to get into about yeah, yeah, we're going to get into about how these stones could talk about the things that these stones are possibly had possibly seen in the past. Another fascinating thing that you mentioned again, as I said, Amy and myself have been we were
chatting away for quite a while. And again something else that you mentioned that was really interesting was as I was saying, as I was driving up here, I mentioned the fact that, to imagine them, none of the houses, none of these buildings, all.
Of the trees that it would have would have.
Been not here. You know, there would have been hundreds of years of these woodlands and forests that would have probably surrounded this. And I've mentioned to you about I would have loved to have known how far away I would have been driving up to the castle, how far away they could have seen it. And you mentioned that this wasn't even the highest hill anywhere.
No, No, but that.
Comes back to what you said about a fascinating reason. And I'm going to ask Amy to explains even though it wasn't the highest hill, why it was chosen because the highest hill was somewhere else.
Yeah, the highest, the highest hill is probably Sedgely he could, okay, the two hills would have been next to each other. Yeah, and William the Conqueror kept that side, he kept as it was called. Okay, and he said, right there, you go build your castle on that hill. But the reason possibly was there was there's a water source. We've got the water source, so underneath here we have a limestone ridge.
Basically the castle's a limestone ridge. So we've got a lot of underground springs, even at this height, and the lime will push the water up. So the well we've got to die is still full. It's still used. We still use it to fill the penguins and the sea lions enclosures. Up.
I love it.
So you know, it's one hundred and eight foot deep and about seventy foot white that that well is. There is a rumor that there's a second well on the keep. We've never found it, but that could have dated to the original modern Bailey castle. But definitely that was the one that possibly the main reason that the castle was built on this hill and not Beacon.
Yeah.
You also mentioned about the well is capped under a blue plate or something like that, and when it was discovered.
I mean, the grens were left to overgrow, but people used to let their sheep and the cowers and the horses graze up here. And the story goes that the well was rediscovered in the eighteen hundreds when a horse fell through Earl of Dudley and some mental they got the horse out. Luckily it survived, but they rediscovered the well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean there's lots of lots of little stories like that about the castle. I mean, there is in the
triple gate. Unfortunately today you can't see because of the scaffolding we've got, but there is a murder hole right in the key which is filled in. And it's a weird one because it's in the middle of the gate rather usually your murder holes were over your main your pul cullites, but this one's right in the middle, and they they it was filled in because a horse fell through it. Now, what is a horse doing on a roof?
That's what I'd like to get. But having that's a local legend that the horse fell through.
It, would you explain what a murder hole is.
A murder hole is something you can drop nasty things on your see warfare Back then Okay. Our gate was a triple gated, so you had your drawbridge, then you had a pork cullis, and then you had a second port cullis at the back, both backed up by two big oak doors. But what you might find if you attack the castle is the drawbridge is down and the
pork course list is open. And then when you make a play for the courtyard, they dropped the poor cullis, turn around to run out, they'll drop the second port cullis, So basically trapped, then you can be Things can be thrown down at you, things like stock, things like rocks and stones, like a shot, arrows down, sewage and dead
animal parts or dead bodies. And that's to cause infection because if you've fought your back you walked up that hill this morning, Yeah, you fought your way up that hill, you're going to have the odd scratch, the odd grays, you get something like sewage, your rotten flesh in a.
Cut, Yeah it's going to cause Yeah, it's.
Going to cause infections and things like that. And then basically they'd open the gate and let you go back to your village. And that's the Baron of Dudley going come on, then come and try it.
This is what's going to happen.
Yeah, yeah, a warning.
So a murder hole literally was used to drop things on people that, like I said, they're capturing the gate.
Yeah. Fascinated.
How was the local community's relationship with this castle changed over time from a stronghold to a ruin to a tourist attraction as well, because again we spoke briefly about it turning into a zoom and also the paranorm, the hotspots around it. How do you think that the community has reacted over time to this?
