The long forgotten Holy Shrine of ‘Our Lady of Ulting’

Ulting Church

Deep in the Essex countryside sits, just ten feet from the River Chelmer, All Saints Church, a tiny little church, always locked, standing guard, silently, over its river domain, something it has done for almost a thousand years, an idyllic, innocent facade, concealing it’s once significant position in ecclesiastical England.  

For it wasn’t always like this. Back in the 15th Century it included a Chapel, adjoining the steeple at the western end, hosting the Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the centre piece being a statue of the Virgin Mary, adorned with precious jewellery and crosses, a fact attested by many medieval wills and other bequests, funded for by the many pilgrims. 

It was a Holy shrine, said not only to rival the world famous shrine of ‘Our Lady of Walsingham, in Norfolk, but also the shrine of St Thomas a Becket, in Kent.

Indeed, it attracted pilgrims who saw the three shrines at Canterbury, Ulting and Walsingham, who saw visits to the three shrines as being of the same pilgrimage. 

However, this we knew none of, the first time we visited in 2020 and, unfortunately, there is little we can add several years later from a historical perspective, as other than little snippets here and there, not much has been documented about the shrine, the Church or the location, or not that has been uncovered, in the several years that has passed since.

Prologue

It was the summer of 2020, the conditions of the first lockdown had just been relaxed, so I decide to take our children out for a drive, leaving Laura behind. Driving through the country lanes, the children encountered an unexpected sight (best not described here) and, as we drove slowly past, I decided we should make our way to Ulting Church, on the banks of the River Chelmer, where we could disembark and stretch our legs.

Pulling into the small car park, a distance from All Saints itself, we found ourselves walking down to the Church grounds along a wide, avenue, with a mixture of wooden fencing and ancient hedgerow marking its’ route, almost like a procession way, guiding our way to the church.

As we got nearer, I could see the entire church grounds were enclosed within a picket fence, giving a postcard appearance to the little church sat in the centre.

The adventure begins

Running to the entrance, our children were excited to see, atop the gate, a carved little wooden mouse, scurrying across the top rail.

I saw a mouse.......

However, what immediately caught my eye was something placed at the foot of the gatepost, sheltered by one of the supporting gate buttresses – a Hag Stone no less.

A Hag Stone, well sort of.

A Hag Stone, to the uninitiated, is a stone with a hole worn through it, usually by water action and said to possess magical properties, such as protection against witches, evil spirits, bad luck and so. They’re also believed to ward off the evil eye and, are occasionally even used for dowsing.

Depending upon where you live, they can also be known as an Adder Stone, a Fairy Stone, Serpents’ or Snake Eggs or, Witch Stones and it is believed was first described by Pliny the Elder, in his book ‘Natural History’ (Naturalis Historia), published around 77 – 79AD, almost two thousand years ago.

Taking a closer look at the Stone, I could see it was a ‘home-made’ version, not one formed by nature but by human hand. The base stone appeared to be a chalk pebble, the sort of thing you’d expect to see available for sale in a garden centre, which someone had taken the time to drill a hole, approximately a centimetre in width, right through the centre of the stone.

I stood silently, whilst the children walked into the Church grounds, pondering as to why someone would take the time to furnish a Hag Stone themselves. After all, it was not as if they were uncommon in this part of the world, you could find them almost anywhere. Also, strictly speaking, it was frowned upon to create them manually – the hole through the stone needed to be created by natural means.

Then a thought suddenly struck me. What if someone needed a Hag Stone so urgently, they didn’t have the time to find a natural one, so needed to craft one by hand?

Furthermore, the stone was placed at the northern entrance to the Church yard, the cardinal point that has long been associated with spiritual darkness and superstition, to the extent Hag Stones have sometimes been found, embedded into the north wall of English churches.

This put an entirely different spin on the situation and, I decided to carefully replace the Hag Stone back to its original position, clearly someone felt that the church needed to be protected more than my need to add to my collection of curiosities.

