Update (2026)
New photographic evidence has allowed the position of St Osyth’s medieval lock-up to be refined beyond the estimates presented in this article.
Read the updated analysis here: Update
It is no exaggeration to suggest, for the past 20 years or so, the most (in)famous haunted building in East Anglia (more correctly that which is still standing) is the self titled ‘The Cage’, in the sleepy little Essex village of St Osyth, located in the rural North East of the County on the Tendring coast. It’s even been suggested by some that it’s the ‘Most Haunted House in Britain’.
Within the paranormal community itself, the property is very well known globally, not just in the United Kingdom, with some ghost hunters being prepared to fly halfway around the world just for the chance to spend an evening at the location (1).
Indeed, this can even be evidenced by the latest owners of the property, an Australian couple – Amy Waine and Jarrad Cutting, proprietors of the paranormal Social Media Channel, ‘Amy’s Crypt’, adding it to their ever growing global portfolio of alleged haunted properties earlier this year.
For those unfamiliar with the building, it’s widely claimed that part of the modern property incorporates the St Osyth’s former medieval lock-up where, in 1582, one of the earliest witch hunts in England, saw the subsequently convicted witch, Ursula Kempe held, during overnight breaks in the initial interview process, by local magistrate Brian D’Arcy.
The property first gained notoriety in the early 2000s, following a change of ownership and, has maintained an untouchable air of mystery ever since, in spite two further changes of owners (including the one mentioned above) over the past five years.
However, as with many things involving the paranormal community sadly, not everything is what it all seems with ‘The Cage’ and, once you have read this article, you will be left in no doubt about the true history of the property and, its’ real location, the true location of St Osyth’s medieval lock-up is revealed.
The Village Lock-up’s of England and Wales
Let us first take a look at what exactly is understood by the term ‘lock-up’.
These structures were once relatively common place among the rural communities in England, serving a very important function, to the extent that even today, several examples can still be found standing.
Indeed, several still exist, preserved in the local villages near where we live, in good repair, even today.
Invariably, most of these surviving examples date from the 1700’s to early 1800’s, due to the superior construction techniques used in their construction, when compared to earlier examples.
Lock-ups were almost exclusively a very small building, consisting of a single room, or ‘cell’, used for the temporary detention of individuals. This was typically for minor misdemeanours such as drunkenness or public disorder, usually before the suspects could be collected and brought before a local magistrate or, on rare occasions, until their sentence was carried out.
They were undoubtedly a well known feature for many villagers and, look no further than to the club crest of Everton FC, who have their own local lock-up, still standing on Everton Brow today, constructed in the late 1790’s.
However, and not before time, their use declined rapidly with the implementation of the County Police Act 1839 (2), which required many new Police Stations to be built, each equipped with their own holding cells, thus making the much (un)loved village lock-up redundant.
Please be mindful of this date in relation to the last claimed used of the St Osyth lock-up in 1908, some 69 years after the Act,
The ‘popular’ background story for ‘The Cage’ of St Osyth
The building now referred to as ‘The Cage’ is actively promoted by many within the paranormal community (and beyond) as a haunted, former medieval prison, that was in use up to 1908, based upon the sign attached to the side of the property.
The cell of the modern property now claimed to be ‘The Cage’, is roughly 10ft by 9 foot, which is rather large when compared to other surviving village lock-ups.
In mid-February 1582, a procession of 13 local women accused of witchcraft and were held there, overnight, during breaks in their questioning at nearby St Clere’s Hall, the home of local magistrate Brian D’Arcy.
Although incidental to the haunting, once the questioning had been completed, the women were transferred to Colchester Gaol (the re-purposed Colchester Castle Keep), where they remained for five weeks. There, they continued to be interrogated, prior to trial, which took place at Chelmsford Assizes, on the 29th March.
These 13 unfortunates included Ursula Kempe, the individual now claimed to be the spirit in residence at ‘The Cage’, presumably having returned to haunt her former ‘prison’.
The story then continues, relating the prison cell was subsequently incorporated into a later building as an annexe, which is what we see standing today, officially 14 Colchester Road, altering the property to such an extent that the alleged former village lock-up is now described as a ‘dining room’ in contemporary estate agent’s property descriptions.
In 2004, Vanessa Mitchell, purchased the property, where she subsequently reported she’d experienced several, frightening, paranormal events, that eventually drove her from her home for good in 2009.
In recent years, the timeline has been easier to trace.
Following Mitchell’s flight from ‘The Cage’, the property was initially rented out, with Mitchell going on the record to state none of the tenants (or previous property owners) had remained long.