I mean, as a stronghold, this would have been this would have the castle would have ruled the tow one hundred percent, would have ruled. Baron Dudley would have ruled the town. John Dee sun Ray, who's coughing with sat next to I mean, he ruled with an iron rod and he got a really bad reputation was reported by the locals to the king for ruling this area as a king. He was in charge and he meant no bones about it. He gets a really bad rep does John because of it. But he's a man of his time.
He was in charge and he wanted the money to make the castle bigger and better and grander, coming down to a ruin. It was seen as a sort of romantic ruin, So lots of courting couples would have come up here doing courting couples of things. And then the Earl of Dudley needed a why to provide a lasting funding stream. And the Earl of Dudley at the time was also very into exotic animals. He was at London.
He was on the board of trustees at London Zoo, I believe, and also on the board of trustees was a man called Frank Cooper who owned a small collection of exotics down in Oxford, and the two of them got together. Also who happened to be at London at the time was a guy called Bertold Lebecin who was in charge of the Techton Group, And this was a guy who was bringing in innovations with buildings and architecture,
and he used the first pre stressed concrete buildings. He was doing a lot of enclosures with Dudley at London. So the three of them got together. I've got the grounds, i got the animals, I've got the knowledge, and they came up with putting, which was a perfectly natural thing to do, because the relationship between zoos and castles has been for generations. The first zoo in this country was at the Tower of London. It was the roman Agerie
because foreign dignitaries would gift animals to others. Yeah, and they were kept at the Tower of London until the eighteen hundreds when the Duke of Wellington, who was constable that the terror got annoyed because people were getting bitten by things like baboons. They were left to scarpor Owen. Yeah, and he was like, right, we're going to get rid of the animals out of the tower, moved into Hyde Park, which had to become London's which was the first zoo
in the country. Is fascinating, So there is a natural affinity between zoos and castles. A lot of people don't think this. A lot of people. I am like, well, for God's like putting a zoo, But it's a perfectly natural thing today and the Earl of Dudley wanted to provide that lasting funding stream for the upkeeper of the castle.
Yeah.
I mean the other thing is one with the zoos. I've visited many stately homes and again, a lot of these paintings in stately homes. You will have, you know, the Earl or the Baron or something surrounded by these exotic animals. And it was kind of a business card in a sense.
Look where I've visited, Look where I've been.
I mean.
The Earl of Dudley was well known for his is the third Earl I should say, was a known I mean he was very close to the royals as well. I mean the Duke of camp was here, Yeah, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, I mean him or being hosted by the Earls of Dudley, not for their honeymoon. Yeah, you know they were. There was a close connection and of course the affinity between royals and exotic animals. He'd know that, the third Earl, and it being no brainer.
You've got this space, you want to create something that's going to provided that lasting funding stream. The Zoo's ninety years old in two years time. Dudley Series ninety years old in two years time. It's provided that lasting Yeah.
You mentioned the architecture of a lot of the the the enclosures for the animals, and it is still quite futuristic.
It's still yeah, I mean is it was, It's very art Deco. Yes, yes, the tectons. I'm not a big fan. I'll be honest art deco at all, but I can appreciate what they are. And if you put this, we've got the largest connection of a nail grade one star listed. I mean you can't look at them run really the only thing higher is this is the castle. But they are of their time, you know they are. And now husbandry guidelines have changed for the animals. Certain things we
need to do enclosures. Those enclosures from thirty seven are not going to be suitable that animal. So today our keepers are really really good at looking at and enclosure and right, that's the polar bear pit we call put a polar bear in there. What can we put in the Arctic foxes? Let's do Arctic foxes. And that's what we've done. And that's what the keepers are very and
the zoo in general are very good at doing. Is looking at something and taking it and going, well, can't do that now, let's you know, and we get do get Dudley's who does get seleighted for its condition if you like. But people don't realize that those twelve listed building are some of the most important buildings in the country. And I've got that listing on it if you go, if you know Dudley's, we've got something called the Queen Mary. Yeah,
the ballroom, the restaurant. We've also got the Discovery Center, and we've got the Roundhouse, which was the old bird House. If you put the Queen Mary on top of the the Discovery Center and then on top of that put the Roundhouse, it's a perfect replica of the Queen mayryship from the ninety thirties.
