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2004 / 2005 / 2006 Investigation Sites
BORLEY (Essex)
17/10/06:
As confirmed in our own report on this site, the recent publication of the "GHOSTHUNTERS" book by Yvette Fielding and Ciaren
O`Keefe has noted in its section about Borley and its hauntings that the locals have become quite annoyed and fed-up with
so-called Paranormal investigators turning up and trying to locate the Rectory site. For this reason, we stick by our warning
and say to anyone wishing to visit here - DON`T !!! Although we feel the site around the church
is active, the locals will not tolerate any intrusions by visitors and even block the church car park.
HADLEIGH & CANEWDON
(Essex)
20/10/06:
Some very interesting research has been conducted onsite at Canewdon church by Colin. Detail
of his findings cannot be posted on here yet, not until GHT return from the vigil there this year, but it will be very interesting
too if our Mediums pick up the same information whilst at the church...
08/12/06:
Whilst reading a 1995 edition of Wesley H Downes "Essex Ghosts and Hauntings" magazine, we came across
an article about the Dengie Hundred witches, which gives mention to some connections with Canewdon and may account for some
of the supposd haunting of the River Crouch itself. The extract reads:
"...The village of Latchingdon
in the Dengie Hundred, just across the River Crouch from the other well-known witch village of Canewdon (in the Rochford Hundred),
was home to several generations of witches of the Hart family until the 1850`s. The "ghostly bells" that can sometimes be
heard ringing in the river are said to date from the time one of the Hart witches stole a bell from Latchindon (some stories
have it as Canewdon church) and drowned whilst trying to cross the river with it..."
This could easily be dismissed
as pure folklore, but after checking records, we have ascertained that this Hart family were real.
Further more - Latchingdon pocessed
a "cunning man", very much like Cunning Murrell of Hadleigh and George Pickingill of Canewdon, who went by the name "Buzzy".
He had an associate called "Silly Billy", and together they would move farm equipment with the power of their own minds
and perform tricks for locals.
ISLE OF WIGHT
New information to be added soon
PLUCKLEY (Kent)
17/08/07:
During the PLUCKLEY 5 vigil, GHT re-visited the ruined church at St Mary`s, Little Chart. We found the doorway into
the tower staircase had been forced open by vandals and a quick inspection revealed many dead pigeon chicks and smashed eggs.
GHT wishes to make it clear to ANYONE reading this site that none of the team was responsible for these acts of damage and
cruelty and that this was exactly as we found it upon arrival. We decided to limit our time at the site due to this. The doorway
was also there not just as a solid barrier against tresspass, but also as a spiritual one - holding inside the evil priest
first found on the PLUCKLEY 3 Vigil. With this door gone he is now free of his bonds. However, after discussing the events
with Medium Lynne Thorpe, she feels that its the spirit girl they thought they had passed over that is still there. This spirit
is unhappy that the crime of her rape has not been answered to, and she is now grounded here until justice is done. She is
apparantly the one sending out the evil feeling towards men who approach the tower.
As noted in the report too, the
porch at St Nicholas church has claimed another victim of the "battery-drain" effect which Colin suffered on the PLUCKLEY
3 Vigil. Sheree was attending a circle when she too became ill and light-headed and had to be removed. It might be worthwhile
holding another circle here sometime to try and work out what or who is responsible for these draining attacks...
On a more serious note though...
GHT also encountered the spirit
of Matthew Hopkins again. He does seem to be at alot of places we investigate, either by coincedence or by choice
- Hopkins has been seen/felt or noted at ALRESFORD, SAFFRON WALDEN (CROSS KEYS) and now PLUCKLEY. He has also appeared to
Andy at STANSTED AIRPORT!!.
Perhaps GHT should try to avoid
sites familiar to him.
HELLFIRE CAVES
(Bucks)
26/11/07:
Various pictures taken on this vigil contain mists. One by Denise seems to have at least three knights
in a group in them, and a pic by Liz has what appears to be a lady or a man in a turban!! the latter idea could be Sir
Francis Dashwood, who often presided over club meeting in full regalia wearing a cloak and turban. There is a picture of him
dressed like this in the caves, plus a model of him in the Inner Temple dressed liked this.
RECULVER (Kent)
08/04/07:
Whilst recently checking some background info about the Reculver area, we came across the story
of two Saxon sisters who set sail along the Kent coast to visit a shrine at Whitstable. Their ship foundered on a sandbank
just off the coast from Reculver. One sister rowed to shore while the other elected to stay onboard and stay with their valuables.
