The Hermits House, Abbey Lakes, Upholland, Lancs.

Can anyone help with information about the family and there background, does anyone know what they looked like there names and what happened there ........

it would be great if anyone remembers what happened around the 1950s

thankyou for your help

they were brother and sister, left on their own after their parents died. social services kept a eye on them until they were moved to a nursing home. I was told the lady was small and wiry, the gent was rotund, tall and with a beard. They used to be tormented by local children who would sing aptly worded songs to them and run away laughing.

thankyou for your information it would be great if anyone could tell me more ...im really interested in the history behind the house and family also the history of the church in upholland

The church in Upholland dates back to the doomsday book and during its lifetime it has also been a monestry for benedictine monks who grew a lot of there food in and around the Abbey lakes village.

{:p} thanks ghostman ......

I used to deliver newspapers there in the 1950's. Massive pile of papers, Magazines and comis everyday. I very often saw mother of the house scrubbing the front steps. Oh and the house was in good condition then. JGMAC

I know the brother and sisters surname was Rathbone, my husband used to play round that area as a lad. I also know they were related to rathbones bakery.

It is the first time that i have heard that the Rathbone family ie the bakers of Warrington rd,Newtown,wigan had any connections with the hermits house

I used to play around there and we used to dare each other to go in the garden, the stories that surrounded them terrified a small child.. Now as an adultI have managed to get a better story together of them it seems such a shame they spent their lives this way.
As for the Church has anyone else heard the stories of the nuns and monks??

The church is named St.Thomas the Martyr(I think) It has the grave of a highway man which is near to one of the side walls of the church.

The highway mans grave belongs to George Lyon, who was last highway man hung in england, although was actually hung for horse thievery i believe.
The hermits, well, saw them a few times as i came out of Abbey lakes drunk, now they where alright people, used to pick all rubbish up in street in front of their hose and put in waste bin, also had an old silver moris minor in their shed until some scrot burnt it. I believe they where directly related to the Housleys, who lived in third road on right on hallbridge, first house on left, though not sure if they still live there. Also know curator from St Thomas' used to drop in on them from time to time.
The Abbey lakes is an old monestary and there is supposed to be monk tunnels between it and the White Lion and Old Dog pubs, though the only tunnel i've any reason to believe exists is between the old dog and white lion and i was told that had been blocked by the old landlord of the dog. For interests sake the wall at back of white lion pub is the old rear wall of George Lion's house, which was knocked down years ago.

If your only 27 years srtmhill of age you wouldnt have seen them picking up rubbish in the streets.

I can relate to a similar story but this all happened in the 60s.

I think Harold is right the incidents with the Hermits happened a long time ago now and if your only 27 years old then it was long before then.Did you get your information from another source older than yourself.

i didnt hemins hermits had a house up there..

know

I noticed on Rightmove.com yesterday that the house is up for auction shortly, if anyone is interested!

i,ll buy it and haigh hall aswell

My Aunt and Uncle Live next door to the Rathbones, and as a child we saw them occasionally both very pale and of course they never spoke. All the groceries were delivered to the door and I remember the first time the council cleared the house out, they had the same odd habits that Howard Hughes had so there were lots of bottles and bags of "matter" removed as well as thousands of newspapers. They were very well off and owned the houses on the row as well as other property in the area. The local urchins were ruthless with their torments and my dad and my uncle used to chase them off. The hermits must have been cold though most of the windows were put through at one time. They had no children so I do not know who the estate went to when they both passed away.

the houses on that row where left to the tennants in the will. they ended up in orrell hall nursing home where they died . he was very excentric he used to order things from a harrods catalogue.my mother law used to work in the home.

when the house was sold last year,the wigan observer did a piece on the "hermit,s house" and they said the name of the brother and sister was williams.

there names was tom valinetine and sarah valinetine ! the reason of them stay in there house was because they sor there parents die on the back field which shocked them !they wer very weathly peaple!

if you go on wigantoday.net type in hermits house, press search,go down to the house that his crumbling down and read, it says a tommy and llynn williams lived there! it was published in the 22 february 2007 edition.

Howdoo, you are correct. Their names were Tommy and Ileen Williams. Their father was a very successful and wealthy builder who owned and rented out countless properties throughout the borough. The rents were never reviewed and many people ended up living in houses paying a pittance in rent for decades. Despite rumours to the contrary, brother and sister were highly intelligent and well educated, albeit very eccentric. They simply did not like the modern world and decided to exclude themselves from it! According to the press, on their death, insufficient records existed of their total estate so I assume tenants no longer find themselves pay any rent at all.

Turning to the church. George Lyon was no romantic highwayman, he was a violent thug and a thief. He was actually the last person to be hanged for sheep stealing in 1815.He is buried with his mother, who's name escapes me.

In 1910 or thereabouts, the house next door to the White Lion(now demolished) was the subject of a major haunting. This is fully documented by my old form master, Dr Alan Miller, and his article 'Ghosts of Upholland' can be downloaded from t'Internet!

Has anybody got more on it and pictures

Has anybody got more on it and pictures