It was then suggested to Mitchell it would be possible to hire out the property for the evening to anyone interested in spending a night in what has been since advertised as ‘The Most Haunted house in England’ – stealing the title from Borley Rectory and, presumably, emerging victorious from a scuffle with 30 East Drive, Pontefract, in West Yorkshire, in more recent times.
The alleged ghosts present, all originating during Mitchell’s ownership as far as I have been able to establish, range from an old crone, suggested by many to be Ursula Kempe herself, a Jailer (implied to be the very one that oversaw Kempe’s stay at ‘The Cage’) and, a former resident who had sadly committed suicide at the property, immediately prior to Mitchell’s ownership.
The history of the Property since 2009
Building upon it’s contemporary infamy, the property has been the subject of several TV shows and Newspaper articles over the past 15 years or so and, even a book, published in 2017 – ‘Spirits of the Cage’, that Mitchell co-authored with Richard Estep, which is generally regarded as currently ‘the’ definitive book relating to ‘The Cage’ and, the alleged hauntings residing there.
Unlike some other well known, contemporary, allegedly haunted houses in the United Kingdom, the property is probably almost unique in that it’s being subjected to an investigation by a member of the Society of Psychical Research (SPR), namely the greatly respected John Fraser, following a referral by Mitchell.
Mitchell then attempted to sell the property several times over the following 10 years without success, until it was finally sold, in September 2019 (3).
From then, with a new owner in place, no investigations of the paranormal kind have taken place as far as I have been able to establish, the subsequent owners, at the time of publishing, preferring to keep a low profile.
There was a rumour circulating following the 2019 purchase that the property was going to be developed as an AirBnB, although this never appeared to come to fruition. History will show, soon after this purchase, the country went into a lockdown for a couple of years and then everything went quiet.
In late Spring 2024, to everyone’s surprise, the property was once again put up for sale, with its’ original asking price being reduced in June 2024 due to a lack of interest, before finally being sold to Amy and Jarrad (Amy’s Crypt), at an even further reduction (4), the estate agent for the sale of the property reportedly stating “He was relieved to get rid of it” (5).
Although it was agreed to purchase the property in late 2024, the sale wasn’t completed until March 2025, which perhaps is understandable taking into account the time of year.
The big huge elephant in the room
With this background, it’s completely understandable why the why the property is held in such high esteem by the Paranormal Community, even if they are currently unable to investigate there – it has history, tragedy, suffering and injustice, all the hallmarks of a classic haunting.
At face value, what a location? An historic building well over 400 years old, with a tragic history that appears to be impacting those who choose to live or even visit the property even now – restless spirits, seemingly seeking revenge upon anyone daring to cross its’ threshold.
However, just scratch the surface a little and we find the truth is a little more different to the story we have been sold.
Something just didn’t smell right to us. So, what was the true history of the property itself?
Uncovering the truth about 14 Colchester Road
For anyone who has visited ‘The Cage’ or even looked at the property online, ask yourself this question, does it actually look or feel like a medieval lock-up or, a much more modern building?
Is this a contemporary example of the emperor having no clothes?
Commencing my research, it was immediately apparent there appeared to be a complete lack of information relating to the building’s history. Well, that which was easily uncoverable during the initial searches.
However, whilst there was little written history that we could find, I was able to track down a handful of old photographs that featured ‘The Cage’.
Examining these photographs and combined with an external physical examination of the property Laura and I made in 2019 , I found that even the element that was said to be the original village lock-up simply just didn’t look that old to us, not old enough to host Ursula Kempe for a couple of nights back in 1582 anyway.
During my initial dive into the research, I soon noted, whilst it’s fair to comment that many eminent paranormal authors and researchers had visited the property over the past decade and, even a few books had been published covering the property and the alleged haunting within (refer Bibliography), but not a single one of them had questioned the narrative relating to the history of the building itself, nothing that had made it to print at least.
The history of the property appeared to be distinctly absent and, never discussed. But why?
The Red Flags emerge.
Why isn’t ‘The Cage’ listed?
When ever I commence my research relating to an historic location, the first place I start is with its’ listing. There I expect to find key architectural details, an historical summary and, usually the approximate date of construction. However, what was strikingly obvious with ‘The Cage’ is it wasn’t listed.
How on earth could this be the case? All medieval lock-ups (and later) were Grade II listed buildings. This included other local examples to us at Braintree (listed 1977) and, Tollesbury (listed 1959)(6).
