The Hanbury Arms, Pontypool

 This inn has made both local and national newspapers with it's stories of ghostly happenings.  The figure of a man has been seen in the pool room, glasses have smashed by themselves, lights switch on and off by themselves, barrels have split and strange whispers have been heard in the cellar which still has coffins in it.

The date of the building is said to be around the 1830's, however it is mentioned in the Cambrian newspaper of 13th January 1821 when an auction took place there,  Also an article from the Monmouthshire Merlin of 6th February 1864 suggests it could be older still.  It reads - 

"The numerous public houses or hotels that bear the name of the Hanbury Arms at once attest the popularity of the name, the oldest of which in this district is that occupied by Mr John Joshua, Trosnant, whose grandfather obtained the license for the house from the late John Hanbury Esq, somewhere about eighty years ago, who suggested to him that he should adopt the Hanbury Arms as the sign or name of the inn which he accordingly did"

This gives us a date of around 1784 when John Joshua's grandfather obtained the license.

Over the years the building has had other uses besides being an inn.  One of the rooms was used to hang criminals and the inn was also used to hold inquests on dead bodies.  The Monmouthshire Merlin reported an inquest held in January 1836 before T Hughes Esq, coroner, on the body of Walter Williams, aged sixty.  He had been working with 'dropsy' of the abdomen and had fallen down a flight of steps and died within minutes. .  A surgeon, Mr Sloper was called who declared Walter died from 'natural causes' and not from his fall.  The jury recorded a verdict of 'death by visitation of God' .The paper does not state whether the accident itself happened at the Hanbury Arms 

The inn was of course the scene of happier events.  In January 1864 on one Sunday evening, around ninety friends and customers of Mr John Joshua 'parrtook of a gratuitous and bountiful supply of  the roast beef  of old England'.  In 1866  the toll collectors of the Pontypool Turnpike Trust had dinner at the inn, which even then was regarded as the 'oldest inn in town'.

The Hanbury Arms also had its rowdy times.  On 30th December 1876, William James was charged with being drunk and assaulting Henry W Joshua.   He was fined ten shillings and costs or fourteen days.  He was sent to gaol.

In 1877 the inn had a new landlady, Mrs Cocker.  She made the papers in March of that year after being assaulted by a man who had called on her for relief.  When she refused, he hit her.  He was sent to Usk Gaol for twenty-one days hard labour.

A paranormal investigation was held at the inn in 2012, the results of which are available to watch on You Tube.  The cellar seems to be the most active area with responses given to questions via an EMF meter, apparently by the spirit of a little girl called 'Emily'.  Who was Emily?  The closest history from looking at old newspapers was in the Illustrated Usk Observer of 24th January 1857, it reads -

"On the 19th (January) an inquest was held at the Hanbury Arms, Trosnant on the body of Mary Oram, aged five years, daughter of Samuel Oram of the Rock Inn, who was burnt on the 13th and died on the 17th.  Verdict - accidental death.

Is it the spirit of Mary that is trapped in the cellar.  The Hanbury Arms is now a haunted hotel, you can stay the night in one of its haunted rooms and go on a ghost hunt.  If your brave enough, why not go down to the cellar and ask her!

For more Gwent ghost stories try my book, Gwent History and Mystery available from Amazon.co.uk or as a download to Kindle