St Mary's Church, Clophill

The old St Marys Church in Clophill is located at the edge of the small village between Bedford and Luton, in the South East of England. The abandoned Church is estimated to be up to 400 years old, but was replaced by a Victorian church built in 1848 in the centre of the village, rendering it obsolete; the new church is also known as St Mary's.

St Mary's old church

The Church sits on the top of the Greensand Ridge and enjoys spectacular views over the surrounding countryside as well as being a haven for flowers and wildlife.

The church is sometimes known as the black magic church.

In 1898, the church was seemingly intact but redundant and was described as "containing several interesting memorial tablets to the Rev. Charles Fletcher M.A., 1753, the Rev. William Pierce Nethersole, vicar of Pulloxhill, 1799, and another to members of the family of the Rev. Ezekiel Rouse: the roof is of ancient oak. The register dates from the year 1568"..

The Old Church in Clophill is not the responsibility of the Church of England anymore, nor is it a consecrated place of worship. The Old Church is now legally the responsibility of Central Bedfordshire Council.

History

The ruined church of St Mary's, Clophill is a scheduled ancient monument. It was built around 1500 on the site of a much older church. The first recorded vicar was Robert, priest of Clophill in 1145. However the village of Clophill is much older and evidence suggests that the site has been considered holy since Celtic times, as evidenced by the fact that the church is situated on a hill to the north east of Clophill village. It is said that in 1122 the villagers proclaimed it as the Gateway to Hell.

In Victorian times it was simply too small to be able to cope with the size of congregation so it was decided to build a new much larger church down in the village. This was consecrated in 1848 and the old church, with its chancel having been removed, was used as a mortuary chapel for the grave yard that remains in use by the village.

In 1956 the lead was stolen from the roof of the old church and the decision was made, with great regret, to remove what could be salvaged to the new St Mary's Church in the village and allow the old church to decay gracefully as a ruin. With the windows and roof removed it was left as a shell.

This has proved unfortunate as it has opened the church to others whose intention has been less reverent. In 1963 one of the stone box graves was opened and the bones of Jenny Humberstone, an apothecary's wife who had died in the 1770s, were scattered about in what is generally considered to be a crude attempt at black magic. Further graves were similarly desecrated in 1969 and 1975.

This, and the proximity of the village to the A6 site of the Hanratty murder of 1961, combined to give the church a sinister reputation for the occult which it has never managed to shake off. Visitors looking for paranormal phenomena have reported faint lights that disappear when they reach the church and so a myth has grown that the church is haunted. However, villagers who visit the church every day to care for it and clear up rubbish left by visitors do not seem to have experienced anything unusual.

Several claims have developed around St Mary's Church in order to explain the supernatural tales. These include a popular claim that the church is orientated incorrectly. Actually, it is orientated due east, towards Jerusalem, as are many other churches. The Christian church does not recognise any orientation to be "incorrect" or "Satanic" and there are many other churches that are not orientated due east. Other myths include that it was built on the site of a leper colony in which villagers infected with the plague during the Black Death were abandoned to die. No evidence has yet come to light to suggest that this may be correct.

In more recent years the church has been used as a gathering point for illegal drug distribution and has suffered substantial vandalism as a result, much to the distress of villagers and residents along Church Path. This has reduced more recently since the installation of CCTV cameras, along with increased police presence and a few prosecutions.

Future

Now the old St Mary's church may have a completely new life in front of it. Plans are in progress to convert it into a bothy to provide overnight accommodation for walkers on the Greensand Ridge walk, with a full-time warden on site. This would preserve and respect the old structure and would not be visible from the outside, leaving the impression that the building is still a ruin. It would also use micro-generation for power and be an exemplar of eco-friendly best practice. Clophill sits exactly halfway along the route of the walk, which passes through the old churchyard by the church, so is ideally placed to offer a resting spot as the number of walkers on the ridge rises.

Undesirable Activity

The Church made it onto the British headlines in the 1960s when it was alleged that Satanic rituals had gone on within the Church. In fact, what had actually happened was that graves has been desecrated and remains scattered around the graveyard. A similar incident in the 1970s again included the scattering of bones throughout the Church yard.

The site has been a fairground of paranormal activity and unwanted attention since the attraction given to the site by the exaggerated stories in the press. It attracts visitors from far and wide looking for ghosts and other paranormal activity.

External links

• A new feature film is in the process of being made about the 1963 incident, entitled The Paranormal Diaries: Clophill
• Bedfordshire County Council information on Clophill Church: Clophill Church
• British History article on Beadlow Priory, excerpt from 'A History of the County of Bedford Vol 1', written 1904 Beaulieu Priory
• British History article on Clophill, excerpt from 'A History of the County of Bedford Vol 2', written 1908 by William Page Clophill History
• Documentary about the Church by Michael McKirgan: Clophill church.
• Official Clophill Village Church Website