The Clock House
Located on Horsham Road in Surrey, England, the oldest part of the Clock House is said to have been built in the 1100s, but the official statement about the house is that it dates back to the 1400s. This location was investigated by the Most Haunted team while Fred Batt, the then owner of the house, was still a member as the team's demonologist. The hauntings here involve monks, children, and a spirit who Fred believes followed him home from the nightclub he owned.
History
The Clock House has proven to be an incredibly difficult location to research for a couple of reasons. One is that it seems only Most Haunted have investigated it, but another is that there are a few locations that go by the name of 'the Clock House'. There are three which are grade II listed buildings, this one included. The two other Clock Houses exist on Dorking Lane, in Surrey, and on Sychem Lane; which is in Capel, Tunbridge, in the county of Kent. The alledgedly haunted Clock House pictured in this article is definitely located on Horsham Road, in Capel, but in the county of Surrey. Two different Clock Houses in two different Capels worked well to confuse researching the location.
The oldest part of the Horsham Road Clock House connects to the Georgian part of the house through a panelled corridor, and the back of the house has a victorian extension. To the side of the location there are Elizabethan outbuildings, and the Clock House gets its name from a small turret which is on the roof of the main building. This turret used to have a clock in it, but it was changed in the 1600s so that a bell now hangs in this tower. As the house was in the centre of the hamlet, the bell would be used to call people in off the fields. While Fred Batt lived within the house, the bell was still present and functioning. It's unclear if Fred still lives in the house due to various listing currently up regarding the house being for sale.
Other information says the house was originally known as Risbrugg, or Risbridge, and that it first appears in records from 1307. Evidence of this history includes a priest hole which can be accessed from the bathroom, and a decorative hand painting which sits in the upper reception room. The Clock House was refronted during the 1700s and gained it's victorian extention, which was substantial, during the 1800s. There is also a brick built detached building on the site which was constructed during 1982 from an Elizabethan barn. The Clock House did undergo restoration during the 1900s, and gained it's grade II listing on the 11th of November 1966. The property includes a garden and lake, plus a drawing room, large dining room, cinema room, and utility room.
Hauntings
From the sources I've found discussing the hauntings, which are few and far between, I've found a few bit of activity are said to occur within this location. Fred Batt has said the last woman to be hanged in the UK, Ruth Ellis, followed him home from his nightclub. It's unclear if this was a temporary thing, or if she decided she liked the house more than the nightclub. It's been said that children have died in the house of illness, so there is potential for these children to also be haunting the property. A woman wearing a bonnet is said to reside within the Clock House, as are two monks who roam the ground floor corridor. Footsteps have been heard on the upper floor, and a door on the same floor supposedly opens and closes on it's own.
Fred has been interviewed about the Clock House and has said a few interesting things. He's said that "there's a corridor upstairs you can walk through one time of the year and you can smell roses, you walk through another time and you can smell lavender." He's also said that guests have told him they've woken in the night, half opened their eyes, and seen a figure stood near the end of their bed wearing a distinctive hat; the type worn by a beadle. Apparently a beadle, which is a church official, used to live in the house; a detail which lines up with the priest hole. Another thing Fred's commented on is the presence of the children. Regarding this, he has said "there's a couple of rooms up on the third floor that feel a bit strange when you go in. That's where a couple of children died." Fred has also been asked if any teams have investigated the location since the Most Haunted team did, and he replied by saying the following: "Everybody wants to come here but I don't let them in. I don't let anybody in here."
Summary Of Hauntings
1. Ruth Ellis, last woman hanged in UK, followed Fred from nightclub
2. Smell of roses - upstairs corridor
3. Smell of lavender - upstairs corridor
4. Strange feeling - a couple of third floor rooms, children died here
5. Two monks - ground floor corridor
6. Footsteps - upper floor
7. A door opens and closes - upper floor
8. A woman, wears a bonnet
9. A figure, wears a beadle's hat - stands near a bed at night
My Thoughts
Being completely truthful and blunt, I think the hauntings of this location are a load of nonsense. It seems incredibly suspicious to me that Fred has seemingly only let the Most Haunted team, the team he was a member of at the time, investigate the property. It's an unusually difficult location to research for both it's history and it's hauntings, and I can't help but feel that's because it isn't haunted. Now, I do believe, in a fairly contradictory way, that everywhere with human connection is haunted. So, by default, that does mean I think the Clock House is haunted. I do think there will be ghosts there. However, I do not believe there will be active hauntings, and I do not believe the hauntings will include all of what I've listed in the summary of hauntings. If children died in the location, and if a priest did live here, then there is absolutely potential for these small pieces of haunting information to be true.
I think the information on the monks seems too vague and generic, and I'm curious why there isn't more information on the woman with the bonnet. The smell of lavender has been reported in a number of haunted locations, so this one I can absolutely believe occurs. I do not think Ruth Ellis will be present here. She may have followed Fred, but I feel it's been too long for her to still be in this location.
The biggest concern to me about the validity of the hauntings here is the question over why Fred hasn't allowed anyone else to investigate here. Straight away my mind goes to 'it's because the hauntings are fake and he doesn't want a legitimate team to investigate and say there's nothing here'. If it was revealed that there was nothing in this location, then that would damage any reputation of himself and of the Most Haunted team as experts in the paranormal.
So, with all of that being said, it raises the question of why I've chosen to include a location I've deemed as 'most likely not haunted' into a database consisting of haunted locations. This is because I feel it's just as important to document the locations which are said to be haunted but likely aren't. It all helps to build up trends and patterns which can assist in pointing to the legitimate hauntings. If you look at this article, it's scarce on information on both hauntings and history. Perhaps this is one indicator that the location isn't haunted. With this information, we can look at other locations with little information on history and hauntings and see if any details line up. Perhaps these locations always have monks, perhaps there is always a woman, and perhaps there are always the ghosts of ill children. I feel these generic tropes in the paranormal are the details to look out for, and that's why it's just as important to document the potentially fraudulent along with the potentially legitimate.
Thank You!
Thank you for reading to the end of this article! This one was quite frustrating to write due to how many Clock Houses there were in a relatively close distance, plus you can't see them on Google maps to confirm which is the right one to talk about. I do hope there is more information on this location out there, whether that be on history or hauntings, as I feel it's quite sad when history becomes lost to time. Plus, I don't like the idea of a place said to be haunted not actually being haunted. I don't like the fraud and potential scheming that entails, and if the location isn't haunted then that, in my mind, is one mark towards the paranormal not existing. It does make for a somewhat interesting discussion and debate though, so at least there's that.
A special thank you goes to Damain, Nicolette, Kerry, GD, Chris Willcx, Nicola Jada, Nita Raveling-Hamilton, David Lee Jones, theinoculator, The Cornish Ghost Whisperers, Beardo Gets Scared, Starlight Phoenix Paranormal, Paranormal Penny Pinchers, the Australian Paranormal Society, Codegas Codex of Curiousity, Phantom Detectives LLC, Shadow Walkers Paranormal Investigators, South Of Spooky, Don't Scare Claire, blogparanormalexpresso2stuff, and Paranormal Connections for your continued support of The True Paranormal. Please keep sharing the articles! If you want to be thanked in an article, or in the monthly appreciation post I make across social media, then please share my articles and tag 'The True Paranormal'. If I see that you've shared, then I will publicly thank you!
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Sources I Have Used
1. Higgypop
2. Surrey Live
5. Rightmove
9. Barnet
10. Capel Village
11. Homipi
Although short, I found this article & your thoughts to be very interesting about what looks to be a beautiful old building. Thank you!
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