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Brook House Greenhouse's and Garden, Highfield

Started by: Fursty Ferret (4)

Hi all,

I am currently researching some ruins that are situated in Blundell's Wood, Highfield.

It has been concluded that this ruin was part of the land within Brook House that stood at the top of the wood/Watkins brow.

I wondered if anyone could shed some light on to the ruin that is there today.. Some have suggested it was part of the large greenhouses although on the old maps, the greenhouses seem to be to the side of it.

There isn't much on Brook House in general so it would be great to get people's memories and insight of what they remember of it and its occupants.

Thanks
Fursty

Started: 18th Jan 2021 at 13:57
Last edited by Fursty Ferret: 19th Jan 2021 at 00:42:37

Posted by: jarvo (30250) 

Haunted by the Green Mon.
Also known as the White House.

Circa 1965.

Replied: 21st Jan 2021 at 11:22

Posted by: Fursty Ferret (4)

Jarvo,

I must admit I was never around to see the white house, but some have said that was actually the one stood on what would become speedwells scrapyard, this was the opposite side of the building I am thinking of

I've heard stories about the white house but only recently people have mentioned the green mon, but never to detail.

share to tell the story?

Replied: 22nd Jan 2021 at 23:59
Last edited by Fursty Ferret: 23rd Jan 2021 at 00:00:20

Posted by: jarvo (30250) 

The story goes:

In 1931, a local surgeon, Mr Herbert Stanley Green, occupied the White House. Mr Green had been linked to a poisoning scandal that resulted in a young nurse, Alice Bennett, losing her life in suspicious cirumstances. Green was released after police questioning and the killer responsible was never found. It was said that Green took his own life by taking a rare poison linked to weedkiller after feeling remorse of what he had done to result in Miss Bennett's death.. His body when discovered was alleged to have turned a dark green colour.

After the house became unoccupied and derelict, local schoolboys reported seeing a green hand at the top of the broken stairs beckoning them up. This was spotted on numerous occasions usually at dusk and the tale became a legend.

J.

Replied: 26th Jan 2021 at 00:25

Posted by: kathpressey (5590) 

Fascinating story Jarvo!

Replied: 28th Jan 2021 at 08:56

Posted by: jacks (426) 

Used to go there quite often when the place was derelict. It was a great place to hang out, and mess about. Me and my mates always knew it as The White House, like Jarvo says. I remember us getting a spooky experience one evening, just as it was getting dark. We were outside, and ready for home, when we heard something from inside the house. We scarpered pretty quickly, but none of us actually saw anything. To be honest, I'd never heard of the story that Jarvo tells, but there you go.

Replied: 25th Feb 2021 at 15:14

Posted by: riocaroni (673)

Did somebody not get shot? I'm sure I remember some time in the sixties about a gang of lads spending the night in the White house, one of them stood on the half derilict upstairs floor with a white sheet over his head making whaling noises and one of the other lads downstairs shot him with a twelve bore shotgun. Or is this just another exaggerated story?

Replied: 25th Feb 2021 at 22:22

Posted by: Old Timer (2)

I saw this message about Brook House, Highfield yesterday and registered so that I could reply. It is over 50 years since I went down Foundry Lane, although I never forgot the house that held very happy memories for me. I understood there were no remains of the house since the estate was built but I would love to be able to find just a tiny part of the plot. I actually lived at Brook House from 1943 for about four years, until my father returned from the war, and then visited and stayed regularly there until, my Grandparents moved to Wrightington in the late 50's or early 60's. All the men in my Grandfather's family worked in the local mine, including my father, who was an electrician. Both my Grandfather and Great Uncle worked in the offices which were between Blundell Arms and Brook House. However I know nothing about any 'hauntings' or 'shootings' at Wood Cottage. I know I visited the Gullicks at Wood Cottage at a very early age but have no recollection of doing so. The Gaskell family also lived at 7 Wildes Houses, which to my knowledge was called Sunny Side, until they later moved to Brook House. I will search my photographs to see what I can find!

Replied: 15th Mar 2021 at 12:40

Posted by: Fursty Ferret (4)

Old timer,

sorry for the late reply! I hope this message gets to you well. Did you find any photographs in the end?

Replied: 25th Nov 2021 at 19:33

Posted by: Old Timer (2)

Fursty Ferret -
11/10/2022
Only this morning have I found a photograph that shows the Brook House and the greenhouse together. Apologies for the length of time it has taken, you wouldn't believe how many photographs I have sorted through saving some and throwing others away. This I believe was taken in 1939 (even before I was born 1943), showing several cold frames, and what appears to be a growing area. The latter was once a Lily Pond later becoming a rose garden. Out of the picture at the bottom was a tennis court - the brook ran parallel to the court and the wood was behind it. My problem now is to upload the photograph!

Replied: 11th Oct 2022 at 16:42
Last edited by Old Timer: 13th Oct 2022 at 20:24:06

Posted by: Tommy Two Stroke (15202)

The White House was still there in the early 1980s at the side of the Speedwell Spares Scrapyard

Replied: 11th Oct 2022 at 17:20

 

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