26/04/2026
History and details of my visit to Ryecroft Hall - Manchester UK - 17/4/26
Ryecroft Hall is a Grade II listed building in Audenshaw, Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Originally a home to several prominent local residents, the hall was ultimately donated to the people of Audenshaw by Austin Hopkinson in 1922 and still serves the local community to the present day. The land that Ryecroft Hall sits on was once owned by the Earl of Stamford and Warrington and was sold to prominent mill owner James Smith Buckley. Upon his death in 1885, the house was passed to his nephew Abel Buckley, the same year he became MP for Prestwich, living there until his death in 1908. Ryecroft Hall would ultimately be sold to Austin Hopkinson in 1913.
During World War I, the hall was used as a voluntary hospital with over 100 beds. Hopkinson subsequently donated the hall to the people of Audenshaw in 1920.
We started the night by visiting the main ballroom in the upper part of the building. This room has previously been used to film wedding scenes for Coronation Street, but that wasn’t the reason we were there. Once upstairs, I was immediately drawn to a side kitchen. At the time, I knew nothing about it, but it later became apparent that paranormal activity has been reported in this area.
One of the most exciting aspects of this investigation was that I had done no prior research and had no knowledge of the building’s history. A musical REM pod was left in the kitchen area and, within a couple of seconds, it activated on its own, followed by what sounded like footsteps. While I was seated in the main ballroom, we had set up cat balls and other devices around the room, and a couple of the cat balls activated at the far end of the space.
Things became more interesting when a fellow team member thought they saw movement on the landing outside the room. We set up a structured light sensor, which activated within a few minutes of being placed there. A couple of knocks were also heard in this area; however, we did consider that these noises could have been caused by the building settling, so I didn’t read too much into them.
I then decided to sit on the landing near the staircase, as this area intrigued me. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to report apart from the sound of a door moving in the toilets at the far end. There were no windows open, but equally, I have no evidence to suggest this was paranormal.
For the next part of the investigation, we moved to the main study, which contained a fireplace and a table. We set up cat balls and music boxes, including one in the hallway outside the room. After waiting for a while, the music box in the hallway activated numerous times over a 20-minute period, alongside cat balls on the fireplace going off.
As you can probably tell, most of the activity we experienced involved our equipment being triggered.
For the final part of the night, we made our way to the abandoned office area above. We also decided to ring a mobile phone and leave it in the library, where activity has been reported. For a long time, nothing happened, but towards the end of the night we heard the sound of objects being dragged in the library, along with what sounded like faint, inaudible voices, which was particularly strange.
Overall, it was a great night at a great venue. While not much was captured in terms of solid evidence, we did experience a number of unusual moments, and I’ve added this location to my list of venues I’d love to visit again.
For anyone thinking of visiting, I’d definitely recommend giving it a go—it is a strange and atmospheric building.
Thanks again to Haunted Houses.