However, I was left with a series of questions. Who had placed the stone there? Why did they feel the urgent need to create an artificial Hag Stone when it wouldn’t have taken much effort to locate one

And, what exactly was the Church or grounds being protected from?

We were soon to find out......

A dark figure beckons

Joining our children, we first checked the Church itself, but not unexpectedly, we found it locked. Leaving the shelter of the porch, we decided to venture to the left side of the grounds first. We didn’t get far before our son, who was ahead of our daughter and myself, suddenly stopped in his tracks and stood, silently staring at the western boundary fence.

Asking him what was the matter, he told me there was a black figure, standing on the other side of the fence, staring, with arm outstretched, pointing at him. Neither our daughter or myself could see anything, but our son was insistent the figure was still stood there, pointing and staring at him.

Seeing our son was getting a little agitated, I suggested we moved away and towards the river, where if we approached quietly, we may be able to spot some fish, sheltering under the shade of the overhanging trees.

Sadly, there were no fish to be seen, so we continued to walk around the Church, to the eastern side of the grounds. As we walked I noticed our son was glancing furtively, behind him at something no one else could see.

Walking along the eastern side of the Church, our son suddenly cried out, clearly troubled “he was still pointing at him”.

I asked how this could be, as we couldn’t even see the spot where my son had claimed to see the figure, from our current position on the opposite side of the Church.

Our son explained it was because it was following him – when we were at the river bank, the figure had moved to a position on the river bank next to us and, as we are walking along the eastern side of the building, the figure had moved again, to the corner near the river and, was again stood there silently, pointing at our son.

I asked him, did he see him follow us, as we walked around the Church? To which our son advised no, the figure simply disappeared and reappeared at a new spot near us, outside the picket fence boundary, in exactly the same posture, standing motionless, staring at and pointing at my son.

By this stage, our son was clearly getting distressed, so I suggest we leave the area immediately and head back to the car. Our daughter meanwhile, was finding the whole affair very amusing and was clearly enjoying her older brothers’ discomfort with the situation he found himself in.

Returning to the car, in an effort to maintain normality for our son, I never raised the matter with our son as we drove back home.

The way our son described the figure at the scene – dark / black, with no discernable features such as clothes etc, I naturally assumed he had witnessed some sort of ‘shadow person’ phenomena, although not archetypical, as this one clearly didn’t disappear (permanently) and hung around for a bit.

Aftermath

Choosing my moment carefully, a couple of days later, I approached my son and asked him if he felt up to discussing his experience further? He gave me a nod, so I asked him to describe the figure to me.

He stated it was absolutely silent and stood motionless, like a statue, pointing at him. It was the size of an adult and, he assumed it was a male. It was completely black, like a silhouette, with no discernable features. Puzzled at the last point, I asked our son how did he know the figure was staring at him?

He stated he could see directly into the figures eyes and clarified whilst the figure itself was completely black, it had large white eyes.

The white eye detail came as a bit of a shock, as I’d not heard (up to that point) of shadow people with white eyes. Obviously researching this, I’ve since learnt they have been reported by witnesses as having red or, white eyes.

Subsequent research over the last five years has revealed no other record of any hauntings or similar activity at the location and, only the brief history outlined at the beginning of this article.

However, after such a curious introduction to the location and surrounding land, it wouldn’t be long before I returned with Laura, sans children, to fully explore the Church and its’ surrounding lands in an attempt to fully understand what was going on, if anything.

A second visit, this time with Laura

Whilst I immediately told Laura about our son’s experience at the Church upon our return home, due to other commitments, we found ourselves unable to follow up until a couple of months later, just as winter was taking hold.

And so, eventually, it came to pass that we found ourselves pulling into the small car park, at the head of the avenue, on a cold, frosty morning, just as the early morning mist was beginning to drift away.

The walk down to the Church passed uneventfully, only pausing to examine the carved wooden mouse on the gate, before we entered the Church grounds. Not unexpectedly, there was no trace of the Hag Stone, but did this mean the Church’s protection had been removed?