Upon returning with help, the first sister found the other had died of exposure. Reculver twin towers are said to have been
erected in the memory of these two sisters, with eact tower being named after a sister - one of the towers is called "Isabella".
This was the name Liz Smith came up with on GHT`s first visit there in 2005.
01/07/07:
During the recent investigation carried out on the 30th June 2007, Andy came up with the names Frances
and Isabella. Now although we are certain he did not read about this from this site, despite the above info being on there
prior to the vigil, it was decided on the night to try and not pursue this names any further since it could be seen that such
freely available information was just being read and repeated by Andy. To protect Andy we asked him to concentrate on other
names. He didn`t hang about... Andy soon got Augustine and the year 587!!!. Now, not far from Reculver between Ramsgate
and Sandwich is Pegwell Bay - the landing place of a certain St. Augustine in the year 597 at Ebsfleet.... Andy
also picked up on Bertha and King Ethelbert. Now there is a pub at Reculver named after this king, but the link with Bertha
is interesting. She married the pagan king at Canterbury in St Martins Church, converting him to Christianity the year before.
It is possible that Æthelberht was converted to Christianity before Augustine’s arrival. Æthelberht’s wife was
a Christian, and had a Frankish bishop attend her at court, so Æthelberht would have had knowledge of Christianity before
the mission reached Kent. It is also possible that Bede had the date of Æthelberht’s death wrong; if Æthelberht in fact
died in 618, this would be consistent with baptism in 597, which is also in accord with the tradition that Augustine converted
the king within a year of his arrival. Gregory of Tours, in his Historia Francorum, writes that Bertha, daughter of Charibert, king of the Franks, married the son
of the king of Kent; and Bede says that Æthelberht received Bertha "from her parents". The traditions for Æthelberht’s
reign would imply that Æthelberht married Bertha before either 560 or 565; and if Bede is interpretedly literally, the marriage
would have had to take place before 567, when Charibert died. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle . Andy also got the name Egbert. Egbert was the son of Ealhmund, King of Kent. There is a genealogical
preface to the Chronicle, which gives the name of Egbert's father as Ealhmund, without further identifying him, and which
claims Egbert as a descendant of Ingeld, a brother of Ine of Wessex. A separate copy of the Chronicle manuscript
has a marginal note against the year 784, commenting that King Ealhmund of Kent is the father of Egbert, who was the father
of Æthelwulf. Both Liz and Andy saw a Roman soldier with what they described as "armadillo-style armour plating" on him. This
is almost certainly the special Roman armour called Lorica Segmentata - bands of metal held together on leather straps, very
lightweight for fighting and effective against most weapons of the day. The round shield they saw may mean the soldier was
just an auxhillary, possibly from the Fort`s later years when a majority of the regular army had been recalled to defend Rome.
DUNWICH (Suffolk)
No further research available at this
time
HADSTOCK &
BARTLOW (Essex)
17/10/06:
Some further research by Team member Denise Smith has given us the following information about the Airfield location during
this vigil. Hadstock Airfield was known as "Little Walden" and was certainly operational from 1943. Denise has found the following
flight operations and crews from its wartime past - US Ninth, 1st 409 Bomb Group (flying A20 Havocs), 361 fighter group (mustangs)
and B17 493rd Bomber group, then lastly the Group 56 fighters "wolfpack".
Another interesting piece of info
was the record of a plane crash. It appears that during the period that the A20 Havocs were stationed there, one plane crashed
between the airfield and the nearby village of Ashdon. The related news to this is that a local lady was killed whilst attempting
to rescue survivors. Could this account for some of the activity seen and heard at the old airfield??
DOVER (Kent)
No further research available at this
time
ALRESFORD (Essex)
08/12/06:
Using our report records from the first visit to Alresford, we have found out there is a link
between the two investigations. During our vigil on the 01/12/06, we were told by Medium Lynne Thorpe that we would have protection
around us given by an individual called Emily. It appears we had already run into this spirit on our previous visit...
Emily was one of the spirits looking after the ghost-child Lucy as she played around the ruined church.
18/12/06: According to the 1901 Census records, there was an Emily Hawkins living in Wivenhoe, about 2miles from Alresford.
The town of Wivenhoe was mentioned on site during our investigation by Dave, could it be he go the link from Emily herself?
Of course, we cannot rule out the fact he simply saw a signpost to that location whilst heading to Alresford, but it would
be great to think we have found a connection with the spirit that protected us at the ruins.
