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| Bicknacre Priory today |
In a long forgotten meadow, deep in the wilds of Essex, stands a lonely stone arch, holding stubbornly steadfast against the elements, the solitary remains of what was Wodeham Priory, perhaps better known in contemporary times as Bicknacre Priory, which was first adopted in the 13th Century.
The arch, or more correctly, the western arch of the central crossing of the church, to the Nave, is the only remains of the Priory still left today, with even the stone foundations being robbed at some point in the past.
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| An 1832 engraving of Bicknacre Priory |
Thankfully, the arch was preserved by the then landowner, in 1830, who thankfully had the foresight to protect it for future generations by fitting an iron tie-rod, around the top section of the arch and, tiling the exposed upper surface.
Both protective measures can still be seen, in situ, today.
Historical background
Sadly, very little of the Priory’s history is known today, the majority of records being lost over the ravages of time. However, a partial list of Priors does exist (1).
It was originally a hermitage for a number of years, before being converted to a priory in 1175, dedicated to St Mary and, St John the Baptist. It held no more than one Prior, four Canons at any one time (2), being supported by up to 30 monks. However, it was only ever a small priory.
However, what we do have is a couple of sketches from the early 1800’s, relating to what survived of the Nave, then being used as a farmhouse and, exploratory excavations and ground surveys undertaken by the local archaeological group – (the Maldon Archaeological and Historical Group) a couple of decades ago.
Likewise, the location is bereft of any documented haunting or any other paranormal phenomena - no goulies or ghosties, no long-leggedy beasties and definitely nothing that goes bump in the night.
With this background it is perhaps understandable, with such an apparent lack of high strangeness, Bicknacre Priory failed to grab our attention, despite living in close proximity for the past several years.
Nevertheless, we have found time to make two visits to the location over the past seven years, both of which we found intriguing, Laura finding herself able to tap into the atmosphere of the Priory on both occasions and, during our second visit, we were fortunate to record EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) – a couple of possible captures in the space of a couple of minutes.
Due to the size of the combined accounts of our two visits, for ease of reading, we’ve split this article into two parts, one for each visit.
First Visit: May 2016
We remember the day well.
Summer was quickly approaching, bringing with it the warmer weather. Thinking about suitable locations we could visit, we came to the conclusion it would be an ideal opportunity to visit the Priory nearby.
It was less than a ten minute drive away and, it was also represented an opportunity to stretch our legs, as it would require a short walk through the meadows to get to the Priory site itself.
The drive to the Priory car park proved uneventful. It was a lovely spring day, warm and sunny and the traffic non-existent, as we drove the short distance to the Priory.
The walk to the Arch
Gathering my note book and audio recorder, we left the car park and made our way through the fields to the Priory field, where we would find the remaining arch. As we crossed the small wooden bridge to enter the field, Laura immediately picked up the name ‘Constance’ as she stepped off the bridge. This was followed by the name ‘Callifew’ – or something sounding very similar, which Laura was at pains to make the point this person wasn’t connected to the earlier ‘Constance’.
Bicknacre Priory
Walking up the hill, we soon found ourselves within the footprint of the Priory, the Presbytery to be precise, the corners of the building now marked out by modern slab markers. Standing still, in silence, Laura advised that she’d just picked up the names ‘Caruthers’ and ‘Ellen’, but unfortunately, no other information which could be linked to the names.
At this point, we decided to split up and go our separate ways to explore the site.
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| Floor Plan of Bicknacre Priory today |
I went to take photographs, whilst Laura made her way to a nearby bench, positioned about 50 feet away, to take in the view of the arch. As she made her way to the bench, she was given the name ‘Hallifract’ and, the country ‘Canada’.
Sitting down on the bench, it wasn’t long before the information started to flood in.
Initially she picked up the names ‘Emmanuelle’ and ‘Oscar’ – with ‘Oscar’ she was also given ‘third’, as in the number.
The names kept coming – ‘Sarah Western / Weston’ then ‘Nigel’, followed by ‘Boulevaunt’ – this could be linked to ‘Nigel’ and, could also be hyphenated (Boule-Vaunt). This information was retrieved from our audio recording, but confusingly, in our notebook Laura had written at the same point ‘Marjorie Beaumont’ and unfortunately it’s not clear if this person relates to ‘Nigel Boulevaunt’ or, if this was something completely different.
This was quickly followed by an image of a statue, a stone angel.
After a short pause, Laura then got the image of a nun (or a sister), before immediately getting the name ‘Oheane’ or ‘Alleane’ – ‘Sister Oleon’ ?
However, Laura was hit by the name and image so quickly she could only guess at the correct spelling and, in the cold light of day, could only suggest that phonetically the name was similar and, not spelt as she’s suggested.
She was able to describe the nun as having a round, pale face and having blue / green eyes.
After spending ten minutes or so sitting on the bench, Laura decided to explore the area around the perimeter fence guarding the remaining Arch. As soon as she approached the fence, Laura got the name ‘George’.
