On St Mary's Gate (Town Head), Rochdale, Greater Manchester, stands the
brick-built parish Church of St Mary-in-the-Baum, which dates from 1909-1911. The
building actually stands on its own island between several busy roads, and
quiter side streets: St Mary's Gate (the A58), Hunter's Lane, Toad Lane and
Cheetham Street at OS Grid Reference: SD 89601360. It is famous for the often
told (local) legend of the Baum Rabbit, the ghost of which was said to haunt the
graveyard. The rabbit was said to be white in colour and large and plump in
body. Baum or balm refers to the wild, herbal flowers growing where the church
was built; these flowers were also known as Lemon Balm (Melissa Officinalis) and
sometimes called White Mint. The herb has a calming effect on the body and is
good for anxiety and sleep disorders. The present-day church of St. Mary stands
on the site of an earlier church from 1742 - this earlier building being a
Chapel of Ease; the font inside St Mary's came from that 18th century building.
Dennis Ball, in his most excellent 1987 book 'Lancashire Pastimes', we learn
more about The Baum Rabbit. He tells us:
An unusual legend is that the old graveyard of St. Mary's, Rochdale, is said
to be haunted by a spectral rabbit. Many people speak about the unusual
phantom but no one has actually seen it. When the graveyard was opened it was
known as The Baum, from and old Lancashire term for a certain medicinal herb
that grew there, so the ghost has always been known as The Baum Rabbit. Over
one hundred years ago William Robertson in his book 'A Guide to Rochdale'
describes the Baum Rabbit as plump and well nourished, always beautifully
clean, and even said to be whiter than snow. It was apparently "' much pleased
with the love music of the music of the cat tribe, to which it listened with
mute attention,"' and even after being fired at with a shotgun it used to
re-appear "'with the greatest equanimity.""
Kathleen Eyre writing in 1989 asks the question:
"But what happened to the Baum Rabbit?....the ghostly white bunny mentioned
in Robertson's Guide to Rochdale in the 1870s. Its cavorting in St.
Mary's Churchyard startled many an inebriated reveller wending home and, as it
had proved immune to gun shot and pellets, it was suspected to be of a
supernatural order. It did no harm, though it scared quite a few, including a
local poet who commemorated his experiences..."
Kathleen Eyre also tells us about another ghost seen in St Mary's Churchyard:
"The Vicar of St. Mary's, the Rev. R. A. Shone, came up with some fascinating
information, not only about the spectre in the churchyard, but about the
church itself. When a sight was being sought, some 250 years ago, for a new
Rochdale church, a field was chosen to the north of the River Roch between
Toad Lane and the Lordburn, a stream which now runs into a sewer.........
When the old church of St Mary was demolished and the present ediface was
erected in 1909 there was some encroachment on the south side of the
graveyard. Bodies, many of young children - the infant mortality rate was high
- were lifted and re-interred in three large trenches in the Baum and the
coffins were excellently preserved through the effects of the old Lordburn
stream. Whether the ghost of the old graveyard dates back to this 1909
upheaval or not, no-one can say, but the male apparition drifts across the
Baum, proceeds through the wall of the market into the fish section, passing
through stalls to the canteen in a corner of the open market. There it
vanishes, having upset the calcalations of a number of Police Offficers who
have mistaken it on a number of occasions for a down-to-earth intruder.
"Policemen, in the main, are far to practical to "'see"' things which aren't
there and one can only assume the the Baum spectre, which is perfectly
harmless, is an unhappy spirit, earthbound through some deep tragedy long
forgotten. Those who know about its nocturnal perambulations avoid the Baum
and the market after dark."
Sources & References:-
Dennis Ball, Lancashire Pastimes, Burnedge Press Limited, Royton, 1987.
Kathleen Eyre, A Daleman Book - Lancashire Ghosts, The Dalesman Publishing Company Ltd., Clapham, 1989.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Mary-in-the-Baum,_Rochdale
https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/church/st-mary-baum-rochdale
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/an-angelic-tale-of-the-ghostly-rabbit-1099922
Copyright © RayS57, 2023
