Patcham's history goes back to The Domesday Book and it is said that many ghosts roam the Old Village and other areas on cold and dark nights. Here are some of the "hot spots" for paranormal activity. 

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          ALL SAINTS CHURCH

All Saints Church is a much loved Grade II flint church dating back to Saxon times
and could be called Patcham's "spook central" due to its many tales of ghostly appearances over the years both inside the church and it's centuries old churchyard. An entry in The Doomsday Book indicates that an earlier church existed on the same site. 

Sections of the present church building date from as early as the 12th century.  The nave is Norman from the 12th century whilst the tower dates from the 13th century and the chancel from the 14th century. 

Dare you walk in the dark along the 
pedestrian pathway behind Highview Avenue North with the graveyards alongside you and only the dead for company? The shadows loom from the street lights casting eerie shadows across the headstones and chest tombs. 

In 1956 two local lads were ghost hunting in the graveyard when they saw a dark hooded figure amongst the gravestones causing the boys to immediately flee.  

Two medieval ladies have been seen wandering amongst the chest tombs and this should not be a surprise to those walking across the churchyard because All Saints was the heart of Patcham and a place where the community held its important events, saints days, market days and local celebrations. 

In the 1970's the father of author Cecile Woodford, a young man at the time, decided to attend the Christmas Eve service at All Saints and on taking his seat by the entrance door he wasn't surprised on such a bitterly cold night that the congregation was sparce. 

As the service progressed a tall and thin woman dressed in grey in a nearby pew caught his attention because her clothing seemed inadequate for such a cold night. He noticed the extreme pallor of her face and assumed she was unwell. He moved along the pew a few steps and reached over to put his overcoat around the woman's shoulders and whispered a few supportive words as he gave her his coat.

The lady dressed in grey accepted his kind gesture in silence. He saw her several times during the service but when the congregation rose to sing the final hymn he turned his head to see her once more to see if she was ok and she had gone leaving his overcoat crumpled where she had sat. He looked around the church but she was nowhere to be seen. He said he would have noticed if she had left the church as she would have had to have walked past his seat by the entrance. 

This gaunt lady has made repeated appearances in the pews on frosty nights and as she is dressed in grey she is known by locals as "The Pale Woman In Gray." 

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           OLD MILL CLOSE

Off Ridgeside Avenue, Old Mill Close was built around 1934 and got its name from the presence of mills in Patcham for nearly 300 years. Between the end of the 1700's and beginning of the 1800's a smock-mill was built near the land where Old Mill Close is now. 

Old Mill Close has claim on two ghosts. The first is a child that local legend claimed died at the nearby mill in a tragic accident. 

There is also a grey lady in a hood that has been seen by locals. She is thought to be a different lady to the one in All Saints Church as the lady of Old Mill Close is wearing much older style clothing. The trees in the middle of Old Mill Close are much older than 1934 and were left in place when the close was built. 
 
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               "GHOST ALLEY" 

Ghost Alley is an overgrown footpath on a climb from Old London Rd opposite the Peace Gardens which comes out above at Highview Ave South. It was called Ghost Alley, Ghost Track or Ghost Lane by local children because many locals reported seeing a skull set into the window sill of a derelict house there. The derelict house no longer remains thanks to the new housing but dare you walk alone on Ghost Alley in the dark? The council redirected the footpath when the new homes were built so if you remember entering the pathway from the right hand side from Highview Avenue South take a look to the furthest left and you'll see the diverted pathway into Ghost Alley. 

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              PATCHAM PLACE 

On the A23 sits the large Grade II listed mansion of Patcham Place with its distinctive black glazed mathematical tiles surrounded now by large black iron gates. Several spirits roam this haunted mansion. 

Built in 1558 Patcham Place passed through several owners who over the 
centuries changed its Elizabethan appearance to the black tiles and Tuscan doorway we see today. It then became the place where the parish constable took people suspected of crimes to be charged in the presence of a Justice of the Peace and in WW2 it was a barracks for Canadian servicemen. 

