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General
Battlesden is a small village which is easily missed as it does not lie on any road which goes anywhere else. It lies off the Woburn to Hockliffe road in a lane which loops back to the Woburn road. The population in the 2001 Census was only 40.
The name derives from a personal name plus the Old English dun and means 'Baeddel's hill'. It appears in the Domesday Book as Badelesdone and Badelestone. Only Battlesden Park now remains of a large manor house which was demolished in 1885. At one time, the park occupied over a hundred hectares of the local countryside, now it has been reduced to just twelve hectares.
Battlesden
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Local Lane
In the autumn of 1982 two people were out cycling along a country lane near Battlesden when a disembodied pair of hands suddenly appeared over a hedgerow and proceeded to throw a small log into the road. The log landed directly in front of one of the cyclists, causing them to swerve violently so as to avoid hitting it.
When they looked back there was no sign of the hands and, no matter how much they searched, they could not find anyone in the vicinity who could have thrown the log at them, and no explanation as to why the log had been thrown.
To view a map of the area click on the button below
To view images see:
Battlesden Album
To view reports about Battlesden see:
25-02-2005 & 26-02-2010
Battlesden, Local Lane
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Manor House
Battlesden has the ghost of a servant, who, it is said, was sacked for dishonesty. The ghost has been heard to say the following rhyme:
Milk and water sold I ever,
Weights and measures gave I never
And I shan't rest, never, never
Did this haunting take place in the manor house (which was demolished in 1885) or the current Battlesden House which stands on the site?
To view a map of the area click on the button below
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St Peter and All Saints' Church
It was reported that a boy, playing the organ in the church, dedicated to St Peter and All Saints, at Battlesden, had seen a monk in a brown habit. The monk was said to have had blue eyes and ginger hair. Another, or more likely the same, ghost was seen by the verger and a helper who saw him leaving the church and reported that he was wearing a brown overcoat. This event was reported to the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) by the Reverend Wenham who was paying a visit there in 1969.
In the year 2000 a member of staff from BLARS (the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service) was in the church and thought they had a paranormal experience when they experienced a sudden, very cold, sensation in the back of the neck but this proved just to be the wind blowing through the north door keyhole. Even though that experience may have had a rational explanation a later event was harder to explain. The same staff member was in the church with their young son when he started to cry uncontrollably with a feeling of great sadness and went and cowered in the corner of the church almost as soon as they entered the church.
To view a map of the area click on the button below
To view images see:
Battlesden Album
To view reports about St Peter and All Saints' Church see:
25-02-2005 & 26-02-2010
Battlesden, St Peter and All Saints' Church
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