Your story is a very descriptive piece of writing Roy - it drew me in and made made the hair prickle on my arms.
There has been discussion on this subject before and I think the consensus was that we often project our own 'stuff' onto sites when we visit - though it doesn't sound as as if this is what happened to you, which does feel like the paranormal.
The barrow-cat sounds like a feral animal that was either sick or hungry.