Not bothering to check the Church, presuming that it was locked, I steered Laura to the right, following the path I originally took with our children back in the summer. I stopped and pointed out where the dark figure had been witnessed by our son. We paused for a couple of moments, Laura attempting to see if she could pick anything up, but nothing.

We continued our walk around the church, Laura remarking how close the Church was to the river bank and made our way to the east side of the building.

As we approached, Laura suddenly stopped and grimaced. After a pause she let me know that she was getting the sensation of her ribs hurting, like they were being crushed.

I pointed out this was the position of our Sons’ second sighting of the dark figure, not that this appeared to have anything to do with what Laura was experiencing now.

Laura continued “My whole body feels like it’s been squashed, like, from the outside my body’s been squashed in.” Inwards? Crushed? I clarified.

“.... and my ribs and my pelvis and my hips and, the tops of my legs..... crushed in.”

Before the sensation gradually faded.

Apart from this, our visit to the Church yard was quiet, with nothing else of note observed.

Deciding to leave, we left the grounds and proceeded to walk up, along the avenue, back towards our car.

The Procession Avenue

However, as we approached one of the few trees growing in the middle of the avenue, Laura got a name – ‘Ainya’. This was immediately followed by Laura feeling the very strong urge to ‘turn’ her left leg inwards, as she walked away from the tree. This feeling continued for a noticeable time. I asked Laura if this was connected to ‘Ainya’, but Laura never replied.

The old tree, with Laura further up the Avenue, which proved a trigger for events on two visits.

Laura clarified it was at the ankle where the turn was, she was being forced to turn her ankle deliberately inwards, severely, but not to the point it was at an 90 degree angle. She felt the problem was muscular, as opposed to bone deformity or damage.

As we approached the second, more modern graveyard, at the top of the avenue opposite the small parking area where we have left the car, Laura’s feeling with her leg gradually faded and we decided to enter the graveyard and take a look at the commonwealth grave we could see in the distance.

Slowly making our way across the graveyard, we eventually found ourselves at the grave of a young soldier, who had tragically passed right at the end of the First World War. 

Afterwards, this was where we found we’d captured our first EVP at the location. As fate would have it, not a particularly clear one, more relevant to our actions at the time rather than relating to the soldier, but an EVP nonetheless.

Whilst we spend some more time at the grave yard, nothing further of note took place and our time at the former Holy Shrine of Our Lady of Ulting came to an end.

The third visit - a dose of High Strangeness and, things get weird.

As is now customary for ourselves, four years passed, almost to the same month, before we felt another visit would be worthwhile. Little did we know how strange things would turn out, contrary to even where our beliefs lay.

After a detour to the location, due to road works, we arrived at the small car park just before noon. Whilst I got out of our vehicle and walked around to the boot to retrieve and set up our recording equipment, Laura remained seated, in the front passenger seat of our car. It was from here where everything started.

As Laura sat patiently in the car, waiting for me to get ready, she got the impression of a large female statue, a dominant, a protector, but of what Laura did not know. As this was a former Holy Shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the same attributes, it is perhaps reasonable to associate Laura’s ‘vision’ with Mary, especially as the Shrine was well known for having her statue.

This was immediately followed by a dark orange, almost red face, which appeared to her squashed flat, almost like a squashed pumpkin, which Laura took to represent the Devil.

It did not stop here, now Laura was getting the image of a stone, with a male in a pied costume, like a jester you would find in a pack of cards, etched into the stone. In addition, the figure was enclosed within three circles (refer image below). I asked Laura if this stone was on ground level, but she replied that the way she had viewed it, it was at eye level, facing her. Laura added it was upright and, she would describe it as similar to a plaque or memorial.

The Jester plaque

As she was describing the stone, Laura also reported she was feeling ‘really heady’, on her forehead, over her eyes.

I started to wonder what lay ahead of us, as we left the car and made our way down the avenue to the Church.