FOR EXTRA PICTURES, GO TO OUR SPIRITQUEST VIGIL GALLERY
- CLICK HERE
SAFFRON WALDEN
- Outdoor sites (Essex)
No further research available at this
time
DATCHWORTH (Herts)
No further research available at this
time
2007 Investigation Sites
CAISTER ST. EDMUND (Norfolk)
11/02/07:
After a quick check of available dates and info, we seem to have found some evidence to support
the linking with Roman troops and battle sounds given by both Andy and Dave onsite. From what we can tell, there was a 10th
legion Hispana based at Colchester. These troops were used in the push into Wales but may have been part of the legions called
back to stop the Boudiccan uprising. Alternatively, being a mixed unit with cavalry, they might have been involved with a
skirmish towards the end of Roman life at Caistor, with a battle against Saxon raiders, this could account for Dave`s feeling
that they were here to protect London - perhaps this little backwater Roman town was sacrificed to hold back the Saxon invaders...???
We will proberly never know for sure, but we do have some things here that suggest or fit nicely into these ideas. Perhaps
further research will help to uncover more.
EPPING FOREST
(Essex)
11/02/07:
We are investigating sources at this time which suggest that the Forest may have had a "Cunning Man" (see Hadleigh
& Canewdon), although at this time the information cannot be printed here prior to our site investigation.
CLARE / TILTY / DEBDEN (Suffolk / Essex)
18/05/07:
Since the vigil, there are some things which can now be clarified. At Clare, Andy reported seeing
a black steam loco heading down the long since vanished tracks towards him. Before this was seen by Denise Smith, another
Medium, she picked up on this while watching the DVD footage before Andy said it on the film!!! At Tilty
Abbey, Andy connected with a Henry De Ferres and a date of 1153. Although he was slightly out with the first name, Andy did
get the more difficult surname. Checking records shows that Tilty Abbey was founded by Maurice Fitz Geoffrey and his overlord
Robert de Ferrers, earl of Derby, in the middle of the twelfth century. According to the Louth Park Chronicle it was colonized
from the abbey of Warden in Bedfordshire, which had itself been colonized from Rievaux in Yorkshire and this is borne out
by the fact that Walter, abbot of Colchester, made grants of a mill to Hugh, abbot of Warden, and to Auger, abbot of
Tilty, in almost identical terms. The year of foundation, according to a list of the Cistercian houses and the best
of the evidence from the chronicles, was 1153; another list adds the date 22 September. As for the other name
and date he got - Abbot Simon and 1188, we have found the following from The Dunmow Chronicle which tells us that 'the work
of St. Mary of Tilty,' that is to say, the building of the church, was begun by Abbot Simon on 16 March, 1188. The abbey
appears to have thrived greatly in the next few years, for Ralph of Coggeshall describes this abbot as having from a very
poor grange made a most beautiful and opulent abbey in which zeal of religion and secular prudence rivalled each other.
Both Andy and Dave saw chain-mailed
Knights at the abbey ruins which Andy described as wearing white tunics with red crosses on them. Its almost certain these
were Knights Templar. Alas, we can find no link directly connecting this order with Tilty which was a Cistercian abbey, however,
the Templars were great money lenders and in fact gave us our modern day banking practise. Its not unreasonable to suppose
that to finance the building of the abbey church and buildings, the monks asked for a loan from the Templars. (A big Templar
power-base is not far from here at Cressing). They most likely would have paid it off from their tithe rents and land income.
As for the Sergeant Len David Donaldson,
nothing as yet has been found to connect this name to Tilty. This does not mean he wasn`t there, just that there is no record
of it.
29/05/07:
A further piece of the puzzle falls into place... whilst at Tilty, Andy picked up on a monk who seemed
to have been beheaded. At the time Colin could find no account of such an act occurring at Tilty Abbey, however - He has since
found a book entitled "Haunted East Anglia" by Joan Forman (published 1985) in which she recounts the details of Tilty`s main
ghost. It seems that in the year 1215, King John ordered the Abbey church to be plundered for its riches and it seems the
monks put up some resistance to the Kings men and during the struggle, one of them was beheaded - officially or not. To add
weight to this evidence, in 1942 an excavation of some graves there found the skeletons of several monks, one of which was
missing its head. Sightings of this headless monk have been seen in living memory.
