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Clophill Church (St. Mary's Church, Clophill)

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There is an old abandoned church in south/mid Bedfordshire in Clophill that has all sorts of weird stories attached to it. Allegedly it was built the wrong way round, so now people hold black masses there.

When I was at school my friend said she went there at Hallowe'en with a bunch of other kids, and apparently the oldest, hardest one went in and a few minutes later he came out, completely white and wouldn't tell anyone what happened.

I've heard similar things about other abandoned churches, but there's something about this place that interests me.

Does anyone know what the duck is going on, or went on, or is it just a nice setting for a good old urban myth?
 
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Been out there a couple of times. Could find absolutely nothing. It was really rather dull. I've been in spookier branches of B&Q. Lots of graffiti and the place is evidently used by local chavs for drinking tinnies and practising how to smoke without coughing their lungs out, but that's about it.

Sam
 
The first time I heard about this was in J & C Bords book ' Atlas of Magical Britain ' apparently they felt an overwhelmingly evil atmosphere there when taking photographs, I think there was the normal ' black magic ' rites story attached to it, but I've never read any further information on it. But I'd be interested to.
A friend of mine was seriously frightened when out somewhere in the South Wales borders when ' stumbling on ' an abandoned church which looked burned and had apparently been used for ' occult-ish ' rituals. She said the atmosphere was ghastly, and she was a pretty unimaginative and tough girl. She and b/f almost ran from it.
 
Yeah, my hubby and I went there several times at night but nothing ever happened. Our mate who lives in Biggleswade told us that there was this myth that if you stand in front of one of those gravestones (nobody knew which one), you start to float...yeah right
However it is true that he church is build the wrong way round(From an x-tian viewpoint!). All churches are build the same way apart from Clophill, you can actually check it out on some maps, where it shows the outlines of buildings.
 
Allegedly it was built the wrong way round

So, whats the right way round then?
 
IRC christian churches are in the shape of a cross with the long part on a east west alignment and the short part on a north south. You enter through the south door and the altar is to the west.

(is it me or does that sound like the old Hobbit text adventure?)
 
There are some leaves on the ground. A confused tourist hovers metres above a gravestone nearby.
 
Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold...
 
Lethe said:
The first time I heard about this was in J & C Bords book ' Atlas of Magical Britain '
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Entry reads:

CLOPHILL
St. Mary's Church, Dead Man's Hill. (Black Magic).

It was alledged that black magic rituals were being performed at this ruined church during the 1960s and 1970s, with graves being opened and bones taken out. When we visited we felt an overwhelming evil atmosphere emanating from the whole area of church and graveyard. We hurriedly took a few photographs and then left as quickly as we could. 4 miles E of Ampthill; church to N, up lane from village street.
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From the black and white photo that accompanys the text it really does look every bit the haunted set.



More info:

St Mary's Church, Clophill

* Location: half a mile to the north of Clophill, Bedfordshire
* Status: Scheduled Ancient Monument
* Owned by: Bedfordshire County Council

The church is a prominent feature of the landscape and commands an impressive view of the surrounding countryside. The building, of which the tower and parts of the nave remain, provides a fine example of local materials and craftsmanship. A church has been on this site for at least the last 850 years, but the present structure is the remains of a 15th century church. Original consecration crosses survive scratched into the mediaeval lime plaster. Architecturally the church is particularly interesting, having two extremely large Perpendicular windows in the north and south sides of the nave, and some archaeologists believe that the site may hold valuable historical secrets. The church was declared redundant in 1972 and was purchased by the County Council in 1977 for consolidation and maintenance, but has had a troubled past including many antisocial activities like vandalism and rubbish dumping.

http://www.greensand-trust.org.uk/stm0.rys.html
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Also:

Timeline for village:

1086: Manor of Clophill mentioned in the Domesday survey. It was held with the Manor of Cainhoe. The Manor of Clophill was assessed at 5 hides and that of Cainhoe at 4 hides. After the Norman Conquest, the Manor passed to Nigel d'Albini. Although Cainhoe Castle is not mentioned in the survey the earthwork known as Castle Hill was evidently the seat of his Barony

1376: Ten houses in Clophill stand empty as a result of the Black Death

1801: The population of Clophill stands at 706 people. There are 143 houses in the village

1848: New St. Mary's Church built opposite the Rectory. The first stone was laid by the Archdeacon of Bedford on July 19th

1849: New St. Mary's Church consecrated by the Bishop of Ely in the presence of Earl Grey, Viscount Fordwicke, Viscount Boyle, the Archdeacon of Bedford and many other clergy

