The Lion and Swan is a traditional coaching Inn located on Swan Bank in Congleton. It is a family owned and operated Tudor tavern that has a 16th Century ambience with 21st Century style, comfort and convenience.
"There has been an inn on this site for over 500 years. It contains a most marvellously carved fireplace surround. Witnesses describe the apparition as wandering the establishment quite naked apart from a pair of old-fashioned clogs with a curious smile. Locals think that there was an earlier building on the site, which could date from 1496. The main fireplace features ornate with intricate carvings of strange, erotic symbols with demonic figures. This wooden surround had been two ends of a bridal bed, carved by a sorcerer in which couples, desperate to conceive, would pay to spend the night. On many occasions, in the dead of night, the apparition of a female with dark flowing hair has appeared and, witnesses saw, tending the fire. She has been associated with a young woman who died many years ago after drinking a potion with spending one night in that bed.
Another apparition appears elsewhere in the building as a brown shadow. Now locals know her as the ‘Brown Lady’. In one room, many guests awakened in the middle of the night to a room so cold they could see their own breath with report a terrifying ‘presence’. The same room is also home to a phantom dog that guests with staff over many years have seen with heard." Source: (
visit link)
hauntedrooms.co.uk gives the following description;
"This traditional inn was built back in the 16th Century. Over the years it has seen many refurbishments, with the a £2 million makeover completed recently. The hotel has been modernised to bring it into the 21st Century, however many of the period features remain. One of which is the main fireplace that depicts carvings of strange erotic symbols and demonic figures.
It is this wooden fireplace that is the centre of one of the most bizarre hauntings you’re likely to have ever heard of. On many occasions (usually in the dead of night) several people have witnessed a dark haired woman wearing nothing but clogs on her feet tending to the fire. This woman is also believed to take the shape of a brown mist that is often seen in several areas of the hotel, hence the name – ‘The Brown Lady’.
One of the most haunted rooms in the hotel has to be room 20, with many reports surfacing of waking up in the middle of night to a freezing room. Guests have also reportedly awoken experiencing sudden feelings of terror.
Also, in the rooms next to room 20, scratching and banging can be heard originating from there. Strangely, every time this has occurred room 20 has been vacant. It ‘s also reported that a spirit of a black dog has been seen and heard in this room on several occasions. The door suddenly slamming shut has also been reported here.
In the cellar of the hotel the sound of a young child or female crying and talking quietly has been heard several times. There’s also a painting hanging here, which has been there for as long as the current owners can remember. People believe it to be cursed, and anyone unfortunate enough to touch it shall die…" Source: (
visit link)
(
visit link)
(
visit link)