As we walked, Laura continued to feel the presence of the ‘female dominant’. I asked her could she date the female to any particular time period, but Laura had no idea. Pressing, I then asked if the female was attached to a religious order, but again Laura replied that she simply did not know, only that it was a female and, dominant, but things could make more sense to here once we got inside the Church grounds.

Pudding Stone, Pudding Stone and even more Pudding Stone

Inside the grounds of the Church, we took a slow walk around the building and, for the first time I noted the large amount of Pudding Stone in its’ construction. This was even more striking due to the small size of the Church.

This I found very interesting.

Pudding stone, a naturally occurring conglomerate in this part of the world, was not only used in the construction of medieval English churches for its’ practicality, folklore attributed it to a kind of apotropaic power, believing that incorporating pudding stone within a church during its’ construction (or even a boundary or foundation marker) as it could help ward off evil and bring good fortune, guarding the building and protecting its’ occupants from harm.

The darker Pudding Stone, hidden in plain sight

In some cases, churches had been found to have been built on pudding stone outcrops and circles, linking its use to older, pre-Christian traditions and practices and further emphasising its’ protective role.

The Hag Stone found during my initial visit, the protective female Laura was sensing, now the use protective pudding stones in the buildings construction.

Call it fanciful, but there was definitely appearing to be a theme developing here.

Some respite and, another name.

We decided to take a break and moved to a nearby bench. There, we studied the Church and pointed out the various construction features we could see from our position on the west side of the grounds.

As we contemplated the design of a small window, high up on the western wall, Laura revealed, as I was contemplating the use of Pudding Stone in the construction, she had picked the words ‘serpentine’ and ‘snake’ and now, whilst sat on the bench, the name ‘Carlea’, unfortunately with no other context available.

After a short rest, we decided to check if the Church was unlocked, but sadly we found it locked again. Moving on, Laura found herself unable to tap into any further information, so we left the grounds and slowly made our way back up the avenue, to where we had left the car.

The Avenue of memories.

Walking up the slope, we slowly approached the old gnarly tree that triggered Laura last time we were here, four years previously. Again, we weren’t to be disappointed.

Passing the tree and continuing our trek, Laura remarked “This is going to sound really stupid, but from that tree to here.....”

It was at this point we found we had managed to capture a faint EVP, but unfortunately we’ve been unable to make out what was said to date.

Laura continued “I just closed my eyes and walked, like my eyes just shut, so it was like I was just, like supposed to walk as if I couldn’t see”

I asked Laura was it like she was blind, but she never answered, adding “so I just went with it”.

Going with the flow, I allowed Laura to continue, but what came next surprised us both.

“When we got to this point, I saw Jesus’ face, seriously!” said Laura. I had to ask Laura twice at this point, in case I had misheard her. However, Laura then clarified this wasn’t as 'in person', but a picture, a painting.

Laura went on to advise that she could still see the path ahead, with her eyes closed. It was like she was walking in someone else’s body.

Next, Laura advised she could see an American Army cap, with a peak, in camouflage green (we were later able to positively identify this as a World War 2 US Army Infantry Overseas Garrison Side Cap, worn by enlisted soldiers based overseas). However, it was only a cap and nothing else, again with no context.

Then followed a cross (a crucifix), etched into a stone wall. Laura described the crucifix as decorative, with smaller crosses, containing a design, at each arm of the cross. From its’ crude appearance, Laura assumed it was probably not created professionally, but didn’t know for certain.

Without pausing, Laura then advised there were ‘people’, but she couldn’t see them – everything was pitch black, but she couldn’t tell if she was blind or, it was just night time. There was also a male she couldn’t ‘see’. He was middle aged, around 40 years old, perhaps a couple of years younger. As the second passed, Laura was able to confirm she couldn’t see because of the darkness, not because she was blind.

Then, there was silence, for a couple of minutes at least.

The man with the stitched cross

Then it started again.