1853: Clock in the St.Mary's church tower installed. It was built by Paine of 39 High Street Bloomsbury who described himself as 'Public Horologist to Her Majesty'

1871: The population of Clophill stands at 1220 people

1925: Three houses in Clophill High Street struck by lightning in a large thunderstorm (Reported in The Times 20th May)

1934: 'Old' St. Mary's church closed except for funerals and an annual commemorative service (reported in The Times 3rd September)

1961: A6 murder takes place just outside Clophill at Deadman's Hill. The prosecution alleged that James Hanratty murdered Michael Gregsten and attacked and shot Valerie Storie. Hanratty was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hanged in Bedford Prison in April 1962. Hanratty's family campaigned for many years to clear his name but in 2002 Hanratty's conviction was upheld at the Court of Appeal and a bid to take the case to the House of Lords was rejected

1973: Excavations undertaken at Cainhoe Castle. The remains of an iron dagger were found which was in common usage in the fifteenth century by both soldiers and civilians
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Cf. http://www.easupernatural.com/clophill.htm
http://www.iopr.org.uk/4724/8402.html?*session*id*key*=*session*id*val* - some good photos but WARNING Orbs are mentioned. ;)
 
1934: 'Old' St. Mary's church closed except for funerals and an annual commemorative service (reported in The Times 3rd September)
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Modern photographs of the church make it appear as through it has been crumbling for long centuries - roof entirely missing and the stone walls at least half fallen down. "Ruins" in the classic sense.

Did all this decay take place in a mere 70 years?
 
Cat~ said:
Does anyone know what the duck is going on, or went on, or is it just a nice setting for a good old urban myth?
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In March, 1963, never-identified miscreants ripped open the grave of the wife of a late 18th Century apothecary, dragged her bones inside the sanctuary, arranged them in an "occult" pattern and apparently enacted some sort of rite or ritual over them. (This even made the United States press.)

Much the same thing is said to have been repeated in 1969 and again during the mid-1970s.

However, there has been considerable confusion between this Clophill church (Old St. Mary's) and St. Mary's Church in Clapham (NOT the London suburb!), which is also reputed to be a nexus of occult and satannic activity.
 
OldTimeRadio said:
Cat~ said:
Does anyone know what the duck is going on, or went on, or is it just a nice setting for a good old urban myth?
Click to expand...

In March, 1963, never-identified miscreants ripped open the grave of the wife of a late 18th Century apothecary, dragged her bones inside the sanctuary, arranged them in an "occult" pattern and apparently enacted some sort of rite or ritual over them. (This even made the United States press.)

Much the same thing is said to have been repeated in 1969 and again during the mid-1970s.

...
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Do you have some references to go with that, OldTimeRadio?

Actually, I went to a disco in Clophill, once, back in the 1970's. I think. :)
 
Pietro, I'd be happy to ferret through the files and dig up the references but I think you'll get the results a LOT quicker by just doing what I did - going to Google and entering "Clophill Church" + churchyard + desecration.
 
OldTimeRadio said:
Pietro, I'd be happy to ferret through the files and dig up the references but I think you'll get the results a LOT quicker by just doing what I did - going to Google and entering "Clophill Church" + churchyard + desecration.
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Possibly, but is it not politer, if the Poster backs up their original Post with references, rather than expecting their readers to do the legwork. ;)
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
Possibly, but is it not politer, if the Poster backs up their original Post with references, rather than expecting their readers to do the legwork. ;)
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Politer, almost certainly, but by no means so quick.
 
Clophill Church - 1963

Pietro, the following appeared on a Yahoogroups paranormal list just this past Moday, from British contributor "graveyardbride." I've copied it out longhand and re-keyboarded it for you:

"There were a lot of church and cemetery desecrations in England during 1963. In March the graves of six different women were opened and one skeleton [*] was found on the altar of the abandoned St. Mary's Church in Clophill. It was assumed that a group of Satanists were performing a Black Mass.

"On Halloween, there was vandalism in the churchyard in Appleton, Berkshire, with some tombstones overturned and strange 'satanic' signs painted on others. A few weeks later, a sheep's heart stuck with 13 thorns was discovered on the grave of an alleged witch in Leigh-on-Sea churchyard in Essex.

"In December 1963, four men were caught inside Westham Church, East Sussex, chanting in front of the altar on which had been poured what appeared to be blood, in an attempt to summon evil spirits. The vicar had to perform a rehallowing ceremony because the altar and church had been defiled."

[*] This was the wife of the late 18th Century apothecary mentioned previously.
 
