Joined: Jan 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 29 Location: Cambridge, England Karma: 0
St. Mary's Church, Clophill, Bedfordshire « Thread Started on Feb 25, 2007, 7:39pm »
On a dark and rainy Friday night, the Almost Haunted team visited the old abandoned church at Clophill, which sits to the North, overlooking the village.
The approach makes you quite anxious as it is up a dark, rough surfaced little post-road and eventually the dark husk of the church sits in front of you. It is believed that the church sits on the site of a medieval leper colony/hospital and that eventually the village migrated down the hill in a bid to escape the disease. In 1848, a new church was built in the centre of the new village (perhaps to house a growing number of parishoners or maybe the congregation couldn't be bothered with the hill climb?). The old church was abandoned in the 1950s and today it is now just a roof and windowless shell, badly grafittied and crumbling away in the elements.
With widely reported stories of satanistic worship in the 1960s, desecrated graves, a mysterious monk figure at a high-up window and the appearance of a white phantom horse in the lane nearby with a ghostly lantern carrying rider.... what was in store for the ALMOST HAUNTED team?
Re: St. Mary's Church, Clophill, Bedfordshire « Reply #1 on Nov 2, 2008, 3:07pm »
I joined this site today, to comment about this church.
On the evening of the 31st October 2008, I was at this church. The setting is lovely and it is a real shame that some find it exciting to vandalise what was once a beautiful church.
Standing beside the church, in near total blackness, the sheer calmness of the area brings a warmth. You can really understand why, hundreds of years ago a church was built on this hill. The views across Bedfordshire and probably into Hertfordshire are fantastic. (Even in the dark, lights from across the county are very visible.
So, did I see anything untoward? No. One chap was up there taking photographs and tried to convince me that a waft of mist was unusual across the top of the tower. Unusual in that it was freezing cold, damp and dark with a slight wind blowing. I certainly expected to see localised mist.
Did the area feel eery? No. I knew of the stories for many years as I live fairly local. As mentioned above, the area is fantastic, quiet and very calming.
Whilst walking up the lane, my torch popped and stopped working. It did however work again once I returned home. A colleagues torch also failed. Coincidence? Of course. Damp, cold air normally affects this type of equipment. (Apparently the chap who was taking photos lost the use of his flash - but he only shared this information with me when he found out my torch had failed).
Personally, I think it is sad that the church has such a reputation. There are local people and houses are very nearby. The residents peace is disturbed regularly by youths and others venturing up the hill to scare themselves and others for cheap thrills. Unfortunately they also damage the church and show little respect for the graveyard that it still in use with tended graves.
Due to it being Halloween, the police were in attendance at the location in great numbers. Access by vehicle was prevented by a large police van parked in the entrance, but the officers did allow access on foot. (Apparently in previous years, livestock have been tormented with fireworks and the locals disturbed by youths and others attending in large numbers).
![[Home]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/home.gif)
![[Help]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/help.gif)
![[Search]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/search.gif)
![[Login]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/login.gif)
![[Register]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/menu/register.gif)
![[Search This Thread]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/search2.gif)
![[Send Topic To Friend]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/buttons/sendtopic.gif)
![[Print]](http://s4.images.proboards.com/buttons/print.gif)
Author
![[avatar]](http://images.stage6.com/user_images/a/andrewalmosthaunted/4686cbd6d4c78.jpg)
Logged