Right, And yet I did not know that.
That's why. Yeah, Yeah, that's why the Queen Mayry is called the Queen may Not a lot of people realize that that's why the Queen Mayry is called the Queen Mayry.
Yeah.
It just goes to prove though, in a sense that well, Dudley Castle and the Zoo, they've had to adapt a hell of a lot over the last one hundred years.
Certainly, Yeah, I mean ninety years. What you could do in nineteen thirty seven when the zoo opened, you can't do today. You know, some of the animals that were housed here, you wouldn't even dream of housing them here now, because to be fair, it's forty acres. The Dudley Zoo is forty acres compared to some zoos. It's a small site and we just have to adapt and change and do things a different way. And like I say, it's peoples, whether you like them or not. The buildings, we are
impeded by them. So yeah, because of what they are. Yeah, I mean it's a good thing to have them. I mean it is a good thing to have them. I'm not saying that, but were they are impeded. The keepers have impeded on what we can actually yeah, do and build. I mean our keepers are fantastic looking at things and that they think out the box.
Yeah, it's a testament. It's a testament to the Yeah, it's a testament to them. It's a testament to head the place as you run as well, because as you're constantly having to having to adapt. Shall we talk paranormal yes, Okay, so talking about this location being a paranormal hotspot. Now, Dudley Castles and of reputation has been one of the most haunted places in Britain. When did reports of activity first begin to surface on this side?
So the very first report was from the eighteen seventies, and that was recorded by a local ghost hunter, writer, ghost writer and avid ghost hunter. His name is Harry Bentham, and he recorded a conversation he had with the guide now in going back before the zoo was here, so there would have been a castle keeper and it was probably him. He was talking to him, Yeah, and he
recorded that he was the actual statement goers. I was sitting at the bottom of the keep talking to two visitors when we saw two figures come down to keep, go to the left hand side, dressed in in sixteenth or seventeenth century clothing. A man had a tall hat and a cooked stick, went round to the side. I went up, the guide went up and they disappeared and con't find anyone. That was the first recorded ghost sighting. That's image of the two people were seen again in the nineteen thirties.
Right, okay, a repeat side, It was.
A repeated sighting.
What types of hauntings are most frequently reported here? And are we talking full apparitions, which we've just spoke about full apparition, so we are talking we're talking sounds, cold spots, something more.
All of them we've had. I think one of my favorite favorite stories apart from the feet in the coffee was. Actually, it was recorded in my nineteen seventy eight four electricians working overnight in the courtyard refused to come back on site because they saw a procession of monks walking through the courtyard.
In nineteen seventy eight.
Yeah, in nineteen seventy eight. That's one of my favorite recordings of a ghost sighting.
That is fascinated. They were working overnight.
They were working overnight, they were laying some cables apparently, and I saw a procession amongst and I refused to come back on site. Now, obviously Dudley's very close to Dudley Priory. Dudley Castle's very close. It's about one hundred and fifty yards down the road, and the monks would have been here regularly because they took the services in the chapel aboves. And there has been lots of reported sightings.
Nineteen fifty one somebody reported seeing a figure in the chapel wind upstairs, right, they sort of figure if you go outside, there are no you can't access that part of the castle because it's of the fire. They damaged the fire done, but they saw that figuring. That was in nineteen fifty one. There's been repeated sighting is as recently as about two thousand and sixteen, maybe when a ghost group come on. Two people taking photos on the steps that leaved up to the castle were taking photos
at the top. When they saw the photos at the top, there was a hooded figuring one call wow, and I think that and he does look like he's robe and so it does look like.
Yeah, right, Who or what are the most well known spirits? Said to linger here, and can you tell us the story of the.