KITS COTY / THURNHAM / SUTTON VALENCE (Kent)
12/08/07: Following the investigation, a number of details have emerged regarding the Kits Coty location in particular.
Horsa, according to tradition, was the brother of Hengest. His name Horsa (genitive Horsan) looks like a hypocoristic form
for a compound word name whose first component is Hors-.The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 455 says that "Her Hengest &
Horsa fuhton wiþ Wyrtgeorne þam cyninge, in þære stowe þe is gecueden Agælesþrep, & his broþur Horsan man ofslog; &
æfter þam Hengest feng to rice & Æsc his sunu." ("Here Hengest and Horsa fought against King Vortigern in the place that
is called Aylesford, and his brother Horsa was killed, and after that Hengest and his son Æsc took the kingdom.") (See Battle
of Aylesford (in Kent)).It is said that a monument was raised in his memory (White Horse Stone near Maidstone is the traditional
site), but twin warriors are a common theme in folklore, and because our earliest witness to Horsa's existence, Bede, mentions
a stone existed that recorded his name, recent scholars have speculated that perhaps:-
His name came from a Roman inscription
which was illegible except for part of the Latin word cohors (genitive cohortis). That stone may have been Horsa's supposed
gravestone.
His name arose as a misreading of a gloss in a manuscript that was written to define the name Hengest as meaning
'horse'.[citation needed]
More details emerged when looking into Thurnham Castle and its history... Eight hundred years
ago, the de Thurnham brothers, Stephen and Robert,
sailed forth from their castle in Kent to go crusading with Richard
the Lionheart
and the rest of the nobility of Europe. But not before Robert de Thurnham
had built the present
fortifications, known as Thurnham Castle, in the reign
of Henry II. (The remains of the 12th century Thurnham Castle
can still
be found about a third of a mile north of the church). Robert de Thurnham
was also given command
of the English fleet, while his brother Stephen
was entrusted with escorting the Queen Mother, Eleanor, on a mission
to
collect His Majesty's betrothed, the beautiful Berengaria of Navarre.
Stephen saw the king and his bride safely married
on Cyprus, where Robert
was made governor, and later on Stephen was sent back to England, again
as escort
to the Queen and her mother-in-law. It was Robert who acted as
chief fund-raiser when the crusade-impoverished flower
of the English
peerage was dunned into subscribing to the ransom demanded by the Emperor
of Austria if they
wanted their king-napped monarch back again.
Sutton Valence has several names
connected to it which came up during the vigil, the main character is this one:
William de Valence, 1st Earl of
Pembroke (d. May 16, 1296) was a French
nobleman, who became important in English politics due to his
relationship
to Henry III. He was heavily involved in the Second Baron
s' War, supporting the King and Prince Edward against the rebels
lead
by Simon de Montfort.
He was the fourth son of Isabella of Angoulême, widow of king John of
England,
and her second husband, Hugh X of Lusignan, count of La March
e, and was thus a half-brother to Henry III of England, and
uncle to
Edward I. William was born at Valence, near Lusignan, sometime in the
mid-to-late 1220s (his elder
sister, Alice was born 1224, and two
elder brothers followed her).
A new coat of arms was given for the
Earl of Pembroke. The French
conquest of Poitou in 1246 created great difficulties for William's
family,
and so he and his brothers, Guy de Lusignan and Aymer,
accepted Henry III's invitation to come to England in 1247.
The king
found important positions for all of them; William was soon married to
a great heiress, Joan de
Munchensi (d. 1307), the only surviving child
of Warin de Munchensi and Joan, daughter and eventual co-heiress of
William
Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. Her portion of the Marshal
estates included the castle and lordship of Pembroke and
the lordship
of Wexford in Ireland. The custody of Joan's property was entrusted to
her husband, along with,
apparently, the title of Earl of Pembroke.
This favouritism to royal relatives was unpopular with many of the
English
nobility, a discontent which would culminate in the Second
Barons' War. It did not take long for William to make
enemies in
England. From his new lands in South Wales, he tried to regain the
palatine rights which had
been attached to the Earldom of Pembroke,
but his energies were not confined to this. The King heaped lands and
honours
upon him, and he was soon thoroughly hated as one of the most
prominent of the rapacious foreigners. Moreover, some
trouble in Wales
led to a quarrel between him and Simon de Montfort, who was to become
the figurehead for
the rebels. He refused to comply with the provision
s imposed on the King at Oxford in 1258, and took refuge in Wolvesey
Castle
at Winchester, where he was besieged and compelled to surrender
and leave the country.However, in 1259 William and
de Montfort were
formally reconciled in
Paris, and in 1261 Valence was again in England and once more enjoying
the
royal favour. He fought for Henry at the disastrous Battle of
Lewes, and after the defeat again fled to France, while
de Montfort
ruled England. However, by 1265 he was back, landing in Pembrokeshire,
and taking part in the
Siege of Gloucester and the final royalist
victory at Evesham. After the battle he was restored to his estates
and
accompanied Prince Edward, afterwards Edward I, to Palestine.