Suspiciously ‘The Cage’ wasn’t listed at all. Was this a grave oversight on the part of Historic England?
Presumably not, as other buildings nearby were listed. However, how could domestic properties be listed yet an historic medieval lock-up, which featured in a very well known series of Witch Trials, not?
No matter how deep I dug, I could find no official reason for this, other than the one staring at me in the face – the building clearly didn’t warrant listing. It had no historical significance or merit worth protecting.
This was a particularly strong indicator that ‘The Cage’ was not what it claimed to be, in spite of all the claims (and the ‘authentic’ sign that no one knows who placed it there).
‘The Cage’ is many things, to many people, but evidently it was becoming clear as to what it was not, an historic property.
Age and construction of the property
Having completed my study of the collection of photographs I’d managed to amass, I turned to Google Earth to obtain a reference point.
Taking a closer look at ‘The Cage’ and, the properties surrounding it, it soon became apparent the property standing immediately next to it on Colchester Road, to the north, was, to all intense purposes, the same, taking into account that its own ‘Cage’ was still single storey and, operating as a small ground floor living room.
So, it appeared either we had two medieval lock ups in St Osyth or, something a little more fishy was afoot.
Our money was, sadly, on the latter option.
Although both properties had clearly taken different paths on their respective journeys through life, they both retained core elements that allowed a reasonably close guess at the original construction date.
Granted, I could search the property registers for the construction date but, after spending a couple of months bouncing between two authorities, each claiming the other held the records, I gave up the chase. The online option only guaranteed results for properties constructed post 1993 and, came at a price, so after not so careful consideration, I decided to save my money for a rainy day.
However, it was still possible to make an educated guess of the age of the properties, based upon their construction design and materials.
The ground floor windows that we can see, consisting of multi-pane timber casements, are traditional in style, suggestive of the late 1700s to early 1800s, our first clue as to the properties true age.
Looking at the first floor, its appearance smacks of a 1970s addition (please refer to next section). The render, overhang and the mismatched window proportions only confirm this.
If we focus on the lower floor of the property, which includes ‘The Cage’ element, we can clearly see the brickwork used in its construction. Consisting of red bricks with regular coursing, this is indicative of late Georgian to early Victorian construction, although ‘The Cage’ itself appears to have more recent pointing, something I will discuss in greater depth in the next section.
Neat and purposeful, the brickwork provides many clues for our research.
Turning our attention to the roof, we find little help. The pitched roof with red tiles is common throughout Essex (indeed, the house in which I write this has the same tiles and design), although it’s likely the property was re-roofed when the first floor extension was added. The steepness of the pitch perhaps points to an earlier core, potentially 18th Century, but the alterations made since obscure this.
If we extend our search to surrounding properties, we find that St Osyth was largely built up in the 18th and 19th Centuries, in line with the growth seen in coastal and rural towns in Essex and neighbouring Suffolk following agricultural and local port developments. In this context, the property may once have served a modest or ancillary function.
So, upon reflection, it seems reasonable to conclude that the property, including ‘The Cage’ element, was constructed in the early 1800s, much later than the 16th Century date required if ‘The Cage’ was to be the temporary prison of the St Osyth accused for a couple of evenings in the cold mid-winter of 1582.
And the walls came tumbling down
Leaving the whole question of the property to one side, there was also another issue vexing me. It may seem obvious to anyone looking at the property, but why did ‘The Cage’ have an upper floor extension and, ignoring the whole structural issue, how was planning permission granted to built a new, upper level on an alleged medieval lock-up?
Fortunately, historical photographs of ‘The Cage’ exist and, they strongly indicate the upper floor was added sometime in the 1970s and, from examining the brickwork of the building, it was clear that ‘The Cage’ had been rebuilt during this period, presumably as the original building wasn’t strong enough to support an upper story and needed to be rebuilt to a stronger specification to do so.
To illustrate this, if we examine the entrance into ‘The Cage’ closely, particularly the brickwork around the right hand side door frame, we can see the brickwork is in an entirely different pattern, indicating the entire structure has been extensively re-built (to a far better standard).
I’ve included a comparison between the pre 1980 brickwork and that which we see today below. I am not even going to mention there is also an entirely different door in situ.
We have to ask ourselves, has there ever been a situation in contemporary times, when an historical building has been dismantled and, rebuilt to a stronger specification, to allow a new, upper storey to built?
In discussions with St Osyth Museum, it was confirmed that the above deductions were indeed the case – ‘The Cage’ was likely to have been taken down and re-built to a stronger specification, along with a new, first floor extension, sometime in the mid-1970s, with the contentious plaque previously referred to that we see there today, presumably being added by the then property owner.