She's the most famous season. She Dorothee Bellomont. Who we believe it's Dorothee Bellamont, Dorothy Bellamont. What I love about her is we've got records of that lady being here at the castle. There is surviving letters between Bereton and Levison, who are Levison at the castle. Bereton was sieging it talking about her death basically, which is fantastic. Basically she had a daughter, a baby daughter, and the story goes
the daughter that she was. During the English Civil War, she was married to the second in command of the forces here, a guy called John Belmont Are Aroundceptmber sixth September sixteen fourteen four she gave birth to a daughter daughter was Clarissa and Francis, but died and the story goes she died a few hours a few days after birth. Yeah, baby's body was removed from the castle and buried at one of the local churches, which is an Edmunds, which is over the road. A few weeks after that event
took took place. The soldiers here at the castle actually got winned that the parliamentarians were going to start a siege. That were going to attack the castle and start a siege. So there was one act of defiance. They went out and anywhere where you could garrison soldiers that knocked it down. That church was one of the places they knocked down. The church with that's there today is from the seventeen hundreds, so they're not the church down, of course, when they're
not the church there. They destroyed the graves, including the babies, and he said, donn they had quite the breakdown. She used to under the castle. She actually thought the kid was still alive, but it was being kept away from her. And she's search and search time and time again looking for a daughter. Yeah, obviously daughter. She got sick. Hygiene wasn't the best. She got sick herself by the following April, it was more or less known she was going to
pass away. She made a dying wish and that with dying wish was to be buried with her daughter. She'd accepted the death, but she wanted to be buried with the daughter. She also had the husband attender funeral Baby Doyers Dorothy doy Is on the twenty sixth of April, and a message is sent in to team. Messages been replied to carried by what they call a drummer.
Yeah.
Now, a lot of people think of drummer boys. Okay, it's a well known story here the drummer boy. Yeah, okay, these wouldn't big boys. They would be men that'd be your Rage'd be given a message and banging the drum should have called for a seasfire between the two sides. Wow, Now, when I've done my history research, it was on one soldier that was shot.
It was two.
As they made their way up the track where those steps are to the arch, try a bullet hit them. We don't know which from which side. I don't know if you come from our side, come from their side. But banging that drum should have called for a choose between the two sides.
Yeah.
So Breton, being the all powerful generally was at the time written other letter and he said, right, we were going to allow you to add you have your funeral. We're not going to allow that. Now you shot two of our soldiers under a drum of truths. This is what we're going to do. We've dug you an owl in the churchyard at the top of the tower, and you've got twenty minutes to get up there, get her buried, and get back into the cast.
Wow okay, any of.
Your soldiers out after twenty minutes, that's see done. Oh by the way, husband's second in command of the castle. If he comes out, we'll shoot him on side. So he wasn't allowed to the castle, so he couldn't get to the funeral. Sorry. Six soldiers went out, six soldiers got her up there, six soldiers got buried, and six soldiers got back in this castle within twenty minutes. Wow, okay, now you know yourself, your local lad from all from here to the top of the tower ten minutes at
good pace. Imagine doing that, six of you running a body up the middle of the Oye Street. And very occasionally they'll have a festival in Dudley and they will run a coffin up the middle of the Oyle Street. And that's why it's three twice free. Yeah wow, Okay, So it said that because she never got two dimeshes, she was never buried with the daughter. She can't ba because grave was lost and destroyed and her husband didn't
attender funeral. That she is back here and she's searching around for a daughter, and she's seen in every part of the castle. The most famous sighting over there I was in twenty fourteen when a lady was taking pictures from the top of the keep. Okay, think you've probably seen that. He's in the doorway the Sharington Range. There's a figure that's a very famous photo. I tell yeah, Yeah, that's her most famous, a recent, most famous sighting. But she's seen all over. She's seen in every part of
the castle. But as I said to you, we will talk about the stone tape. I think she's part of the stone tape.
That's where we're going to leave things for part one of my interview with Amy, the paranormal host and historian at Dudley Castle. In part two, we move away from the wider history and much darker territory, diving deeper into the ghosts, legends, and strange happenings that have been reported here over the years, from recurring apparitions to experiences that
still defy explanation. Things are about to get a lot more unsettling, so make sure you tune in and join me for Part two, where the stories become harder to explain and the past refuses to stay silent.
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