More about Big Fenton.

The following information appeared in the Congleton Chronicle on Friday 19th of August 2005 and sheds more light on the farmhouse known as Big Fenton. The article is as follows:-

With the winds howling and rattling the window panes, and the old bones of a Buglawton 16th century farmhouse creaking away in the early hours, those of a nervous disposition would probably choose to stay away.

But the third generation of Mosses, Andrew and Ken, are used to the quirks of Big Fenton farm because they have never lived anywhere else, and anybody who asks if it is haunted is met with a grin and the words that their mother used to say. Ken recounted “In all the years I have lived here I have never seen a ghost, so what do you think”.

Andrew said; ” There was a man parked at the end of the drive once and we got talking about the house. And he suddenly asked me, does the horse and carriage still drive through the middle of the house at night? “If it does, we never hear it!”

The black and white timbered Grade Two listed house is set in an enviable location against the dramatic backdrop of Bosley Cloud.

An Authoress, Beatrice Tunstall, stayed with the grandparents of Andrew and Ken in the 1930s and included the house in her novel “The Dark Lady”, about the Fittons of Gawsworth, although she changed the name of the house to Silver Pit.

A heavy oak door which looks like it might be the front one, hides what some believed was a road which passed through the house – hence the stranger asking Ken about the ghostly horse and carriage passing through the building at night.

The doors to the living quarters are on the left and right of the corridor and could be locked with latches presumably to ensure privacy from the passing horses and carts.

Alterations to the house took place in the 19th century, but the chapel, confessional room and priest hole remain to this day.

The house is packed with history and intriguing tales and many a curious person has turned up on the doorstep armed with questions, including Sir Philip Brocklehurst who paid a visit in June 1863 while writing about the history of Swythamley and its surrounding areas in a book entitled “Swythamley and its Neighbourhood”.