Greenwich Park – Touching The Past

Nōn potest cīvitās abscondī suprā montem posita

On the surface, Greenwich Park is a welcoming, green, pleasant space on the south bank of the River Thames, a place for Londoners to relax over the weekend, the location of the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian.

For some, it’s a former Royal Hunting Park where King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I entertained their guests and, the place that saw England launch its dominance of the waves from the Royal Naval College on its North Western flank.

However, for a few, the area has a far deeper, hidden, occult history that few suspect or can even dare to imagine.

A location where the pre-christian deities of Brigid, Diana, Herne, Odin, the Snow Queen and the Dark Lady of the Fountain are said to roam, if you have the desire to seek them out.

A place where you can find Saxon burial mounds, the foundations of a Roman Temple dedicated to Diana, Goddess of the Moon, an oak tree that good Queen Bess danced around and, a mysterious 19^th Century Drinking fountain known as The Motherstone, with a past that is only just beginning to unravel.

Greenwich Park is all of these things, depending on the person. What would we find there? What sort of person were we?

An invitation accepted

A good friend of ours, Sam, has a extensive working knowledge of the Park, both from an historic and an esoteric perspective and has long suggested that Laura may find a visit interesting so, with our respective schedules finally coinciding, Laura and I decided to take him up on his longstanding invitation and spend some time at the Park as his guest.  

It was May, with the long period of hot weather for the summer of 2018 that the UK would enjoy just beginning to kick in, so on a particularly sunny morning we found ourselves crossing the QE2 Bridge into Kent and driving into South London, where we had arranged to meet Sam, at the main parking area at the southern end of the Park.

Making our way through the side streets to the Park, driving along Vanbrugh Park (a road) and, up the slope at the junction with Maze Hill, Laura turned to me and informed me that she was starting to feel her stomach churning, along with a ‘pressure’, in her head.

It had begun.

Greenwich Park

Spotting the entrance to the Park on our right, we drove in through Blackheath Gate and parked up. Within minutes Sam appeared, right on cue, striding through the trees in the near distance, towards us.

Wasting no time, we gathered our camera and recording equipment and left the car to greet Sam.

Almost immediately, Laura picked up upon a young girl, about ten years of age, wearing a cream dress, possibly a night dress. Unfortunately, she was unable to get a name.

Laura later told me, during the drive home, that her first thoughts at this point were what had Sam brought with him?

After exchanging pleasantries, we decided to explore the Park in a clockwise direction, heading towards the old Royal Naval College to the North West, where it bordered the Thames, before returning back to where we were now. Sounding like a plan, off we went, Sam leading the way.

Striding purposely along the west flank of the Park, near the tennis courts, heading towards the remains of some Saxon burial mounds Laura became aware of a quiet, male voice, as we walked between two trees, ‘I’m here’ the voice whispered. Laura drew my attention to what had just happened.

Looking quickly around, the nearest person to us appeared to be around two hundred yards away, using a loud chainsaw. An unlikely candidate we thought.

Later that evening, we carefully checked the audio recording we made but, disappointingly, nothing was to be heard.

Moving on, Laura turned to Sam and asked him if there was a Remembrance Garden? He replied that he wasn’t sure, but knew that there were a number of benches with dedication plaques in the Park.

Soon after this brief conversation, we later found that we’d recorded a faint EVP, our only one that we’d captured during our visit. However, it was indistinct and we were unable to understand what was being said, even following subtle enhancement of the capture and peer review.

The Large Standing Figure........

Passing through the Saxon burial mounds, Laura and I spotted a sculpture on the opposite side of the plateau.

Large Standing Figure - attempting to blend into the background

This was the 1976 Henry Moore sculpture - Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge (LH 482a), one of the artists own copies, which has been on display at Greenwich Park, for the second time, since 2011.

As we got closer, we heard a peel of bells in the distance. Laura turned to Sam and asked him where the bells were coming from?

Sam told her that they were from the Royal Naval College, rather than some nearby church, which we could at the bottom of the slope next to the Thames, in the distance.

At this point I took some time to take some photographs, leaving Sam and Laura to discuss further.

Continuing our journey, Laura advised that she’d picked up the name ‘Blake’, a surname, near the statue.

Laura commented that the area had an unusual stillness, taking into account how close it was to central London.

The view towards Canary Warf

Out of the blue, whilst we walking down the slope towards the Naval College, Laura asked if there was ‘something’ about one of the trees here, in the Park - she kept feeling that she should be looking for a tree and, that she should go there to ‘get it done’.

Sam advised that he could think of possibly two trees, one alive, one wasn’t, that could be possible candidates and, the general consensus was that we should make our way to them.

