The windmill at Scotter was built in 1874 by the millwright Hett of Brigg, to replace an earlier nearby post mill (see MLI50070). The mill worked until the late 1930's, after which it stood in dereliction for some time before the cap and sails were dismantled. The mill had four patent sails, which drove two pairs of grey and one pair of French stones. The tower now stands disused, with the top two storeys also since removed at some point before 1986. One bedstone is said to remain, but otherwise all the machinery has been removed. For the full description and the legal address of this listed building please refer to the appropriate List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The mill survived to five storeys in 1965, and was about 50ft high. The first two floors were being used as a hay barn and the higher floors were intact but unsafe. The structure was built of brick with a coating of tar. The cap and the sails had been removed a year before (1963 to 1964) because they were unsafe, and the top was therefore open at the time of survey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Admiral Gardner was launched in 1797 as an East Indiaman for the British East India Company (EIC). She made five voyages for the EIC, during the fourth of which she participated in an inconclusive single-ship action with a French privateer. Admiral Gardner was wrecked in January 1809. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England. She was named after Admiral Alan Gardner. Career EIC voyage #1 (1797-1799): Captain Edward Chapman Bradford acquired a letter of marque on 10 June 1797. He sailed from Torbay on 22 September 1797, bound for Bengal and Bencoolen. Admiral Gardner reached Kedgeree on 16 February 1798. On 27 June she reached Bencoolen, and by 11 August was back at Kedgeree. She was at Saugor on 24 September, and Bencoolen again on 5 November. Homeward bound, Admiral Gardner reached St Helena on 27 March 1799. Admiral Gardner returned to St Helena on 24 April. She arrived back at Blackwall on 4 August. EIC voyage #2 (1801-1802): Captain Bradford sailed from Portsmouth on 31 March 1801, bound for Madras and China. Admiral Gardner reached Madras on 26 July. She was at Penang on 28 August and arrived at Whampoa Anchorage on 6 October. Homeward bound, she reached St Helena on 12 April 1802 and arrived at Blackwall on 12 July. EIC voyage #3 (1803-1804): Captain Bradford sailed from the Downs on 1 February 1803, bound for Madras and Bengal. On 12 February Admiral Gardner was at Madeira. She reached the Cape of Good Hope on 23 April and Madras 13 June; she arrived at Diamond Harbour on 22 July. The next day Bradford acquired a letter of marque. Homeward bound, Admiral Gardner was at Saugor on 7 November, reached St Helena on 12 March 1804, and arrived at Blackwall on 11 June. EIC voyage #4 (1805-1806): Captain George Saltwell acquired a letter of marque on 21 January 1805. He sailed from Portsmouth on 25 April 1805, bound for St Helena and Madras. On 28 November, at 6°4′N 93°25′E, Admiral Gardner encountered a French privateer of 32 guns. A single-ship action ensued in which the French vessel was able to damage Admiral Gardner's rigging. The privateer did not press the attack and by the next day she had disappeared. Admiral Gardner had 10 men wounded, three severely. On 4 December Admiral Gardner reached Madras. Homeward bound, she was at Colombo on 21 February 1806, reached St Helena on 14 May, and arrived at Blackwall on 1 August. On 4 August the East India Docks opened. In the celebration of the opening, the lead vessel to enter was the Trinity yacht, the yacht belonging to Trinity House. The next vessel was Admiral Gardner, chosen in recognition of her defense against the privateer. She was to have been third, after Earl Camden, Commodore Nathaniel Dance's flagship at the Battle of Pulo Aura, but adverse winds prevented Earl Camden's arrival. EIC voyage #5 (1807-1808): Captain William John Eastfield acquired a letter of marque on 30 December 1806. He sailed from Portsmouth on 26 February 1807, bound for Madras and Bengal. Admiral Gardner reached Madras on 3 July and Kedgeree on 21 July, and arrived at Diamond Harbour on 26 July. Homeward bound, she was at Saugor on 16 September, Madras on 22 October, and the cape on 30 December. She reached St Helena on 25 January 1808, and arrived at Blackwall on 28 April. Fate The wrecks of Britannia and Admiral Gardner on the Goodwin Sands, 24 January 1809 On 24 January 1809, Captain Eastfield sailed from the Downs, bound for Madras and Bengal, at the start of Admiral Gardner's sixth voyage for the EIC. The next day Admiral Gardner was lost on the Goodwin Sands off South Foreland when a gale tore her from her moorings. Three (or five) crew drowned. Lost with Admiral Gardner was her cargo, a large number of EIC X and XX copper cash coins, belonging to Matthew Boulton. The EIC put the value of its cargo at £21,579. The same gale also wrecked Britannia, and the brig Apollo. Boatmen from Deal were able to rescue almost the entire crew from Admiral Gardner. Boatmen from Ramsgate and Broadstairs saved most of the crew of Britannia, but only one man from the brig. A few days later Lloyd's List reported that all three wrecked vessels had gone to pieces. Rediscovery The wreck of Admiral Gardner was found in 1984 and some coins were salvaged in 1985 during a licensed dive. The wreck was designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act on 2 May 1985 and redesignated to extend the area covered on 5 October 2004.