Laura exclaimed that someone had a cross stitched into their face, their right cheek. Not ink or a tattoo, a cross formed by needle and thread, with red cotton, or at least something similar. Likewise, Laura was careful to clarify that this was a cross, not a cross-stitch (as it was sewn), nor was it a wound, something cut into the man’s cheek. It was a sewn cross in red thread, on the right cheek.

Next, Laura saw something like a stamp on someone’s arm, looking similar to Chinese writing (logographical). It looked like it was made by a rubber stamp, that sort of appearance, in black ink and, Laura took it for an ID number or mark. Getting frustrated, Laura attempted to draw the symbol, which you can see, below.

The symbol, or a simplistic view - the actual 'vision' was much more complicated

Laura then advised she could see lots of lights, pink and red, but they appeared very blurry, hazy, not very clear, which neither of us could think of an explanation for.

Laura asked for confirmation as to where the tree that triggered events during the last visit was. I confirmed it was the same one that triggered her during this visit.

Nothing else was forthcoming, so we made our way back to the car and packed our recording equipment away. As we sat in the car, ready to make our getaway, Laura commented the struggle she has, when receiving information, is that some of it is so ‘out there’, she finds herself reluctant to speak about it. As an example, the images she received during our time at the Church today was only the tip of the iceberg, there was far more going on here than she told me.

This news I did not doubt one little bit. This however, would have to wait for another visit.

Conclusion

As I mentioned in our introduction, very little has been written about Ulting Church and it has proved difficult to undertake any deep research, therefore, in the main, this article really is simply a public holding place for the experiences and information received psychically at this point. Hopefully this will change at some point in the future.

We know the location was, at one point in history, a major Holy Shrine and, as such, would have received many pilgrims suffering from ailments and disease.

Therefore, in this context, Laura sensing on two separate visits, people who cannot see or, with twisted limbs, or, crush injuries, is understandable, especially when Laura has sensed this returning along the procession avenue leading away from the Shrine.

Perhaps this is the memories of leaving the Shrine, having been blessed, and the hope these people must have been feeling, as they left? 

Conjecture I know, but things like this are never going to be documented, you have to rely on empathy and, your understanding of the human experience to just guess at the situation.

However, what can be examined is Laura’s experience from an occult perspective.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Devil and, Jesus

I guess you could say, imagery of the Virgin Mary, the Devil and, Jesus himself at a major medieval Holy Shrine, could carry layers of theological and symbolic significance.

i. The Virgin Mary

In medieval Christianity, the Virgin Mary was seen as a key intercessor for humanity. She could symbolise a compassionate figure, who advocates for the souls of believers, she could represent mercy, grace or even protection (which Laura was sensing) for the person having the ‘vision’ or, the site itself. Alternatively, her presence could be a sign of the sites holiness and importance, confirming its spiritual significance as a place under her personal protection.

ii. The Devil

It’s appearance immediately after Laura had ‘seen’ the BVM could signify the ongoing battle between good and evil, or even Laura, being ‘tempted’ whilst at the location. However, in the context of the medieval mindset could suggest a struggle to undermine the sanctity of the Shrine. Or even the pilgrims’ faith.

iii. Jesus

As we all know, Jesus, in the Christian context, represents final redemption and judgement, authority over evil and, fulfilment of prophecy. To the medieval mindset, he represented both the redeemer and the final judge, sent to vanquish evil and reward faithfulness. Perhaps, as this was Laura’s last imagery of the three, its’ what the pilgrim expected, once as their time at the Shrine ended and they left? 

And finally

The image of the ‘Jester’, the Cosmic Joker perhaps, maybe it’s appearance in light of Laura’s preceeding visions and, the information Laura with held, was rather apt, representing the unknown, spontaneity or simply, just divine absurdity?

However, what do you think? Do you have anything you can add, to clarify what Laura saw or, is there something we are overlooking? Obviously we will revisit at some point, but we really need to make a break through with the research to make this worthwhile.

Laura and Mark.