The gravestones form an eerie circle around the perimeter of the graveyard. Most of them are upright but all isolated from their graves. In the centre, commanding impressive views of the surrounding countryside, stand the ruins of the church of St Mary’s. Half a mile along a quiet tree-lined lane from the village of Clophill, the churchyard at Deadmans Hill in Bedfordshire is largely unchanged from the sixties, when it was alleged to be the scene of mysterious black magic rituals.
The tomb of an 18th century apothecary’s wife was broken into, in March 1963, and the bones were arranged in the church nave. On Midsummer’s eve in 1969, graves were broken into and again, bones were rearranged. No one was ever held accountable for these acts but speculation focused on black magic.
Although a church has stood on the site for around 850 years the present structure dates from the 15th century. The church was deemed to be too small and too far out of the village. In 1848 a new and larger St Mary’s church was opened in the centre of Clophill, effectively replacing the older church as a place of worship. The new St Mary’s is a crematorium and does not cater for burials. Once a year on Whit Sunday a ceremony was held in the old church. Burials still take place there today, in a plot of consecrated ground, next to the old churchyard proper.
It was not until 1972 that the old church was declared redundant. This followed an attempted theft of the lead from the roof; the lead was removed from the roof but recovered before it could be taken away. The cost of restoring the lead was prohibitively high and so it was sold instead. This marked the end of services being held inside the church. Weather permitting the Whit Sunday service is still held in the grounds.
The County Council purchased the church in 1977 for maintenance purposes. The building is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, meaning that in the opinion of the Secretary of State it is of public interest by reason of the historic, architectural, traditional, artistic or archaeological interest attaching to it.
Contrary to the belief of some, it was the council and not devil worshipers that moved the gravestones to the perimeter of the field. This was done purely for expediency. It is much easier to mow the grass without the stones in the way. The most recent burials in the main churchyard, as identified from the gravestones, appear to have taken place at the end of the 19th century. Sufficient time has elapsed since, to make the moving of the headstones acceptable to the authorities. Any more recent burials have taken place in the adjoining plot of land.
The resulting perimeter ring of headstones lends a mysterious air to the site, which adds to the allure to black magic activists and those seeking a late-night thrill. Legally there may have been nothing wrong with moving the headstones. However, consideration and respect for the deceased and any remaining family members, does not appear to have been adequately addressed. These reasons, when combined, may suggest that moving the headstones may have been a mistake.
The structure of the building is largely intact today, excepting the roof, graffiti dons the walls where plaques with messages of remembrance used to be. The tone of the graffiti is largely that of devil-worship. However, the poor quality and lack of coherence suggests that misguided youthful high spirits, rather than dark spirits, were responsible.
A sprinkling of empty alcoholic drink bottles and the remains of burnt out fireworks support the high jinks theory. The site is notorious for late night gatherings of youths, coming to be spooked by its atmosphere. Like many ruined religious sites, at night the scene has qualities liable to give flight to the imagination. The remoteness of St Mary’s church adds to the mystique of the place, making it attractive for young adults to hang out there.
For all the notoriety that the tales of black magic provide, a daylight visit to the church reveals a different perspective; that of quiet natural beauty and tranquillity. Marred only slightly, by a past that probably owed more to vandalism than true devil-worship and a present, which does little to alter that view, the old St Mary’s church at Clophill is a paradox of beauty and desecration.
Copyright Jason Hargreaves 2010
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