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ashbourne line was a 33+1⁄2 mi (53.9 km) railway from Buxton via Ashbourne to Uttoxeter. It was built by the London and North Western Railway using a section of the Cromford and High Peak Railway (C&HPR) and it joined the North Staffordshire Railway at Ashbourne, proceeding to Uttoxeter with a junction onto the main line at Rocester. Origins Although the country between Buxton and Ashbourne was sparsely populated, and the terrain immensely difficult, there were a number of motivations for its construction. Ashbourne was one of the few large settlements in the area without a railway connection until the North Staffordshire Railway built its branch from the Churnet Valley line in 1852. Meanwhile, a lucrative trade in limestone was building up and the LNWR's only route southwards was through the Manchester area. Finally, and not least, the Midland Railway was threatening to take over the Derbyshire business through its attempts to reach Manchester from Derby via Buxton. The LNWR sought to consolidate its position by building a line southwards across the Midland's path. Both railways had arrived at Buxton almost simultaneously in 1863, with termini adjacent to each other (and Buxton lost its chance to be served by a mainline railway). The LNWR had leased the Cromford and High Peak in 1861 and in 1874 it gained permission to link Buxton with the C&HPR at Hindlow Junction just south of Harpur Hill, which it reached in 1892. At the other end, it would build High Peak Junction near Cromford. After some delay, a further bill was sought in 1887 which, in addition, allowed the complete takeover of the High Peak line. Services began to Parsley Hay on 1 June 1894. The 13 mi (21 km) section from Parsley Hay to Ashbourne was authorised by the LNWR Act of 4 August 1890, the building contract awarded to Naylor Brothers on 10 December 1895, and it was opened on 4 August 1899. A new Ashbourne station was built jointly by the NSR and the LNWR. The Station Hotel (known as The Beresford Arms for some time, but which has now reverted to its original name) dates from this time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Henry George "Babbacombe" Lee (15 August 1864 – 19 March 1945) was an Englishman famous for surviving three attempts to hang him for murder. Born in Abbotskerswell, Devon, Lee served in the Royal Navy, and was a known thief. In 1885, he was convicted of the murder of his employer, Emma Keyse, at her home at Babbacombe Bay near Torquay on 15 November 1884, with a knife. The evidence was weak and circumstantial, amounting to little more than Lee having been the only male in the house at the time of the murder, his previous criminal record, and being found with an unexplained cut on his arm. Despite this and his claim of innocence, he was sentenced to hang. After he survived three attempts at hanging, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He became popularly known as "the man they couldn't hang". Attempted execution and aftermath On 23 February 1885, three attempts were made to carry out Lee's execution at Exeter Prison. All ended in failure, as the trapdoor of the scaffold failed to open despite being carefully tested by the executioner, James Berry, beforehand. The medical officer refused to take any further part in the proceedings, and they were stopped. Berry provides a detailed account of the failed execution in his memoirs, My Experiences as an Executioner, noting that the trapdoor was adjusted with a saw and axe between the attempted executions, although in Berry's memoirs and letter to the Under-Sheriff he only mentions two attempted executions. As a result, home secretary Sir William Harcourt commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. The Home Office ordered an investigation into the failure of the apparatus, and it was discovered that when the gallows was moved from the old infirmary into the coach house, the draw bar was slightly misaligned. As a result the hinges of the trapdoor bound and did not drop cleanly through. Lee continued to petition successive Home Secretaries and was finally released in 1907. The only other man in history known to have survived three hanging attempts was Joseph Samuel, in September 1803. An alternative theory, raised by Ernest Bowen-Rowlands in his book In the Light of the Law, suggests that the trap was blocked by a wooden wedge that was inserted by a prisoner working on the scaffold, and removed when the apparatus was tested. Note that Bowen-Rowlands only cites an anonymous "well-known person", citing an equally anonymous