"THE RED CHURCH GHOST
So do you believe in ghosts? Well, certain customers of E Davis Ironmongers in Broseley High Street evidently do. On Saturday 4 June this year [2011] proprietor James Hurdley was told by a Jackfield resident that it had been exactly 68 years to the day that he had definitely seen a ghost near the now demolished old St Mary’s Church in Jackfield.
Perhaps Mr Hurdley should not have been surprised for this church, which was built up the hill to the west of the present Ironbridge Road, is surrounded by a number of mysteries. One of these is who was actually responsible for it. Some say it was built in 1759 by Francis Blithe Turner in memory of a female relative, others that it was paid for by Mrs Mary Browne and was built only in1766; some attribute its design to Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, designer of the Iron Bridge.
On the more nebulous side, however, is the storyof the haunting of the church by the ghost of a young girl wearing a bonnet and a flowing cloak and carrying a lantern. This legend apparently stems from the fact that the deceased female relative in question did not want the church built east to west as is customary, and each night rose from her grave to push down the work completed during the day; hence the church was eventually built north to south.
However, the building, which had been designed to save people living along the river the long trek up the hill to Broseley church, quickly became unsafe and regular services ceased in about 1860; it was demolished a hundred years later.
Commonly known as the Red Church from the colour of the local brick used, it was also called the New Church when first built, while in the 19th century it was known as the Church on the Hill. Its replacement, the new St Mary’s Church further down the hill in Jackfield which was consecrated in1863, was built as a memorial to George Pritchard, a well known and well loved Broseley philanthropist."
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"Jackfield is a village in Shropshire, England, lying on the south bank of River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, downstream from Ironbridge.
If churches can be cursed, then maybe that is an explanation for the misfortunes which befell Jackfield's old church.The demolished Red Church was reputed to be haunted by a young girl wearing a bonnet and flowing cloak and carrying a lantern.
The now demolished Chapel of Ease of St Mary at Jackfield is surrounded by a number of mysteries. Some well placed authorities attribute its building in 1759 to Francis Blithe Turner in memory of a female relative. Other say it was paid for by Mrs Mary Browne, and set a later date of 1766. There is a popular legend that the deceased lady did not want the church built on the conventional East-West alignment, and each night rose from her grave to push down the work completed during the day.Hence the church was built North to South.. "She asked for her body, which had been interred at Broseley, to be re-interred in the church when built."
The building quickly became unsafe, and although it had been built to save those living along the Severn the journey to Broseley to worship, regular services ceased in about 1860.The field fronting the church was called "the Cholera Piece" following a 19th century epidemic, with a number of victims buried there.
Superstition was rife, so those who died of cholera were, for the most part, not buried in consecrated ground, or if they were, it was at night and secretly.When they spirited away the bell from Jackfield church and put it into a new church, it created a real ding-dong among villagers.It was all part of a plan, they felt, to demolish the old church, and they held a well-attended protest meeting in the churchyard at which they resolved to send off their objections to the bishop and call him to put a stop to it.
That was back in July 1863 and the villagers won the day because not only did the church stand for almost another 100 years, albeit unused for most of them, but the bell was put back."
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