Gregynog hall investigation

Tregynon, Powys

Thursday 9^th April 2009

6.30pm – 12.15am

Due to organisational difficulties, this investigation report was never published. As 4 members of the investigation team are now full members of the Unexplained Wales. team, I thought it acceptable to approach the General Manager for her approval and consent to insert the report on our site. This she kindly agreed to, and with some amendments to the report as she requested, we give you the virtually unchanged report. - hope you enjoy it, we certainly did.

Archie.

Archie's report

This report is a collaboration of information from Group 2 of the team

Investigation team

(names changed to initials) I, Wayne, Joelene, A, N, R and myself (Archie)

Also with us as witness onlookers were – the GeneralManager of Gregynog hall,

Gregynog house supervisor, and Carole (Archie's wife).

History of Gregynog hall

Gregynog hall has a rich history, and has played an important role in the Montgomeryshire area.

There has been a Gregynog on this site since the 13^th century, and has consequently gone through many changes to its present form.

By the middle of the fifteenth century, Gregynog was the seat of the Blayney family, and the hall was noted for its magnificence and hospitality. There is a watercolour of this house within the hall today. The Blayney connection with Gregynog came to an end with the death of Arthur Blayney in 1795. The hall then passed into the hands of the eighth Viscount Tracy of Toddington, and on his death, through marriage, to Henry Hanbury-Tracy. It was this man who changed the appearance of the outer shell of the hall, by enclosing the brickwork with a skin of concrete, moulded and painted to resemble the timber framed border houses.

The fourth Lord Sudely in 1894, had 'greatly over extended himself' (local oral history has it that on a wager, his prize would be a cart filled with gold – he lost the wager!) this meant that the hall and lands was then sold to Lord Joicey, a Northumberland coal owner, who was as brief tenant until 1914, when most (well a great portion of it) of the 18,000 acres of land was split up and sold very largely to the tenants.

The hall, with the remaining 750 acres was bought just after the First World War, by the sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, taking up residency in 1924. - much is known about these two and their philanthropic ideals, but they still seem to remain an enigma.

The hall was used as a convalescent home for soldiers during the Second World War.

Gwen died in 1951, and her sister, after a few years, decided to bequeath the hall to the University of Wales. They in turn allowed her to stay in residence at the hall for a peppercorn rent of £1 per year, until her death in 1963.

The hall is now in almost constant use as a 90 bedded conference centre, offering short stay to inter college groups, external business conferences, and the famous Gregynog Music festival to name but a few.The Institute of Rural Health occupy the top (3^rd) floor of the hall, and hold their annual conference there.

Initial contact

I. R and myself had already had a previous meeting with the present General Manager, a few weeks previously at her office at Gregynog, to put our case, and discuss our aims with her, and to see if she would allow us the privilege of doing an investigation at Gregynog hall.

Archie - It was obvious to me, that because of previous spirit encounters and anecdotal evidence, while I was an employee at the hall, that Gregynog was a possible hot-spot of Psychic / Spiritual activity. (I worked there for 5 years, ceasing my employment approximately 8 years ago, my wife Carole also worked there for approximately 8 years, leaving at the same time as myself).

So, knowing of its previous history, I pushed for an investigation to be done there.

During our initial meeting with the manager, she seemed compliant with the idea, and quite excited by the prospect of the team coming here, the only reservation she had with the investigation taking place, was the probable involvement, post investigation, of the local press (the County Times). We all agreed that nothing would be said, or released to the press, without the managers prior knowledge and consent. Diaries were consulted, and a date was set for Thurs 9^th April 2009. The hall would be vacant because of the next day being Good Friday, and, essential work on the internal water systems was planned to take place over this holiday period.

We were hoping to bring the rest of the team in at a later date, prior to the investigation, to plan the evenings proceedings, but unfortunately, the manager could not find a time slot when the hall was not in use before the investigation.

Buck Inn investigation, Newtown

Saturday 10th Jan 2009

10.00pm-3am

Archie's report

Note : 3 of unexplained Wales team took part on this investigation while part of another investigation team,  We felt that it would be worthy of adding to our site.

Investigation team – Wayne, Jolene And  myself (Archie).

We arrived at the Buck Inn at 10.00pm. The team were introduced to the owner of the pub, and he led us through a doorway, upstairs to the private part of the building.

The Buck Inn is, apparently, dated from at least the 17^th century, although there seems to be little historical information available before the mid 1800's. It is a brick and wooden beam construction, and painted Tudor style black and white, inside and out.

On going up the first flight of stairs, to a small landing, halfway to the next floor, I felt a strange sensation, a tingling / prickly feeling over my face, scalp and neck. We also noted that although the stairwell was quite warm, there seemed to be a cold draught going around us (although it should be mentioned that I could see small gaps in the wall to the outside, where the black wooden beams adjoined the brickwork, possibly allowing small draughts).