From his base in Pembrokeshire he was a mainstay of
the English fights
against the Welsh princes, assisting in the conquest of North Wales.
He also went several
times to France on public business and he was
one of Edward's representatives in the famous suit over the succession
to
the crown of Scotland in 1291 and 1292.
William de Valence died at Bayonne on the 13th June 1296; his body is
buried
in Westminster Abbey.
William and Joan de Munchensi (described above) had the following children:
William, who died
in battle in Wales in 1282
John, who died in 1277
Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
Isabel, who married John,
1st Lord Hastings. Their grandson Lawrence later
became earl of Pembroke
Joan, who married John Comyn (the Red
Comyn).
Agnes, born about 1250
07/09/07:
Further research has come to light about the GHT investigation
at
Thurnham Castle. We had believed we were the first to investigate this site,
but it seems we were beaten to it by
Ghost Connections, based in Kent.
SAFFRON
WALDEN - Indoor sites (Essex)
CROSS KEYS HOTEL
09/03/07:
Further research by Emma Lonton has revealed something very interesting regarding our investigation at the CROSS
KEYS HOTEL in the town. During the vigil we got then name from Lead Medium Andy Ball of "Elizabeth Tollermarche". Emma has
been looking into a book regarding the history and life of Oliver Cromwell and has found the following information. Cromwell
had mistresses in the sense of them being more like an acceptable aquaintence to take to social events and dinners - there
was certainly no mention of anything sexual between him and his lady friends. One such lady was Bess. She seems to have been
in favour with Cromwell from a young age, possibly as young as 15 or 16yrs old from about 1651 to 1670 when Bess fell from
grace abit, its thought from personal fortune rather than disgrace. For the latter time she consorted with Cromwell, she was
in fact married.... she married into the wealthy Tollermarche family and wed Sir Henry Tollermarche of Hevingham Hall.
Now, Andy hit the date of 1652 and therefore Elizabeth would still have been at a young age. He also got the name too. GHT
is rather pleased to be able to find such accurate information to back up our findings.
FOR THE OFFICIAL
WEBSITE FOR THE CROSS KEYS HOTEL, FOLLOW THE LINK BY CLICKING HERE
BINHAM
PRIORY (Norfolk)
26/11/07:
Andy Ball got the name Pierre. This name upon checking was either Pierre
or Peter De Vaglion, founder of the priory. Andy also was on target with the foundation date of 1091. He also picked up on
Osgod or Osgood and the year 1107. On researching this we found Osgod was the first prior in the year 1109. Dave got the name
Cromwell - this could refer to Thomas Cromwell who was in charge of the surrender of the priory to the King in 1539.
2008
Investigation Sites
HYTHE CHURCH
(Kent)
04/02/08:
Further the the information gathered onsite during the trance episode with Colin, it has come to light a few facts that just
happen to fit (albeit with some errors) the images and info he was getting. Colin and Pete both contacted a Knight, but it
was Colin who was to get a fuller picture of the knight, who Colin said was Walter Fitz-hume. Now bearing that Colin has not
had alot of experience in this field, you would expect him to get alot of things through wrong - however, we DID find a near-match
for Fitz-Hume with the 12th century knight Reginald Fitz-Urse. This is a promising link... it seems that this knight
held land at Barham between Dover and Canterbury and therefore could be called "local" to the Hythe area, but.. this
really becomes apparent when you trace Fitz-Urse history. It seems he was one of four knight who rode north to Canterbury
from Saltwood Castle in 1170, a mere stones throw from Hythe... these four knights were to go down in history as the
assasins who killed Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in the year 1170 - could that be the kneeling figure
Colin saw??? it seem almost too good to be true... still, another part of the puzzle comes with the name
William, which both Colin and Bev picked up on. Bev said this name had been detected in the church before. If we return to
the four knights, one of Fitz-Urse companions on that fateful day just happened to be called - William De Tracey...
could this be our William??? we may never know...!!
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