Information can be found on www.cami.co.uk/clophillhis.html, (sorry but I don't have the know-how to put this up properly :oops: )

I have friends in Clophill and go there frequently for sporting events. Knowing my interest in anything to do with the "supernatural" it was suggested that I paid a visit to St Marys.

The church is at the top of a hill with great views of the surrounding countryside. We walked up during the day, it was around mid-summer but I can't be sure of the exact date.

The church must have been beautiful before becoming ruined. There is a lot of evidence of vandalism, with graffitti painted on the inside walls.
I would not say that it was carried out by anyone with "specialist knowledge" of satanism, but rather an average "goth" teen with an interest in Buffy is the most likely candidate. There was a lot of litter (chocolate wrappers and crisp packets) and there had been a small fire lit against the wall inside the chuch.

The place was a little eerie even in bright sunlight, the sort of place you frequently look over your shoulder in. There is a sense of sadness there, nothing bad, just sad.

I knew nothing about the history of the place when I went there. My friends were interested in my reactions to the ruin. They then told me the story about the "satanic desecration" that had taken place in the 60's and 70's. To be honest I think that it sounds more like an attempt at necromancy than satanism and later descrations were copycat vandalism.

The use of Jenny Humberstones remains seems to have been nothing personal, hers was just the grave with the easiest access to any remains. Although I do wonder at the explanation that the other tombs were protected by brick sealing them up! (was there any grave robbing at that time in the area?)

The first attack on the graves was in March 1963, (not Halloween but possibly linked to the equinox). Six years later in 1969 the disturbances were around mid summer.

There have been suggestions that a modern day Templar group was responsible, the church is dedicated to St Mary which has Templar links and the Templars had a lot of property in the area, but I think that it is unlikely. So much is attributed to the Templars that it seems that you could attribute practically anything to them.
 
tilly50 said:
Six years later in 1969 the disturbances were around mid summer.
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Tilly, do you have any more information on the 1969 Clophill desecrations? I've been able to find nothing so far except the date.

And there were supposed to have been others around 1975.
 
OldTimeRadio said:
...Did all this decay take place in a mere 70 years?
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Don't forget that the Blitz put paid to a lot of old buildings, especially ones no longer in use as they wouldn't be repaired. Obviously urban areas sustained more damage, but more rural areas didn't completely escape, especially in southern England.
 
From what I heard from the locals most of the speculation was from the media, starting with the local press reporting the desecrations and later on the national and international press adding to the actual events.

At the time of the first events the area was notorious because of the A6 murder in 1961 at the nearby Deadmans Hill.

The first event took place in March 1963 when several graves were damaged, but only one had the remains removed, that of Jenny Humberstone. She was the young wife of the local apothacary who died in 1770 (some reports state that she was the daughter of the apothacary). Her bones were arranged (opinions vary) inside the ruined church and her skull was found stuck on a metal spike.

Speculation was rife and there were a lot of theories put up as to the significance of the desecration. Witchcraft, in the form of Wicca, was a "hot topic" with the media at that time, with some of the papers being negative about it and sensationalising details of their practices, linking it incorrectly to satanism. It was widely put about that the desecration was due to satanists, but another view was that it was an attempt at necromancy.

There had been some graffitti daubed on the inner walls of the church and the press considered it proof of deep occult knowledge. This graffitti was largely pentacles and swatikas.

The news coverage led to a lot of sightseers coming to the spot and they caused even more damage to the graveyard surrounding the church. A further attack on Jennys grave was made shortly afterwards but as the local vicar had not replaced her bones the perpatrators were left with an empty coffin which they scattered about the ruins. Jennys remains were later re-interred in her grave. It was decided to clear the graves up and the headstones were removed to the edge of the graveyard. This was not, as I understand it, to hide the sites of vunerable graves, but rather to make it easier to mow the grass!

The next desecration of the church occured in 1969 around midsummer. The significance of the date led the media to speculate on the vandalism being caused by witches. In fact the first attack took place a few days before midsummer eve. The vicar decided to keep watch over the next couple of nights and during this time there were, predictably, no further attempts at vandalism. However he gave up the vigils and the next night (midsummer eve) the vandals struck again. The graves were disturbed but no remains were removed from their resting places.

In 1975 graves were again opened and bones were found scattered about on the church floor. This appeared to be a random scattering, although they may have been scattered after any rirual use.

The six years between each attack was made much of, although the locals say that mild acts of vandalism continued throughout that time and to the present day.
 
stuneville said:
Don't forget that the Blitz put paid to a lot of old buildings, especially ones no longer in use as they wouldn't be repaired.
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Thanks, Stuneville, I hadn't considered that. Mea culpa.

