Fitz Manor

Located in Shropshire, England, Fitz Manor is one of the many locations brought to haunted fame by the paranormal investigation team 'Most Haunted'. This team investigated the property back in 2003, and there are a few claims around the spirits said to be present. Despite the location dating back to the year 1450, only three spirits are said to haunt the property; a lady, a family member, and a gay priest. 


History

Fitz Manor is located in the village of Fitz, Shropshire, and overlooks the River Severn. It was built during 1450, and has been enlarged and remodelled on a number of occasions. It is possible that a structure existed on the land before Fitz Manor was built, and this is because the land is suspected to have been the home to a saxon hall. As the Saxon era ended with the Norman Conquest in 1066, a Saxon Hall would have predated the 1450 version of Fitz Manor. I've found that the first written accounts date back to the 1100s as there is apparently record of the location in the Domesday Book. It's also been said that the location was recorded in the charter of Henry I, however in both cases of the book and charter I don't know if these records refer to Fitz Manor, the Fitz family, or the village of Fitz. 

The first adjustment to the manor occured during the 1500s, when it was enlarged. It was then possibly remodelled during the early 1700s. Following this was a further remodelling during the late 1800s, and then another extension during the early 1900s. It is also believed that Fitz Manor was once owned by the bishop of Shrewsbury, and that it even had it's own church. 

It was during the 1900s that the property came to be owned by the Bailey (alternative spelling Baly) family who have owned the location ever since. The Bailey's apparently ran Fitz Manor as a bed and breakfast, and the rooms are all named after colours. Fitz Manor gained a grade II listing on the 27th of November 1987, and there is a small barn located thirty meters North-East of the manor which is also grade II listed. The barn was first built during the 1600s and was also first listed on the 27th of November 1987. I am fairly certain that I have found the barn being listed as a bed and breakfast, and so am unsure on if Fitz Manor was also used by the Bailey's for this purpose. Images of the barn will be featured in this article alongside images of the manor. 



Hauntings 

There are only three spirits said to haunt this location. There is a gay priest who was crucified against a wall in the dining room for being homosexual. The room has also been referred to as the drawing room by some sources, so I'm unsure if this is a different name for the same room or if these sources are reporting that the event occured in a completely different room. Some sources have also said groans and sobs have been heard around the room the event occured in, and other sources have elevated this to screaming being reported. 

Another spirit is that of a lady who haunts the Red Bedroom and the graveyard. Apparently a painting was found in the attic of a young victorian lady who has a strong resemblance to the lady said to haunt Fitz Manor. This lady is said to be wearing a white dress, and she is seen running with her skirt pulled up slightly so that she doesn't trip. There is a story dating back to a documentation in 'Haunted Churches', published during 1939, which was written by Elliott O' Donnell that may relate to the graveyard haunting. It's said that the church cemetery in Fitz is haunted by a phantom in the form of a colt, which is a young male horse, and this colt is believed by some to be the ghost of a lady. 

The story around the colt and the lady is that a lady was buried with some of her most valuable jewels in a vault of Fitz Church. A parish clerk called Obrick knew of this and so attempted to rob the lady's corpse. Versions vary as to how successful Obrick was in his robbery as other versions say he either found the lady had been buried alive and murdered her, or that upon seeing she was still alive he dropped the jewels and fled. Regardless of the outcome of the robbery, it's said that nothing prospered with Obrick afterwards, and that after the attempted robbery stories emerged of villagers seeing a colt haunting the churchyard and Fitz area; although at the time the area was known as Cuthery Hollow or Cutberry Hollow. The villagers called the colt 'Obrick's Colt' and said it was the ghost of the lady he attempted to rob. This story is thought to date from before 1841, and could be the lady mentioned in reference to the haunting of Fitz Manor.

The final spirit is thought to be Edward Bailey, a relative of the current owners. Sources say Edward smoked a distinctive brand of tobacco which he imported himself, and as a result the strong smell of tobacco has been reported to occur without reason within the Orange Bedroom. Edward has never been seen, but the smell of the tobacco he used to smoke has led people to believe he haunts the manor. 


Summary Of Hauntings

1. A gay priest, crucified - Dining/Drawing Room
2. A lady, young, victorian, white dress, running - Red Bedroom, Graveyard
3. Edward Bailey, smoker, never seen - Orange Bedroom
4. Smell of tobacco - Orange Bedroom
5. Obrick's Colt, thought to be the lady - Graveyard



My Thoughts 

First, I just want to make a quick point about the 'Baly' and 'Bailey' spellings. The sources all referred to the family as 'Baly', however, when Most Haunted interviewed the property owner the last name was written as 'Bailey'. I don't know if this spelling was an error, or if the family have just changed the spelling of their name over the years. I find it hard to believe that the 'Bailey' family would have bought the property from the 'Baly' family, and so I'm confident that it is just a case of alternative spellings being used. 

That leads me on to the complete lack of information there was to find about Fitz Manor. I hope what has been documented within this article is correct, but it seemed most of the sources copy and pasted the information from one another. I couldn't even find present images of the location, and so had to use images from when Most Haunted investigated the property. Had the Most Haunted team not investigated the location, it would be like it didn't exist. 


On a quick side-note, just to be clear the above image is of the barn and not of Fitz Manor. All other images used are of the manor and the manor's interior. Carrying on, usually I would say there is likely to be some sort of tourism angle to the hauntings; but the location isn't open to the public. As far as I can tell, it's all private land hidden away by country roads. This leads me to wonder why the Most Haunted team investigated the property, and how they found out that this location existed. The places the team have often investigated are either fairly high profile, or they're owned by a team member. This location seems to me like it's neither, and so it seems like the owners would have contacted the Most Haunted team about the property. As it isn't a tourist destination, I suspect the location will legitimately be haunted as there is no obvious angle here to get revenue from the hauntings. 

As for if the hauntings are those detailed in this article, it all depends on how much of that has been reported by the Most Haunted team as apposed to the property owners. The Most Haunted team are widely believed to be dubious, and so it isn't easy to take their word on what apparently haunts a location. However, if these hauntings were being discussed by the owners before the team investigated Fitz Manor then I would be more inclined to believe these specific hauntings to be legitimate.

Regarding the story about Obrick's Colt, I don't see why the lady would manifest as a young male horse. As a result, I would place this down more to superstition than anything legitimate. The story strikes me as similar to tales around seeing black cats and crows as omens or warnings. I also think it's possible that the sighting could have been a very real animal as apposed to a paranormal apparition, and as it could have been a rare sighting in the area, and superstition could behave been rife during the period, it makes sense that a ghost story in connection to a singular sighting could have emerged; especially if the attempted robbery did happen. 



Thank You! 

Thank you for reading this article! I was amazed that there was so little information on the property, especially given how far back it's history is said to go. I was also surprised at how few hauntings there were. This type of location, one that isn't a widely known tourist destination, is possibly quite a good one for accurate information on the hauntings. With these locations, the information likely hasn't been added to or twisted as can often be the case; and this is probably why there are so few reports with so few details. I also want to thank Lin Keska for sharing the story of Oblick's Colt with me in the Facebook comments for when I initially uploaded this article. I hadn't found the information about that during my initial bout of research, and so the additional information provided was very much so appreciated.

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Sources I Have Used


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