Laura had also been given the name ‘Colonel Jacobs’, advising she’d also got ‘orphanage’.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t sure if it was in the same context as ‘Colonel Jacobs’.

We soon found ourselves approaching a cross roads on the path, where the path we were walking along met Lover’s Walk. At the cross roads, Laura turned and advised that she got ‘Sammy’, which was a boy, not a kid (toddler), along with the name ‘Fellows’.

She felt that this surname could be connected to ‘Sammy’.

Echoes of War

In the shadow of the Royal Observatory, towering over us high to our right, Laura got the impression of ‘aircraft’ and ‘645’ – although she was not sure whether this was the time i.e. 06:45, or a number.

I asked if this was aircraft generally, or a specific type? Laura replied, rather helpfully, that she wasn’t sure.

She went on to state that the aircraft was ‘taken down, not crashed’ but was at pains to impress that this had to be made clear – taken down, not crashed.

This was very important.

We paused, but nothing else was forthcoming so, reluctantly, we moved on.

Little did we suspect that this snippet of information would link significantly with what was discovered later on our tour.

The late Queen Elizabeth’s Oak

As we continued along the path, Laura got the name ‘Greives’. She knew that this not spelt conventionally, but this was how it was given to her.

Laura then went on to inform Sam and I that she kept picking up American (U.S.A.) connections, such as Columbus and California.

Sam advised that there could potentially be a Columbus link at this location. Laura and I didn’t press him for this information, in case it prejudiced anything else that Laura discovered.

We eventually found ourselves at Queen Elizabeth’s Oak, one of the trees Sam suspected that Laura could have been referring to earlier.

Looking at the Oak’s decomposing state, lying on it’s side, behind a low fence, Laura and I obviously suspected that this was the dead tree that Sam had previously mentioned, without him having to say anything.

Queen Elizabeth's Oak - lying in State

Having came to the end of it’s life sometime during the 19^th Century, it finally toppled over in a storm in 1991, when much of the supporting soil was washed away.

Dating back to the 12^th Century, it was named after Elizabeth I, who was believed to have taken refreshments under the shade of its boughs.

Legend has it that Henry VIII had danced with Anne Boleyn around the tree prior to this.

However, in spite of the late tree’s incredible history, Laura was of the opinion that this was not the tree that she needed to find.

Disappointed, we decided to move on and Sam guided us to the feature known as ‘The Motherstone’ nearby.

However, as we walked away, Laura commented that she had just been given the word ‘Carnean’, but she wasn’t sure if this was a name, a place or even if it was a genuine word.

I was later able to establish that ‘Carnean’ was Spanish for pull the wool over someone’s eyes. Was someone referring to an historic event that took place at the tree, or perhaps something that was being concealed from us, right here, right now?

The Motherstone

We soon reached a junction in the path and Sam steered us left, following the path down a slope for a couple of paces, where we immediately spotted the Motherstone, again to our left, partially obscured by the low hanging branches of a nearby tree.

Facing us was what could only be described as two stone oblong boulders, laying lengthways, one on top of the other, with a water bowl in the centre, where the two stones met.

The 'Motherstone'

The Motherstone, a former drinking fountain, was thought to have been constructed between 1855 and 1863, to replace a wooden building nearby that was being used to sell refreshments until it was demolished in 1855.

The Motherstone was first referenced in 1863, providing an eight year window for its construction.

The water bowl originally drew water from a nearby spring, which you could enjoy by means of two metal cups chained to the bowl. However, the spring was capped in the mid 1950’s due to concerns over the water quality and the Motherstone’s function as a fountain has been redundant ever since.

Although the Motherstone was of Victorian construction, the stones appeared to have had a far older origin and it is now believed that they originated from the Bluebell Hill area of Kent.

Whilst we were examining the stones, Laura complained that she felt nauseous, very strongly, so we moved away from the vicinity of the Motherstone with the hope that this would alleviate the situation for Laura.

Jack Gale, in his 1996 book Goddesses, Guardians & Groves, The Awakening Spirit of the Land, states that many love the place (the Motherstone), a few “find the place threatening and intimidating, not wishing to remain there any length of time” (p.45).

Laura, it would appear, clearly fell into the latter category.

Regaining her composure, Laura reflected on her time at the former springhead, but the overwhelming memory of the location for her was that the area made her feel really sick.

Expanding further upon her experience, Laura told us that she’d felt a hard pressure in her neck and her throat (indicating up against her jaw on her right hand side) and then the nausea feeling almost immediately started.

Allowing Laura some time to lose the effects she had experienced from the Motherstone, we left the path and cut across the grass to a shady area with a number of trees dotted here and there, either side of a gully.

As we approached the first of the trees, Laura commented that her right arm had ‘gone really tight‘ and had tensed up.