Walking around the perimeter, Laura got the feeling that people had been hanged here, although not many.
In the furthest corner behind the Priory, she picked up ‘adultery’.
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| Laura, during her walk around the perimeter of the safety fence |
Moving to the area in front of the Arch, again within the area that had been identified as the Presbytery, Laura received the vision of a man, with long dark wavy hair, almost black, in an old hair style. The man had dark eyes and she saw the vision, as if in an old sepia photograph.
As she was receiving the vision, Laura felt compelled to crouch down and touch a flagstone in the grass (one of the slabs positioned to mark the original outline of the priory). Once she had done so, she got the name ‘Edward’, who was a young man in his 20’s. Laura later commented this was where she’d picked up the name ‘Ellen’ earlier.
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| The slab, where Laura was compelled to crouch down and touch |
She also though, at this spot, she should be talking, as if she was addressing people, standing on a platform of some kind, in the corner of a room. She was also, simultaneously, picking up on a lot of women and got a feeling of uneasiness.
Laura then got ‘Cardamen’ or, ‘Cardaman’ – she was at pains to make it clear this was a title, not a name. Connected with this, she got the name ‘Creighton’.
All this information was now coming through thick and fast – this was followed by a name beginning with a letter ‘A’ – ‘Alanadale’...... ‘Arunsale’..... something similar. Laura focused long and hard and finally the name came through, although she has to spell it..... A-R-R-A-N-S-A-L-E – ‘Arransale’.
A call to prayer
Looking down, Laura spotted a little face looking back at here from the grass, whilst she viewed this as pareidolia, she thought it was that of a small animal.
She was then given the words ‘conspiracy’ and ‘defeat’, before feeling compelled to kneel down and pray, facing north, towards the Arch. This feeling was very strong, difficult to resist, to which she eventually succumbed to and knelt down.
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| The spot where Laura was forced to kneel down and pray |
As she did so, she felt the presence of four individuals – herself (or rather the part she was playing) and three others, all male and wearing soiled dark grey cloaks or gowns.
With nothing else forthcoming, we decided to get some lunch.
As we took the short walk back to the car park, our conversation naturally turned to the priory and what Laura had picked up during the short time we were there.
We both acknowledged whilst the least promising locations often prove to be ones Laura has been able to connect to the strongest, Bicknacre Priory appeared to be particularly bereft from a high strangeness context.
Jumping into the car and noticing the time, we decided to grab lunch at a cafe near home.
It was over – or so we thought.
The drive home – a most curious event
As we made our way to the cafe, having just passed Woodham Mortimer Church, Laura suddenly cried out she could see a circle, within a circle, on the palm of her left hand. Whilst I was unable to take a close look as I was driving, I couldn’t help notice Laura looking at her hand, touching the spot where she could see the circles.
Nothing else was forthcoming during the drive and, we were soon at the cafe.
Upon arrival at the cafe, having placed our orders and took our seats, we took the opportunity to discuss Laura’s experience as we waiting for our food. We kept our voices low, in case we were overheard, but fortunately no one else in the cafe appeared to be paying us any attention.
Laura was quite shaken by the experience, it was the first time she’d ever encountered anything like this personally (although it would be far from being the last, as things have turned out).
Discussing her experience, she told me whilst we were driving along, she was thinking about her experiences at the Priory. Without warning, she was rudely shaken from her thoughts by an unexpected sharp pain, which had almost taken her breath away at the time.
She described the pain as feeling like she was being stabbed - like something was stabbing her left hand as the two circles took shape.
As Laura was describing this to me, she saw faces begin to form on the same left palm where the circle had formed. I asked her if she recognised or, had any idea from what period they were? Sadly, Laura replied to the negative.
A little something and yet a lot of nothing....
As we discussed in our introduction, for the moment at least, the known history of Bicknacre Priory is thin on the ground to say the least and, as such, proved little help with the information Laura picked up during our visit.
I guess, upon some reflection, its information that could fit within the context of the Priory, although there was absolutely nothing we could verify at this stage.
Turning our attention to the circles and faces Laura had seen in the palm of her left hand, our research equally drew a blank. It could have been a form of a solar symbol, an evil eye or even a personal Sigil.
Likewise, it could have been another symbol entirely that didn’t form fully, something to draw Laura’s attention to the faces she saw.
Or, something else entirely and nothing paranormal at all.
As for the faces, we had nothing to compare them to, or even date the period they related to.
So, in light of being unable to uncover any meaningful history other than what we’ve previously described, we simply gave up, filed our notes and forgot about it.
References:
(1) A History of the County of Essex: Volume 2. Pages 146-148 (Victoria County History 1907)
(2) The Ruined Abbeys of England, Wales and Scotland – H. Thorold. P.41 (Harper Collins 1993)
Part Two - The Serpent and the King Click Here
Part Three - The ghosts talk back to us - Summary Findings (Click Here)
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