Odd Staffordshire

What is Crewe's lost link with Sherlock Holmes' author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?
Who was the godly woman known as the Witch of Coppenhall?
What events started on the corner of Crewe's Heath Street and Victoria Street, and went on to grab the nation's attention?
Do you know about "The Haunting of Hellath Wen" in Nantwich - Cheshire's best haunted town?

Ghosts are good for you

I am eager for people to see our towns' heritage and stories from a different perspective and I know people get a lot out of that; I previously worked for several years as an award winning tour guide in Chester (before setting to work on doing something in Crewe and Nantwich).
History is the story from which our own lives are woven, and it's far from irrelevant. My passion is to bring it to life, and give ourselves a prod to think about how and why we got to where we are today.

Crewe and Nantwich have a lot to offer and I want to tell their more unusual past, but also bring people into the town centres midweek, adding to businesses of the pubs where we start and finish, and giving more cultural richness and diversity for the borough.

What's pleasing is the support I've received.
People are travelling from nearby towns to come on the ghost walks, local tourism has been hugely supportive of my work, the Cultural Deparment of the council has been very helpful, and hotels are planning to use the walks for their guests.

Spectres everywhere

Nantwich has at least 34 accounts of spectres spread across some 18 locations in the town centre and nearby Welsh Row, with a lot more paranormal phenomena besides.

The amount of strangeness there really makes one wonder what exactly is going on, in fact. I had researched a good number of stories before approaching Nantwich Museum - who then very kindly gave further leads, and details to some of the accounts I already had.
The Boot and Shoe pub is even home to an ancient tree stump!

Ghost stories are a wonderfully accessible way of introducing people to a town, entertaining and informing them of its heritage, with a good dose of fun and frights thrown in!

Tim Prevett

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The Crewe & Nantwich Ghost Walks run alternate Wednesdays in each town; see www.crewetours.com or click on the Crewe Ghost Walks link at the top right-hand of this page.

Tim, an experienced guide, whose main passion lies in British prehistory, has also taken tours of Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age monuments, from North Wales and The Peak District, to Stonehenge and the Orkney Islands, even giving talks across Staffordshire on its ancient monuments.