Straight away, this was followed with Laura advising that something wrong with her hands, both hands, at this particular location of the Park.

Sam interjected and stated that this is close to a tree, the second tree that he wished to show us.

Laura responded by telling him that her hands felt as if they’d been “really burned” – raw, “proper burnt”.

We’d now been walking for about an hour, so we decided to spend some time at the tree that Sam had indicated.

Laura at 'the tree' - what would it reveal, if anything?

However, after ten minutes or so, it seemed that nothing was forthcoming (from Laura's perspective) so, with reluctance, we decided to move on.

However, Laura later revealed, as were leaving the Park, that when she was examining the tree, she’d been given the name ‘Augustine’.

Maze Hill

As we walked across the grassed area surrounding the Maze Hill Gate, the conversation turned to the history of the Park, as a Royal Park and, some trees displaying signs of lightning strikes.

At this point, Laura was given the name ‘Jane Austen’, which we obviously assumed referred to the well known 18^th Century novelist, but nothing else was picked up by Laura to confirm this assumption.

Laura then asked Sam if all the roads around here, referring to the ones surrounding the Park, not those in the Park itself, were through roads or, was one of them a dead end?

A discussion ensued amongst the three of us, with Laura throwing in that it may have been a through road that was now blocked off.

Laura continued to expand, commenting that when we’d left the tree and was walking past a patch of nettles, she’d been given the phrase ‘road to nowhere’ and had just got given the phrase again now.

I raised the possibility that the phrase could be referring to something metaphorically, whilst Laura thought that it may not be in the park, but somewhere not far away, but ‘around’.

Laura asked if the Park was divided out into more than four sections?

Unbeknown to both Sam and myself at the time, this question was asked in reference to her ‘Quadrant’ information that we shall discuss later.

Sam confirmed that it was and, from above, it looked laid out to a defined plan.

I then walked away from Laura and Sam to see if I could make sense of what Laura had picked up.

I soon sighted an avenue of trees that wasn’t easily spotted from where we were originally stood, so perhaps this was the solution?

The avenue was within the Park, but interestingly, appeared to start and end between the two points that Laura had indicated. I didn’t mention what I’d found to the others.

The Avenue?

As we were close to where Laura had experienced the churning sensation in her stomach as we originally approached in the car, we decided to leave the Park and visited what we later found out was the Vanbrugh Pits at Blackheath (East), adjacent to the Park.

Upon approaching the Heath, Laura confirmed to me the churning in her stomach had returned.

Vanbrugh Pits is an area of old gravel workings, dating from the late 18^th Century, which was used to house a barrage balloon during World War II. The area was named after Sir John Vanbrugh, the architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, who had a house nearby.

We duly explored the grassland but, to our disappointment, Laura was unable to establish anything that would have explained the stomach churning sensation she was experiencing, even now, whilst in the area.

With nothing else occurring, we decided to re-enter the Park, near to where the Deer Park was located.

Walking back towards our original starting point on the west side of the Park, having completed our circuit, Sam asked us if we had time to visit another location that he would like to show us nearby.

With plenty of time to spare, we thought why not, so we gave Sam the affirmative and once again left the confines of Greenwich Park.

Crown Point

As we made our way across the heath, Sam told us we were heading to The Point, or more correctly Crown Point, to the west of the Park.

The Point is a popular viewing area, offering a fine vista of the City of London and beyond including, on clear days, the Wembley Stadium Arch, to the North West.

The view from the Point

Upon entering the grassed area of The Point, the quietness of the location was noticeable, in spite of the passing traffic.

Continuing our walk, I spotted a memorial stone set against the barrier making the end of The Point, which Laura and I soon discovered was for a fallen WWII pilot.

Reading the inscription, I pointed out to Laura and Sam that the middle name of the pilot named on the memorial stone, ‘Richard Carew Reynell’, was possibly similar to ‘Carnean’, the word Laura had picked up earlier, as we were approaching the Motherstone.

Laura, to my dismay, strongly disagreed with this suggestion.

She continued that, as we first entered ‘The Point’, she picked up a name, ‘Ray’ and thought that it was Sam’s step-father (Sam confirmed that it wasn’t), but it was quickly confirmed to her that it wasn’t ‘Ray’, but the first part of a word or name.

Although she tried, Laura was unable to get the rest of the name, so she never said anything at the time.

Did Laura start to pick up the airman?

Who was Richard Carew Reynell?

The memorial confirmed that he had been killed nearby, but where and how?

Another area of further research beckoned.

The memorial to Flt Lt Richard Reynell

As we walked back across The Point, back towards the Park, I commented that it was strange as to why no houses had been built on the land, taking into account the views of the City it offered and it’s close proximity to it.

