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The Marquis of Granby - Streetgate
The Marquis of Granby Public house is situated on Streetgate, Sunniside in the county of Tyne and Wear. The building is on the route of one of the first wagon-ways built around 1710 and may have been used for resting and watering of the horses.
The first tenant of the public house, The Marquis of Granby, we have been able to trace was Mrs. Margaret Pyle in 1861. In the year 1865 we know that the landlord was one William Laidman, locally known as 'Bill of the Bank'. The next tenants we are able to trace are Thomas Gray Thirlaway of Union Cottage, Sunniside and his brother Robert. The two brothers were left the property in a will but we are unable to be certain of the date or the benefactor.
The pub was purchased in April 1902 by Newcastle Breweries Ltd., and was rebuilt between 1903 and 1905 at a cost of £1908. The tenants since that date have been:-
Thomas Routledge May 1906
James Hearne Feb 1910
Chas Wm Esson April 1915
Jas Wm Redhead Feb 1934
Harold Burn Hall May 1936
Arthur Dixon Scorer Feb 1938
William Joseph Hocking Sep 1955
William Montgomerie Aug 1956
Malcolm Henry Frederick O'Shea Aug 1966
John Bingham Patterson June 1969
Mary Barton Aug 1970
Cecil A Bell July 1977
Ola Bell (his wife) Oct 1979
John Gray April 1981
Peter Weatherby Dec 1982
It was during the tenancy of the Scorer family that the first known sighting of the ghost occurred. It was young Arthur and his elder brother who witnessed the event one night in their bedroom. Since that time each succeeding tenant has experienced possible sightings and strange occurrences. It is believed to be the image of an elderly woman and whether or not there is any connection with the murder that took place in 1865, we are unable to say.
Comments
Re - Marquis of Granby - I have just obtained a copy of the will of William Thirlaway (1787-1845) and in it he bequeathes "the public house in Streetgate lane" to his sons Robert and Thomas Grey. This must be the will and benefactor to whom you refer. Robert Thirlaway was my g.g.grandfather. Is it possible to tell me more about the murder mentioned? Thanks
Posted by: Lillian Parr at January 23, 2008 3:32 PM
Lillian, We have only been able to find out a little more about the Marquis of Granby murder. We now understand that the murder was committed in August 1866 but we don't know who was murdered. Apparently a group of people, including the murdered man, had been to a flower show at nearby Ravensworth and afterwards went drinking at the Marquis of Granby. The murdererd man's body was found the following morning propped up against a hedge. The murderer was never found. A local lady who lived there with her mother reports that there was a ghost, reputedly a mother looking for her son, and building workers working in the pub also witnessed ladders moving about. There is a list of former tenants on a wall in the pub.
Posted by: Whickham Web Wanderers at January 31, 2008 10:25 AM
Hi I find this story about the Marquis really interesting as I went to this pub yesterday with my boyfriend and took a photo of the sign where it mentions about the ghost that haunts there.
My mum went for a meal there with her friends and she says the lights started flashing on and off, but some people are saying its just the staff doing it. I would love to try and capture the ghost on my camera as I have caught a few ghosts on that digital camera you see I love ghost hunting. Would like to hear more on this story.
from Louise
Posted by: Louise Duncan at October 6, 2008 9:51 AM
Thanks for your comment Louise. Hope you are successful in getting a picture of a ghost at the pub. If we find out any more about the ghost and the murder we'll put it on our website.
Posted by: Whickham Web Wanderers at October 8, 2008 9:07 PM
Re-Marquis of Granby - My grandfather James Hearne was tenant from 1910 to 1915 and have noticed his name has been spelt incorrectly as Heanne in your list.My father Thomas was actually born there in 1912.After leaving the Marquis James Hearne went to the Perseverance Arms in Springwell where he was licence holder for 16 years.
Posted by: Liz Crawley at September 27, 2009 2:28 PM
Thanks for the information re The Marquis Of Granby pub. The spelling has been corrected.
Posted by: Whickham Web Wanderers at September 27, 2009 5:43 PM
Hey. I used to live just up from the Marquis of Granby. It's interesting to hear about the history.
Posted by: Naomi Bell at May 26, 2010 1:12 AM
The current tenant is Peter Thompson. He started in about 2001.
Posted by: Anonymous at October 31, 2010 1:55 PM
Hi my name is Susan Thompson & I have ran the Marquis with my husband Peter since July 2000. We have experienced many sightings of Mary the Ghost. We are holding our second ghost hunters night on Sat 10th Sept & hopefully this will also be attended by Arthur Scorer who first sighted Mary in the 1950s when he was a child living at The Marquis.
Posted by: susan thompson at September 1, 2011 12:39 PM