All very strange.
The Smoking Gun – the 1816 Estate plan
Whilst I’ve been able to demonstrate that the property at 14 Colchester Road is unlikely to incorporate a medieval lock-up, there is a single document that evidences, beyond reasonable doubt that the true lock-up, St Osyth’s ‘Cage’ was situated elsewhere, albeit close to the aforementioned property – the 1816 Estate Plan.
Ordnance Survey (O/S)Maps have been around since 1801, indeed, Essex was the second county to be mapped after Kent. However, apart from the many towns and cities, the maps were fairly rudimentary for the rest of the county, particularly rural areas. Probably the earliest O/S maps I could find covering St Osyth that was of use, was Brightlingsea Hills (Sheet 242), published in 1895, quickly followed by the Great Clacton Sheet, from 1898, both shown below:
Although now considered the standard for British map making, O/S mapping was in no way the first reliable and accurate maps available. Indeed, I had also obtained a digital copy of the 1839 Tithe Map of St Osyth.
It was notable that neither the Tithe map or the two O/S Maps contained any reference to a medieval lock-up, although it was accepted that such maps may not include this detail.
In discussions with St Osyth Museum, I was kindly provided with a scan of the 1816 Estate Plan for St Osyth. This featured the area where the modern day ‘Cage’ was located and indeed other areas of interest, not part of my research.
Studying the plan closely, I could see there was a standalone building marked, in the middle of the road, near to where ‘The Cage’ now stood. Cross referencing this with a satellite image, I could see that the road at that position still remained widened, reflecting the original medieval layout of what is now Colchester Road.
Locating a building in the middle of the road may, at first, appear a strange thing to do. Indeed, within Britain, there are many examples, even today, where a Moot Hall, Guildhall or another municipal building is stood in the middle of a road, where the roadway diverges either side of the building.
This was not part of some very early traffic calming scheme implemented by a medieval planning department but, due to a more pragmatic reason.
Many medieval buildings were placed in central communal areas, such as market squares or the intersection of key paths, as we have at St Osyth. As time progressed, the surrounding network expanded and evolved over time. As villages, towns and cities grew and traffic increased, roads were widened or re-routed, occasionally leaving older structures positioned unusually within or beside modern roads.
In effect, such buildings were not constructed in roads but rather, the roads developed around them, altering the urban landscape. This is what we see today in St Osyth, at the intersection of what is now a pathway, an extension of Castle Way and Colchester Road, the road widens significantly creating a triangular space, in the middle of which, in the middle of the modern day road, 400 years ago, was the village Lock-Up – the now world infamous ‘Cage’.
As I referred to earlier, studying the Estate Plan, I could see, in spite of its’ age, it still appeared a very accurate depiction of that area of St Osyth. Curious, I transposed the Plan over the relevant satellite view of Google Earth, where, after many years research, the true location of ‘The Cage’ was revealed.
The position proposed here was based on the evidence available at the time. Subsequent research has refined this placement using additional photographic evidence and alignment of fixed reference points (refer to updated analysis Here).
The true location of St Osyth’s medieval Lock-Up revealed.
For ease of viewing, I’ve replicated the composite image previously shown, with the positions of the original village lock-up circled in ‘Red’, with the modern version, Cage 2, in ‘Blue’, clearly evidencing that the true ‘Cage’ was located some 10 metres or so south of 14 Colchester Road and just a metre or two on the road, on the side nearest the property.
‘The Cage’ we see can see now is NOT the original lock-up where Ursula Kempe and the other Witches were held, it wasn’t even on the same footprint of the original lock-up.
Tying up the loose ends
Although I’d finally managed to locate the true location of the lock-up, a couple of questions remained. Had there been any archaeological evidence uncovered in the past relating to ‘The Cage’ and, the mysterious signage affixed to the outside wall of the modern property.
My first port of call was back to St Osyth Museum.
Whilst they weren’t aware of any archaeological reports, they suggested the single floor structure forming part of 14 Colchester Road was demolished in the 1930s (although they advised they were yet to check this), but nothing else.
The date suggested is clearly incorrect as I have, in my possession, a photograph of the the single floored structure with a 1974 plated Citroen driving past, which supports my position that ‘The Cage’ was demolished and rebuilt with the upper floor extension in the mid to late 1970’s, as discussed earlier in the article.