In 1926 Patcham Place was bought by the Brighton Corporation and rented to the Youth Hostel Association from 1939 to 2007. The hostel staff claimed a feeling of malevolence was common in the ground floor restaurant especially after dark. 

The most famous spirit is a King killer! Sir Anthony Stapley (1590 - 1655) was a supporter of Cromwell and he was one of the signatories of the death warrant of King Charles I. Sir Anthony belived by signing King Charles' death warrant he would be ending the entire monarchy. 
Sir Anthony went on to have a successful life under Oliver Cromwell's parliament and he is buried in All Saints Church.


However, Sir Anthony's spirit has said to been made restless by his son John Stapley who became a Royalist and supported the return of King Charles II. Sir Anthony is said to groan and rattles chains around Patcham Place on the date his son John was knighted by King Charles II. 

Patcham Place also has a ringing bell on the top floor of the house and a woman waving a handbell has been seen on the staircase. 

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        A23 - Spectral Pedestrians

The A23 leading out of Brighton once a 
favourite haunt of smugglers and highwaymen has had many sightings of vanishing pedestrians since the 1960's that it has become notorious as one of the most haunted roads in the country for its many "Spectral Pedestrians" over the decades. 

Th Argus newspaper (formerly called The Evening Argus) has reported many Spectral Pedestrian
sightings over the decades on the A23 included a figure in a distinctive red coat that stepped out in front of a car only to vanish into the air. 

In an article tilted, "Secrets Of the Spookiest Road Revealed" dated 19th November 2001 The Argus claimed that the A23 is "the most haunted road in Britain." Their reporters and staff could be called ghost experts as the Evening Argus' previous building in the city centre had more than one spooky presence seen, heard and felt by many of their 
employees. It was a brave employee that ventured into the basement alone where the records were kept as the feeling of
being watched was overwhelming. 

At Christmas 1976 Mr Dave Wright and his wife Joan were driving on the A23 back into Patcham when their headlights picked out a man in shirt sleeves staggering across the road. Both thought the man looked dazed and he came so closento their car they feared they may have hit him. Before turning their car around to find him Joan locked the car door before they reached the spot, "something I never normally do", "I felt a bit scared" said Joan.  There was no trace of anyone to be seen. 

In December 1996 a ghostly golden Labrador dog was spotted by local taxi driver Leonard Bish when the dog walked out straight in front of him. "I had to swerve hard to avoid it." Leonard knew of one other person who had driven straight through the dog. Further sightings of the same dog appeared in February 1997. Local specilation claimed that the pet golden Labrador belonged to a local farmer and had sadly been killed on the road by a car 10 years before.

Ghost sightings on the A23 have continued into the 21st century and a nurse travelling home to Brighton late one night encountered a figure in the road which just like all the others inexplicably
vanished into thin air. 

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SOURCES; 

BOOKS - 

* Brighton Ghosts, Hove Hauntings (True Ghost Stories from Brighton, Hove and neighbouring villages) by John Rackham is the ultimate ghost guide of Brighton and Hove and highly recommended by Patcham Pumpkins. Copies of this 366 page book are rare and not cheap but it is the perfect reading for Halloween if you are lucky enough to obtain a copy. It was published by Latimer Publications in 2001. 

* Portrait of Sussex by Cecile Woodford published by Robert Hale Limited in 1972

* Haunted Brighton by Alan Murdie. Published by The History Press in 2006.

* Haunted Land by Paul Deverux 
published by Little, Brown Book Group in 2002

ONLINE SOURCES - 


* Preston Pages website article on Patcham Place titled "No Ordinary Ghost Story, No Ordinary House" (www.prestonpages.com)

* All Saints Church website 
(www.allsaintspatcham.org.uk) 

* The Paranormal Database (www.paranormaldatabase.com)

* My Brighton and Hove website (article "A Windmill in 1620" - www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk)

* The Argus newspaper  

* Higgypop website (www.higgypop.com)

THANK YOU TO ALL LOCALS WHO PROVIDED THEIR PERSONAL GHOST STORIES FOR THIS PAGE.