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Clophill
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A brief note about the area
A white ghost and the sound of footsteps A phantom horse and ghostly rider A church with a reputation for evil |
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Clophill lies in a heavily wooded area with the village running east off the A6 Luton to Bedford road. In the 2001 Census the parish population was 1,702. The name derives from the Old English words hyll and clopp meaning 'a hill called Clopp' or 'the lump'. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the name is given as Clopelle.
At one time Cainhoe Manor was owned by Richard Denny who lived there with his wife and three of their children. In 1973/4 a series of unusual things occurred which were experienced by Richard and other members of his family. Richard was in a room named after Katherine of Aragon and had been putting things into a cupboard when he became aware of a figure looking in through the door at him. It was only a quick glimpse because when Richard looked again the figure had gone. Another figure was seen by Richard's son Walter who saw it walk through part of the door and part of the wall next to the door as he lay in bed. He described the figure as being 1.8 metres tall. Another son, Julius aged eight, also saw a figure but this time it was sitting on the floor but he said it was too blurred to discern any details. The ghost was also seen by thirteen year old Lyster who said it was whitish in colour. Mrs Denny did not see a figure but she did hear footsteps and heavy breathing in the attic on more than one occasion. It seems that Richard Denny's predecessor also experienced the ghost but no further details are available.
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Just before Christmas 1969 a newsagent and his wife were delivering papers to Northfield farm when they saw a small light approaching along the Haynes Church End to Clophill road (Great Lane). Believing it to be a cyclist the driver dipped his headlights and slowed down only to discover it was a rider on horseback carrying a lantern.
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The original St Mary's church, on a hill above the village, is now a ruin and has had a grisly past. During the 1960s it was twice used for what were purported to be black magic rituals. In March 1963 the grave of the wife of an eighteenth century apothecary, Jenny Humberstone, was opened and the bones were later found in the nave of the church arranged in what appeared to be a ritualistic fashion. The bones formed a circle with cockerel feathers placed nearby and the skull was found impaled on a railing. The bones were eventually reburied in her original grave by the church porch. In 1969 on Midsummer's Eve graves were again broken into and bones removed. No clue has ever been found as to the people who did this but it seems likely that the Black Mass was involved as the sixties were a time of occult revival with many groups being interested in the darker aspects. In 1975 bones were again removed from the graves but this time they were just scattered around the site which may, therefore, have been the work of vandals.
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