Charnock Hall
Charnock Hall is a grade II listed building, and is located in Lancashire, England; more specifically on Balcarres Road, formerly known as Sandy Lane before the 1930's, in Preston. Despite having the word 'hall' in it's name, Charnock Hall is not the grand manor house that springs to mind, but rather is just a plain white house that looks perfectly ordinary. As a grade II listing building, the location is old, however doesn't have at all much documented about it online; presumably being as it's just a privately owned house. The most interesting source I've managed to find on the property comes from someone claiming to be the sister in law of the woman who lived there at some point in 2021. This woman bought the location at some point after Most Haunted investigated it in 2002. During that source she talks about the history of the property, along with the hauntings. I've used other sources too, but if the woman in this source is the sister in law of a woman who lived in the property, then that's close to first hand information: a rare thing to get from the Internet.
History
Charnock Hall was originally built in 1345 and went by the name 'Blacklache House', presumably named after it's owner John de Blakelache. Over the years, the name of the location has changed a few times. It's been known as Blacklache House, 'The Old Hall', 'Leyland Hall, and then Charnock Hall. During 1301, there was an argument over land between the sons of Adam de Leyland: Robert and John. Then, in 1345, John de Blakelache and his wife Margery claimed land from John de Leyland. With the house being known as 'Leyland Hall' at one point, it's unclear if it was built by John de Blakelache, or by John de Leyland. As John de Blakelache is said to be the original owner of the house, I'm assuming that 'Leyland Hall' refers to the area it was built in being known as 'Leyland'. If the house was really built in 1345, the year that John de Blakelache owned the land the house is on, and they year the house was built, then this helps to support this. It then likely would have become known as 'Blacklache House' from it being lived in and owned by John de Blakelache.
I've been unable to find anything on the location's history until 1598, when the house was owned by the Charnock family. The Charnocks were a well-known Catholic family, which was quite dangerous at the time due to the country being Protestant. The Charnocks are said to have lived in Leyland, the area, for up to one hundred years before they moved into the old hall. I've also found that, aside living in Leyland for up to one hundred years, the Charnocks were originally from Cuerden, a location near to Leyland.
During 1598, William Charnock died and left the estate to his son Roger, who was eleven years old at the time. Roger died during 1633 and Robert Charnock, a Roman Catholic priest, came to own Charnock Hall. I don't know how long Roger lived in Charnock Hall for, if at all, as very few sources talk about him. I wasn't even sure he existed at one point and thought he existed through a muddling up of names in a source, until I found a source saying when he died. I've found that Robert rebuilt the hall in 1660, so that implies to me that Roger may not have lived in the hall at all; and if he did then it would only have been for a short two years.
Above the door of the property is a coat of arms and inscription reading: 'I.H.S. A.M. R.C. 1660'. It's thought, but not confirmed, that 'I.H.S.' means 'Jesus Our Saviour', 'R.C.' means Roger or Robert Charnock, and that '1660' refers to when alterations were made to the building. It isn't known what 'A.M.' means.
Robert Charnock died during 1670, and there was a bit of fuss over who Charnock Hall would go to. I've found that Robert conveyed his estate to Grace Bold. I've also found that he wanted the house and estate to be left for the priests and secular clergy to use; with the hall itself to one day be the home of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Lancashire. During 1686, a trial occured at the Lancaster Assizes, and it was declared that the property being left in such a way was illegal. As a result, during 1688, the exchequer declared the house as forfeited to the king. This forfeit made it so this perfectly ordinary looking house was once direct property of the King of England: a fact I was not expecting to find after seeing images of the location.
A petition was carried out by the parishioners following the forfeit, and so the house and lands were eventually given to the vicars of Leyland. At some point the property became a farmhouse, and was eventually converted into two seperate properties. During 1884, the building underwent restoration work; through which time certain hiding places known as 'priest holes' were discovered. These were spaces within the walls used to hide away priests due to the tensions around the Catholic faith. It's also believed that a network of secret tunnels run beneath the property. These were used by Catholic families and led from their manor houses to the local Catholic Church. It's said that one entrance to these tunnels is within Charnock Hall.
Hauntings
With so little known history, and so little information about the property available online, comes not at all much more information regarding the hauntings. There are no spirits of name, but it is said that there are 'priestly figures' and 'nun-like apparitions'. It's also said that monks sit on the end of the bed in the middle room, which is the most active of the house, and chat to one another. The figure of a small boy has also been seen in the upstairs bedroom window. A friend of Carol Rawlinson, a previous owner of the property, saw a boy bouncing a ball in the window. Carol herself heard footsteps on the stairs. When she first moved in, and removed the stairs as part of renovation work, she heard the footsteps in the time between the old stairs being removed and the new ones being installed. The electricity in the building has turned itself off with no explanation, and electrical appliances have turned themselves on. Apparently the stereo turned itself on in the middle of the night. The bathroom door also closes by itself, with people sometimes being locked inside. Apparently people have also seen the face of someone they're with transform into the face of a nun while looking at them.
Summary of Hauntings
1. Priestly figures
2. Nun-like apparitions
3. Little boy apparition
4. Monk apparitions (end of a bed)
5. Footsteps
6. Doors close (bathroom door)
7. Talking (conversation)
8. Electricity turns off
9. Electrical appliances turn on (specifically the stereo)
10. Bathroom door locks
11. Faces can look like a nun's face
My Thoughts
'Faces can look like a nun's face' is not a sentence I thought I'd be typing. If this location was famous, and there was this little information on it, then I'd absolutely say there's probably nothing here and it was all made up for use on 'Most Haunted'. However, I do believe pretty much everywhere is haunted to some degree; so I can't say this location is not haunted by something. Do I think it's haunted by a whole clergy worth of nun's, priests, and monks? No. I think the little boy is very likely to be a haunting at this location. As for the religious folk, there will likely be at least one member of the Charnock family present, but only if they spent a good amount of emotional time at the property. As one of the Charnocks, whether it be Robert or Roger, did rebuild/make alterations to the property then that's a good amount of emotional investment along with time put into the location. This makes me think one of either Roger or Robert will be present.
The lack of talk about this house on the internet does make me think something will be here, and that what I've written about the hauntings will be fairly accurate. This location won't have had information passed from person to person, which is something that twists and warps accuracy, and it doesn't have the fame to imply that it's all been blown out of proportion. It sounds very grounded, and the hauntings are rooted in the locations history. This could just mean someone has learnt about the history, and then made up hauntings to fit, but as I said earlier; I do believe something will be here. It's just amazing how little there is to find on this location. For context as to how little there is, usually I try to use between twenty and fifty sources: this location only has seven. Usually I physically write out at least one page about the hauntings, and possibly at least five on the history. This location has just under half a page about the hauntings and a tiny bit over one page on the history. I was honestly expecting far more: but I think that makes this location's spirits either all the more real, or just a fictional haunting inspired by the 'Most Haunted' team.
Thank you for reading to the end of this post! It was a much shorter location post this week, but I can only write as much as I find online. A special thank you to Damain, Nicolette, the Cornish Ghost Whisperers, and to everyone else who follows and supports The True Paranormal. If you want to follow The True Paranormal across social media, you can do so on Facebook, X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram, or Tumblr. All the links to these platforms are available in the bar to the left of the page, including an option to subscribe to The True Paranormal for receiving email updates. You can also subscribe to the youtube channel where I post live streamed reviews and discussions I do on Facebook. If you want to contact me about this post, or about anything at all paranormal, then you can do so at thetrueparanormal1@gmail.com
Sources I Have Used:
6. Flickr
7. Higgypop
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