Spooky goings on at Turton Tower
Visitors to Turton Tower can now expect to see some spooky new exhibits on display.
The tower that is due to extend its opening hours to include Fridays is opening a revamped local history room with funding from Blackburn with Darwen Borough
Council.
The first items to be exhibited will be the Timberbottom Skulls, that have been associated with some supernatural occurences. The skulls that can now be sympathetically interpreted and displayed were linked with the haunting of Timberbottom Farm, Bradshaw, over 150 years ago. Whenever they were disturbed ghostly happenings would take place including strange footsteps and noises. One family reported being plagued throughout the night with noises that sounded like the farm was being searched.
The fragments were originally unearthed at the farm in the early 19th century. But despite the many tales that have attached themselves to the skulls such as they were the remains of 17th century robbers their true origin remains unknown. Timberbottom farm was owned by Colonel Henry Hardcastle of Bradshaw Hall who took an interest in the skulls and had the smaller fragment mounted on a silver stand. It was his grandfather who had buried the skulls in the churchyard in an attempt to put a stop to the haunting. But this seems to have made things worse at the farm so they were dug up again and placed on a Bible at Bradshaw Hall. Similar disturbances were experienced when the smaller fragment was sent away to Manchester for repair in the 1920s.
Both Timberbottom Farm (or Skull House Farm as it was known) and Bradshaw Hall have been demolished. The poltergeist has not been experienced for many years – but the skulls are always kept on the Bradshaw Hall Bible, just in case.
