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General
Tilsworth dates back to at least the time of the Domesday survey when it was called Pileworde. The exact meaning of the name is unknown though part of the name worth is Old English meaning enclosure. The problem lies with the first part of the name which is either thyfel meaning thicket or bush, or a personal name Thyfel or Tyfel.
Originally the road through the village was the main route between the market towns of Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard so it had its fair share of inns but now most are gone and the village has been bypassed. The village church of All Saints sits on a promontory with excellent views across the valley to the Chilterns.
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Blackgrove Wood
Blackgrove Wood is said to be haunted by the ghost of a murder victim. The unknown girl was murdered one hundred and seventy years ago and the identity of her killer was never discovered. The body was found by James Bunker of Bury Farm in Tilsworth. The long knife that had been used to kill her was found near the body and was on display in a local pub for many years afterwards. The body was carried away on a door and afterwards, on the anniversary of the murder, blood would appear on the door. At the same time blood would be seen coming out of the tree near where the girl was murdered. During the Second World War two lads saw the ghost sitting on a stile at the entrance to the wood. Both men were killed in the war.
Two members of LPS have visited Blackgrove wood at night though only by way of a nocturnal walk and not as an investigation. We took the canine member of our team with us but, as usual, he did not react in any way when we were in the woods. When we visited we found the wood to be very overgrown and just about impossible to enter apart from a short path which runs from the northeast corner. The wood is shaped like an inverted ‘L’ and the path crosses the wood at the narrowest point where the two arms of the ‘L’ meet.
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Tilsworth, Blackgrove Wood
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