THE ANCIENT RAM INN
Number of alleged ghosts: 20+
Alleged entities: Succubus/Incubus, witch, poltergeist.
The current owner believes that some incidences are demonic in nature.
Name: The Ancient Ram Inn
Locality: Potters Pond, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire GL12 7HF
Built: Late medieval
Owner: Mr John Humphries
Grade: II*
Website:
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| © Illustration by Jules |
The Oldest Inn in England
Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, England.
Grade II listed, in 1145 AD. Grade II* buildings are particularly important buildings of more than special interest.
Official website www.theancientraminn.com
The Ancient Ram Inn is believed to date as far back as 1145. John Humphries, the current owner, bought the property from a brewery back in 1968. The Ancient Ram is a Grade II listed building and John Humphries has spent the past 30 odd years renovating it. When he first moved in he was totally unaware that the place was haunted until he was awoken by someone with icy hands grabbing at his ankles and trying to pull him out of bed. His daughters also had several experiences. The Ancient Ram is believed to be built on an ancient burial ground where ritual killings took place. It is also opposite a henge. Apparently things happen on a daily and nightly basis ranging from tappings on windows, objects moving, strange smells, ghostly figures, people being pushed.
John is well known amongst the paranormal community,
Incubus, Ghost of an inn keeper, ghostly lady. baby crying, a monk, a cavalier.
A frightening incubus creeps into the beds of terrified victims in the dead of night, scaring both owner and visitor alike. A succubus is the female version on an incubus, a negative entity that feeds off the sexuality of the living.
Violent poltergeist activity, power drains, rattling of door knobs, footsteps, light anomalies, objects being moved, cold spots, an unexplained black cat, doors slamming.
I found the Inn hidden at the bottom of a hill in Wotton-under-Edge. It is a rickety looking old house, it looks like it's actually sunk into the ground. The site in which this once Inn stands is known to be an ancient site on a major ley-line (there is no evidence ley-lines exist). Bones of children have been unearthed by archaeologists, actually inside the house there is a grave. Two ceremonial daggers have also found close by the bones. There are also stories of murder and bloodshed here. I didn't find the henge, only modern buildings surround it.
Possible rational explanations
There is a medical condition called NREM Arousal Parasomnia this may be the cause of some incubus and succubus experiences.
Grade II listed building as follows -
Ancient Ram Inn. Late medieval, remodelled in mid/late C16 (16th century). Rendered limestone rubble with timber-framed rubble; stone slate root; stone stacks with C19 brick flues to right gable end and to ridge; inserted brick stack to left. Original plan form unclear, but probably of the usual3-unit form with through passage dividing hall from service end to left; C16 remodelling included insertion of axial stack against through passage; rectangular-plan outbuilding, probably late C18/early C12 attached to left (east); late C18/early C19 rear wing makes overall L-shaped plan. 2 storeys. Front facing road has chamfered timber lintel to left over C16 studded plank door in chamfered wood surround with depressed 4-centred arch. To left above door is late C16/C17 wood-mullioned ovolo-moulded 4-light window; to right is 2-light window, C17 in origin but reworked later, above C18 3-light wood-mullioned window with shutter hinges and late C16/C17 moulded timber lintel; the right-hand bay has a jettied first-floor timber-framed gable, with close studding and arch bracing to jowled corner posts. To rear elevation are timber lintels over C19 and C20 windows; hipped casement with 6+6-pane casement. Two-storey and later one-storey rear wing has C19 and C20 casements and plank loft door. INTERIOR: late medieval collar-truss roof, with original tenoned collars sawn out and replaced by higher collar; threaded ridge purlin and side purlins with overlapping tenons and soffit spurs; two tiers of windbracing. The roof has been cleaned, and there are no traces of the smoke blackening characteristic of medieval open halls. The hall ceiling has chamfered joists of early form and moulded beams (ogee, hollow and ovolo mouldings), but a complex building history is indicated by morticing for joists in both end beams; open fireplace with stop-chamfered stone jambs and C20 timber lintel. C19 winder stair to rear of main axial stack with late C 16 panelling facing into hall. A narrow beam to the left of the hall stack has chamfered head from original hall door, with masons' mitres to chamfered jamb. Stop-chamfered beams in service room to left. The first floor has 3 chambers with chamfered beams, the parlour to right having windbracing to timber-framed gable end. C17, C18 and C19 doors. The rear wing has collar trusses with truncated tiebeams. Left-hand (east) extension has roof taken from C16 barn.
The lack of smoke blackening to the late medieval trusses and other features indicate that this property may have served as a first-floor hall, its position close to the church suggesting a possible former function as a church house. The presence of tenter hooks, and the documentary links to a series of wool merchants from the C16, are proof of its significance to the local wool trade. Referred to in a deed of1820 as The Ram; deeds dating from 1350 are in Gloucestershire Record Office
Source: British Listed Buildings