prisoner's confession, and this would contrast with Berry's reputation (noted by prison governors and surgeons) as a meticulous professional. Later years and identifications After his release, Lee seems to have exploited his notoriety, supporting himself through lecturing on his life, even becoming the subject of a silent film. Accounts of his whereabouts after 1916 are somewhat confused, and one researcher even speculated that in later years there was more than one man claiming to be Lee. It was suspected that he died in the Tavistock workhouse sometime during the Second World War. However, more recent research concludes that he died in the United States under the name of "James Lee" in 1945. According to the book The Man They Could Not Hang, Lee's gravestone was located at Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee in 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1890 Sir George Newnes, MP, publisher and builder of the Lynton funicular railway, offered to build a cliff railway to connect Babbacombe Downs to Oddicombe Beach but died before the project could be realised. Thirty years later George Croydon Marks, an English engineer, patent agent and Liberal, noted by many as a disciple of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, began consultation with The Torquay Corporation and in 1923 the Torquay Tramways Company announced that it was to install a lift from Babbacombe Downs to Oddicombe Beach. Work started in December 1924 and the Babbacombe Cliff Railway was completed in 1926 at a cost of £15,648. On April 1st 1926 the then Mayor of Torquay, Alderman John Taylor, made the first trip. His ticket, number A000, was framed in silver by Mr H Thomas, the lessee of Oddicombe Beach and presented to the Mayor. The Torquay Tramway Company company worked the line until the 13th March 1935 when it was taken over by Torquay Corporation for the sum of £18,000. Early returns showed that 192,000 people used the lift that year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Louth to Bardney Line was an English railway line built by the Louth and Lincoln Railway Company, in Lincolnshire, England. It opened in stages between 1874 and 1876, after serious difficulties in raising subscription capital, and following alteration to the planned route. It was hoped to serve large reserves of ironstone along its route, but the deposits were not as large as hoped, and the line was never financially successful. The passenger service closed in 1951, and the residual goods service closed in stages from 1956 to 1960.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bolsover Castle is a castle in Derbyshire, England that played a significant role in English history, from medieval times to the English Civil War1. During the 12th century, it was used as a royal residence by King Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine. It later became a stronghold for the Earls of Chester and was used as a base for King Henry III during his campaigns in Wales1. The castle became Crown property in 1155 when the third William Peverel fled into exile for poisoning Ralph Earl of Chester in 1153. The castle was founded in the late 11th century by William Peveril, one of William the Conqueror's knights, but it was neglected from the mid-14th century. Its ruins provided the setting for the Little Castle begun in 1612 by Sir Charles Cavendish as a retreat from his principal seat at Welbeck, a few miles away. The design of the Little Castle was intended to evoke a Norman great tower, which it clearly resembles viewed from a distance, rising sheer from the cliff. The interior continues the impression, with massive round Romanesque vaults in the basement and pointed Gothic ones on the entrance floor. The great windows of the upper floors were designed to give panoramic views across the landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Old Nick Theatre in Gainsborough, England, is a creepy place to be. Today, the building operates as a small theatre and a museum, but it had a different function before that. The Grade II building was originally a court and police station. And the ghosts of the past still haunt this building. The history of the Old Nick Theatre Back in 1850, the land on which the Old Nick Theatre now stands was sold to enable the building of a Magistrates’ Court and police station. This replaced the old Watch House which is a MacDonald’s restaurant today. Performances are now being held inside what used to be the Court. The judges’ rooms have been transformed into dressing rooms. But, deep under the theatre, the old cells are located. When a new police station and Magistrates’ Court was built on Morton Terrace in 1972, the old station was abandoned. In 1978, it was purchased by GTC (Gainsborough Theatre Company) Patron Douglas Parkinson. He allowed a group of theatre makers to rent the place for a small compensation. Old Nick Theatre - Jonathan Thacker via geograph.org.uk CC BY-SA4.0 Jonathan Thacker via geograph.org.uk CC BY-SA4.0 When Mr. Parkinson died in 1992, the building was