But does anybody know for certain when the old church was last used for public worship? It wasn't 1934, when the new church was constructed, for the old church continued to be used for funerals and there was also to be one regular church service held there every year, apparently in perpetuity.

Yet by 1963 the sanctuary seems to have been a wholly-abandoned ruin.

Stuneville most likely has supplied the correct explanation, but I'd like to be certain.
 
tilly50 said:
The six years between each attack was made much of, although the locals say that mild acts of vandalism continued throughout that time and to the present day.
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Interesting. I'd not thought of that angle previously. But since there seem to have been no major desecrations in 1981, 1987, 1993, 1999 or 2005 I'm not sure how much importance we can place on it.

It reminds me somewhat of the once-accepted five- or six-year cycle for major UFO "flaps" in the United States and Canada (1947, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967, 1973) which seems to have "run out" more than 30 years ago.
 
The church fell into disuse after the "new" church (also St Mary's) was built in the village in 1848. The church continued to be used for burials in the church yard, with these beconing less frequent over time ( as it filled up I suppose, I did notice fresh flowers in a corner of the grave yard when I was there last so there must be people locally who still tend loved ones graves)

The "old" St Mary's was decommisioned (if that is a suitable phrase?) in the 1950's.

Bye the bye there is a rumour that the site was originally that of a leper hospice, although this may have been put about to discourage vandals digging.

Clophill lies between Luton/Dunstable and Bedford but it seems a fairly remote spot for all that. The church fell into disrepair when the roof was "robbed" (I don't know if this was lead or slate or tile) letting in the elements.

There has been low key acts of vandalism of the church and grave yard over a number of years, caused in the main by the usual teenage activity of going somewhere to drink and smoke. The comparative remoteness and supposed occult goings on around the church have only served to add to its attraction.
 
tilly50 said:
The "old" St Mary's was decommisioned (if that is a suitable phrase?) in the 1950's.
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So the church became a ruin in just a dozen years or so?

Bye the bye there is a rumour that the site was originally that of a leper hospice, although this may have been put about to discourage vandals digging.
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It's my understanding that the church (which I believe dates from the very earliest days after the Conquest) was at some point in the distant past converted to a leprosarium and centuries later once used again as a regular parish church.
 
Looking at the church I don't think that what remains dates from the Norman period, the arches are the wrong shape (they are pointed, not rounded). It was probably built on the site of an earlier church. Interestingly it has been said that it is built on a mound, so possibly the church was built on an even earlier burial site.

It would not take long for the church to be ruined once the roof was off and there has been a fair amount of vandalism since with some of the better bits being taken by "reclaimers" (I have been told, but not had this confirmed, that most of the interior was taken by dealers in such stuff).

The church was "decommisioned" when the building ceased to be usable, but burials in the graveyard continued to the present.

One of my friends sons told me that the church features on the front of an album cover for a pop band and that it is visited by Goths for this reason.
 
Notes and Updates on 1963 English Desecrations

As Tilly has pointed out, the woman whose bones were dragged inside Clophill Church in March, 1963, was Jenny Humberstone, apparently the wife of a late 18th Century village apothecary. But, as Tilly also pointed out, they may have instead been the remains of the apothecary's daughter.

TIME magazine described the grafittii "drawn" on the tombstones in Appleton, Berkshire, on Halloween, 1963, as "hexes.". The previous account I posted here said that they were definitely "satanic signs" which had been "painted" on. Of course both versions probably mean pretty much the same thing.

The pastor of the 11th Century Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Westham, Sussex, where four men were discovered performing some sort of blood rite at the altar, was the Rev. Harold Coulthurst. It was he who had to re-hallow the altar.

The clergyman who discovered the sheep's head stuck with thorns in the churchyard of St. Clement's Church, Leigh-on-Sea, Sussex, was the Rev. J. L. Head.
 
clophill church, bedfordshire.

Clophill church they say the church is evil and they claim it,s was used for devil worship and the likes. Well at the age of 18 i was so called brave and so the 2 of us set off will 40 cigs and beer to the church A VERY BIG MISTAKE . We sat in side the church and about 11.30 sat, night i saw people walking around the outside the church wall , i saw there outline of there shape . The church then was just a wall and a roof and no door. I said to my mate about the people and he said lets move now ,go home. When we were half way down the lane we heard people singing but the words were like they were preying well that was it full speed ahead to the car . Well 3 days later monday night his mum rang me and said what have you done with my son he been saying he has been seeing evil people in his sleep. I told her about the church and the people, she went nuts at me. Bottom line is my mate is ok after 2 days, and we never went near the place again. :twisted: earl.......
 
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