When I enquired about the sign, they believed that this was added following the 1970s building work and perhaps, should be regarded as a ‘homage’ to the original ‘Cage’, albeit it an incorrect one.
Further lines of research
There is, for now, one remaining area of research I’ve yet to undertake, which is when exactly was the last time St Osyth’s lock-up used? The early Ordinance Survey maps clearly show that the building wasn’t in situ in the late 1800s, thus appearing to rule out the 1908 date stated on the plaque at a stroke.
I have found further research streams I can explore, so perhaps I will pursue this further at a later date. However, for now at least, I can finally put ‘The Cage’ to bed and at last sleep soundly at night.
A further article, providing an insight into our research can be found Here
References:
(1) Estep & Mitchell – Spirits of the Cage (2017)
(2) https://www.british-police-history.uk/f/barlichway-hundred
(3) https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/18143097.haunted-house-cage-st-osyth-sells-12-years-market/
(4) https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/couple-countrys-most-haunted-house-10061533
(5) https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/aussie-couple-buy-500000-haunted-house-the-cage-with-alarming-past-people-only-last-four-years-022144076.html
(6) For England, the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is an official database of all nationally protected historical buildings and sites. The database is maintained by Historic England, a Government body responsible for safeguarding England’s historic environment. Historic England also manage the process of listing buildings, of which there are three categories. Grade I is the highest grade, reserved for properties of exceptional interest, Grade II* for particularly important buildings of more than special interest and, Grade II, which medieval lock-ups generally fall under, for buildings of special interest. The majority of listed buildings, over 90% of the list, are Grade II listed.
Acknowledgements:
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the following, who provided the inspiration and, in no small measure, the correct path to the answers.
Kester D. Lee
John Fraser
Nigel Jeskins
Bibliography
The St Osyth Witch Story – Phyl Hendy (1993)
Essex Witches – Glyn H. Morgan (1973 – ISBN 0 902875 39-6)
The Witches of St Osyth – Marion Gibson (2022 – ISBN 978 1 108 49467 0)
Witch-Hunt The Great Essex Witch Scare of 1582 – Anthony Harris (2001 – ISBN 0 86025 518 2)
Broomstick over Essex and East Anglia – Tom Gardiner (1981 – ISBN 0 86025 851 3)
Poltergeist (inc ‘The Cage – Witches Prison’ St. Osyth) – John Fraser (2020–ISBN 978 1 78904 397 6)
Spirits of the Cage – Richard Estep & Vanessa Mitchell (2017 – ISBN 978 0 7387 5193 1)
4 responses to “From Folklore to Fact: Establishing the True Site of St Osyth’s Lock-Up, “The Cage””
Which of course leaves the $1million dollar question – what was the purpose of the new cage before it became 1970s extension to 14 Colchester Rd ? The fact that the old cage may have been so close starts to explain the rather badly researched plaque but not what a 10ft by 9 ft single story building with a real big door was doing there . Perhaps we will need to walk into the pub next door and wait for a regular who is clearly over 80 to ask 🙂 . To be fair to all the owners since you have this plaque on your house and no reason to doubt it but a good bit of reserach – all the best J
Thank you for your thoughtful comment John, as always your perspective is very much appreciated. You’re right, the purpose of the ‘New Cage”, before its’ 1970s conversion is a fascinating question and, one I’ve been considering carefully over the past few years.
At this stage, the evidence leans away from it having been a formal lock-up, given the absence of any listing or reference after 1839, the size relative to known lock-ups and, the features, such as the area beneath the floor and the original wooden ladder, all of which suggests domestic or commercial / utilitarian use, rather than official detention of offenders.
Your suggestion of seeking insight from local residents with long memories is on point, you’ll probably not be surprised that Laura and I did try this one, albeit with abject failure – we thought we’d pop into the pub next door and speak to some locals, only to get there and find that it was closed for refurbishment……..
As ever, thank you for your engagement and the guidance you’ve shared, its invaluable in keeping this research grounded, yet curious.
Very interesting and well-researched article, I walked passed the cage a few weeks ago and wondered what age those bricks were. The staff at the museum hinted that all was not what it seemed but now it makes sense.
Thank you for this Sarah, this is very much appreciated by Laura and I, particularly what you shared relating to the museum. There will be resistance to the research of course, the narrative promoted for the past couple of decades exists for a reason. However, we just hope, by focusing upon and evidencing the true, physical history of the lock up and, nearby buildings, it will pull everything in line. If you’re interested, We shall be publishing a research update tomorrow hopefully, where we shall provide further clarification relating to our findings, at a deeper level. Thank you again.