|
The Black Swan Hotel Wiltshire |
|
|
|
|
Located in the center of Devizes over looking the market place lies this former coaching inn dating back 1737. The original name name for the inn was The Nags Head and in 1700 was rebuilt and renamed The Sergents Head, the owner at that time was Francis Paradise.
In 1789 the inn changed hands again and was leased to a Walter Flay, also that same year the stables at the rear of the property was struck by lightening and caused servere damage.
The inn was once said to have been owned by the horse dealer and a highwayman Ambrose Saintbury, it is believed that the function room was once a court and a meeting place for freemasons and traders. The cellars beneath the inn are said to have been built before the 1600s and was once part of a lavish network of tunnels under the town. The cellars have five chambers which lead from a central passage, however the rear of the cellar has been bricked up blocking access to what is believed to be another 100ft of tunnels which leads under the yard.
The Black Swan was not the only building in the area to have tunnels and it is said that there are many passages and tunnels under the town and are thought to lead to Devizes Castle.
The 18th century inn with it maze of underground tunnels is said to be haunted, guests who have stayed at the inn have claimed to feel cold spots and have witnessed lights turning themselves on and off, tablecloths have been seen to move on command.
In room 4 guests have claimed that they had seen an image of a woman with long blonde hair wearing what is described as a long white gown, she is seen sitting in a chair and looking out of the window towards the market place, this woman is yet to be identified. Rumours suggest that this woman may have been murdered of died in child birth, she simply rises from the chair and floats across the floor and dissapears through the wall behind the bed, various people have had the feeling of their throats being cut in this room and have complained of servere stomach pains and the feeling of wanting to be sick. Another ghost is said to be that of a highwayman who kept his horse and a change of clothes in one of the many tunnels under the inn, could this be the face of a man that has been seen in the cellar wall?
|