bequeathed to the Gainsborough Theatre Group. This is when the hard work started: all the rubbish was cleared out and renovations were made. Even now, during the Covid lock downs, the theatre has been restored. The result: a small theatre with 55 seats and a police museum down below. Police Museum With a lot of hard work and effort the old rooms were restored into their former Victorian glory. Even the beds in the cells have been replaced for hard wooden slab beds where the prisoners had to sleep on back then. Both men and women were taken here after their arrest, awaiting their verdict. The exercise yard was also cleared out and restored. But at night, the dark corridors and the abandoned cells are a scary place to be. Overnight ghost hunts are offered, but even the most experienced paranormal investigators sometimes flea the building, vowing never to set foot in it again. The ghosts of Old Nick Theatre There have been 25 documented deaths at Old Nick Theatre between 1860 and 1948. Two of which were suicides. Staying here overnight is really for the die-hard paranormal investigators. People have seen menacing shadows moving through the creepy corridors below. There are reports of people having been touched by unseen hands and even pushed on the staircase. Heavy poltergeist activity is reported as well. Items are being thrown at visitors and items that were missing pop up in other areas of the building. Many witnesses claim to have seen the faceless apparitions of policemen and convicts. Doors slam shut and somehow get locked from the inside, so people get trapped. This is some creepy place so book your overnight ghost hunt, if you dare!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

General information Location Holton-le-Clay, East Lindsey England Platforms 2 Other information Status Disused History Original company Great Northern Railway Post-grouping London and North Eastern Railway Eastern Region of British Railways Key dates 11 December 1905 Opened 11 September 1961 Closed December 1980 Closure of line Holton Village Halt was a railway halt on the East Lincolnshire Railway which served the village of Holton-le-Clay in Lincolnshire between 1905 and 1961. The station, which opened as part of a new motor train service between Grimsby and Louth, was the second station to serve the village after Holton-le-Clay and Tetney situated further to the south. The line through Holton-le-Clay remained open for freight until December 1980. History The station was opened on 11 December 1905 to coincide with the introduction of a motor train service by the Great Northern Railway. It was the second station opened on the East Lincolnshire Line to serve the village of Holton-le-Clay in Lincolnshire. Holton-le-Clay and Tetney had opened in 1848 but was over a mile to the south of the village and more convenient for Tetney to the east, whilst Holton Village Halt was in the village itself. The station had two low parallel railmotor platforms to the south of a level crossing over Tetney Lane, with a timber waiting shelter and lamp on each platform. A stationhouse was situated on the north side of the crossing. It was of more substantial construction than the other halts on the line, such as Grainsby Halt which was unlit and had only one passenger shelter. Although the July 1922 timetable shows that passenger services only called at the station upon request, by August 1961 a total of seven trains from Grimsby called on weekdays, with an extra train running on Fridays. The station closed to passengers on 11 September 1961; it outlasted the earlier Holton-le-Clay station to the south by six years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hubbards Hills The ghosts of Hubbards Hills Over a decade before the First World War, a woman, lost her terrier down a rabbit warren near the shelter. She desperately tried to rescue the dog when a Scottish soldier from Sterling was walking and came to help. Unfortunately, the dog could not be saved. But the pair of them got on very well and later fell in love. But unfortunately he was called to the western front. The soldier, who was in the Black Watch regiment, survived a German gas attack which prompted him to return to Louth – bringing with him a new dog for the girl. Shortly after, they married but he was to outlive his bride; living in to his nineties. Since his death, walkers have reported seeing a ghost of a Scottish soldier in uniform, walking with a dog at the top of the hill. Dogs wit their dog walkers fight will fight to not go past that spot, which is said to be the place where the soldier met the Louth girl looking for her dog. Despite a frantic search, last year a much loved family pet went missing in the area – one of several to disappear without a trace. The apparition of the soldier is said not be a ghost, but like an old film being replayed on television. Our experience at Hubbards Hills Ascending the steep slope entering Hubbards Hills, the wet mix of leaves and mud slip from beneath my feet. It is a cold morning with slight dew and nobody is around. The scale