Built in 1760 by William Boucher, Raikes Hall was originally intended to be a family home, complete with servants’ quarters, gardens and stables.
Between the years of 1888 and 1899, Raikes Hall, which was a cricket and football ground by then was actually the home of Blackpool Football club. It became the 13th location to be used for a Football League game.
In addition to its past as a Football ground, there have been many other uses for the land and the building itself with many owners through the years. It has even been the location of a hippodrome circus!
Up until the mid 1870s, Raikes Hall was used as a Roman Catholic Convalescent School. The school stood on 30 acres of land altogether and some people have claimed to have seen the ghostly figure of a nun walking the area where the school once stood. It is believed that the nun committed suicide in one of the lakes, close to what is now the boating lake at Stanley Park. The nun has often been thought to be the culprit in many of the unexplainable events that have happened in the hall over the years. Now, the majority of the area that once formed Raikes Hall has been made into a residential area with the Raikes Hall public house being the final remaining piece of a forgotten time.
As it stands today, the building that we know as Raikes Hall was once a residential property where the nun was reported to have lived before her suicide. Many people have told of items being moved around the pub, unexplainable cold spots and strange noises have even been reported to have been heard coming from the cellar when no one was down there. The full body apparition of a nun has also been seen walking in the Hall itself and in the bowling green to the rear of the remaining building.
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