of Hubbards Hills enables you to feel a million miles away from the next person. Only a slight murmur from the not-so-far bypass echoes through the trees and in to the valley. Trudging up the root covered slope, quickly rising above the stream below, a blip of a dog walker obliviously meanders parallel to me one hundred feet below. On any early morning in Hubbards Hills, there is a feeling of welcome isolation. A feeling of insignificance compared to the history that forged this place. A vulnerability to the elements that leaves one exposed to the creaks and howls of the trees and wind. Arriving at the reported spot of the Black Watch Soldier, I am yet again within no sight of another human. The knowledge I have of the soldier’s sightings make me feel the cold a little sharper than normal. Just knowing makes my senses heighten. The only sense that forebodes me that there may be nothing here is my sight. The solitude, the temperature, the story all fabricates the haunting in my mind, but I do not see it. I do not see the Black Watch Soldier, but I can feel it. The history of Hubbards Hills Hubbard’s Hills was donated to the town of Louthby the trustees of Auguste Alphonse Pahud, and opened to the public on 1 August 1907. Auguste Pahud was a Swiss who moved to Louth in 1875 to take up duties as a German and French teacher at the grammar school. He married a local girl, Annie, daughter of William and Maria Grant. They were wealthy farmers living at the manor in Withern about six miles south east of Louth. Annie Pahud died in 1889 and Auguste never got over this, committing suicide in 1902. They were buried at WithernChurch, but their gravestones were removed after it was declared redundant in July 1980. The church was sold as a private residence in 1983. Annie and Auguste’s gravestones are still visible on the pathway beside what used to be the church. The trustees of Auguste Pahud bought Hubbard’s Hills to honour his wish to create a memorial for Annie. They established an Edwardian pleasure garden with a lake, a country park and a memorial (pictured). The conveyance required “the natural beauty of the property and its rural character is to be forever maintained”. On 1 April 2009 East Lindsey District Council passed the responsibility to maintain the park to Hubbard’s Hills Trust Limited. The Hills will however still “belong” to the people of Louth and the Town Council will continue as official custodians. The Trust’s role will be to deliver on a conservation plan to safeguard the next 100 years of the Hills, replanting trees, enhancing the chalk stream and dredging the ornamental lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 1 November 1455, All Saints’ Day, betrothed couple Neville Randall and Rosamund Guy allegedly met in this beauty spot, and Rosamund was murdered by her fiancé. Both went missing, and stories arose that he had murdered her and fled. Rosamund’s father supposedly claimed that unless he was found and brought to justice, his daughter would haunt the wood for the next five hundred years. According to legend, the skeleton of a woman was eventually discovered under a tree, into which their initials had both been carved, and many people have claimed in the past to have seen the ghost. What remains of the wood is a short walk along a public footpath from Irby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History The now-demolished Bishop's Manor House at Nettleham was the property of Edith of Wessex, wife of Edward the Confessor and later Empress Matilda, daughter of King Henry I, before passing into the possession of the Bishops of Lincoln, who enlarged it to create a Bishop's Palace appropriate to one of the country's most important Sees. On 7 February 1301 King Edward I was staying in the Bishop's Palace when he created his son Edward (later King Edward II) as the first Prince of Wales. The building was damaged during the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536 and completely demolished by 1650, only traces of foundations remaining on the site now called Bishop's Palace Field. The parish church of All Saints dates from the Saxon period, with medieval and 19th century additions. It is now in the benefice of Nettleham with Riseholme and Grange de Lings. Thomas Gardiner's grave in Nettleham churchyard Within the church's graveyard is a headstone in memory of Thomas Gardiner, a post-boy murdered hereabouts by two highway robbers in January 1733. The inscription declares he was 'barbarously murdered' aged 19. The robbers - two brothers by the name of Hallam - committed another murder near Faldingworth before being arrested. They were convicted of murder at Lincoln and executed at the site of their crimes. (Thomas Gardiner's headstone declares he was killed on 3 January 1732 since at the time Britain used the Julian Calendar.) The Royal Society for Nature Conservation (RSNC) had been based in Nettleham but moved to Newark-on-Trent in 1999. The site became the home of the WATCH Trust for Environmental Conservation, but this also moved to Newark a few years later.