Sam advised that this was more likely due to what was beneath The Point - chalk caverns.

Laura smiled and commented that she was going to ask if there was a cave beneath the land.

He went on to explain both the geology and history of the caverns, mentioning carvings and stated that he’d always felt that there was energy ‘swirling’ here, like a whirlpool.

Laura felt that the area would take on a different atmosphere at night, with Sam agreeing, confirming that some years ago, he had visited at night along with a colleague and undertaken a meditation session, with interesting results.

Our time drawing to a close, we made our way back to the car, only stopping to examine a water conduit on the way, en route to the Cafe in the Park, to enjoy some refreshments before we headed back to East Anglia.

Bidding Sam farewell, until the next time, we got back into the car, to retrace our journey back home.

The final piece of the jigsaw?

As we drove away from the Park, Laura turned to me and commented that, whilst we were walking around the Park itself, she was continually being given the word ‘Quadrant’, right from the point that we initially left the car.

I asked her why she didn’t raise this at the time, to which she replied that, as this was only the second time she’d met Sam in person, she didn’t want to come across as ‘strange’ to him.

During the drive home, we continued to discuss ‘Quadrant’ and both leant towards it referring to the layout of the Park, it clearly having been landscaped in the past.

How wrong did this turn out to be, as our subsequent research was to inform us.

Aftermath

At the time, whilst we enjoyed immensely our tour of Greenwich Park and the surrounding area greatly, from Laura’s perspective, it didn’t appear that active, when compared to other historic locations that we’d visited in the past, although we both thought that a further visit would be worthwhile.

However, upon reviewing our notes and, the audio recording I made of our visit, it indicated that nothing could be further from the truth – the challenge would be to establish the best way to go about it.

Our review provided a couple of areas where we should focus our initial research, namely:

1.       The girl at Blackheath Gate

2.       Colonel Jacobs / Greives / Blake / Sammy Fellows

3.       Jane Austen

4.       Richard Carew Reynell

5.       Quadrant

6.       Augustine

Findings

Our research remains ongoing, but in the interest of providing a baseboard for future field investigation, a summary of where our research currently sits would be useful, we can therefore provide an overview as follows:

1.       The young girl in the cream dress at Blackheath Gate

Frustratingly, whilst we’ve consulted many, many books and periodicals over the ensuing months, along with the obligatory internet searches, our researches have drawn a blank so far.

We are unable to trace any reference or indeed a tradition, of the ghost of a young girl at the Gate, nor any other paranormal occurrence.

Unless anyone could inform us otherwise?

2.       Colonel Jacobs / Greives / Blake

For convenience, we shall cover these people in the same section. With what appears to be just a surname to work with, these names will have to remain on our file, unless any additional information comes to light.

Colonel Jacobs – The rank of Colonel has been used in the British Army since the late 17^th Century, as well as the armed forces of other Countries. With a relatively common surname as Jacobs, we have traced a number on individuals to date, although none having any ties, we have been able to find, to the Greenwich area.

Greives – Nothing of any note found.

Blake – Possibly a reference to William Blake, the 18^th Century Artist and Poet, who was the artist of an engraving for the proposed 230 foot statue of Britannia atop of Greenwich Hill, in 1799; or

Admiral Robert Blake, a national hero, whose successes have never been excelled, “not even by Admiral Nelson himself”, according to one biographer. Whilst obviously having a link to Greenwich by virtue of his profession, he lay in state at the Queen’s House at Greenwich following his death in 1657, prior to a state funeral and burial at Westminster Abbey.

As Laura had been given the name ‘Blake’ near to Henry Moore’s statue, did it point to William as being the Blake that we should be focusing upon?

William Blake's proposed 230ft Britannia Statue and, the eventual occupant of it's spot
the life sized statue of Gen. James Wolfe

 Sammy Fellows – Nothing of any note has been found.

3.       Jane Austen

At first mention, Austen’s name raised a smile amongst us – She was internationally known, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest writers in the English language, with works such as Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice to her credit, but why was Laura given her name at Greenwich Park, of all places?

Had someone read one of her novels, whilst laid on the grass one sunny afternoon or some other mundane reason?

However, scratching the surface, we were able to find a link to her and Greenwich Park.

Two of Austen’s brothers were Navel Officers – Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Francis Austen and, Rear Admiral Charles Austen, both of whom spent time at Greenwich and, it is known that she had spent time there visiting them (1).

In addition, she was friends with Mary Pearson, eldest daughter of Capt. Sir Richard Pearson, who was the Lt. Governor of the Greenwich Hospital for Seaman, the precursor for the Royal Naval College.

In isolation, we cannot extent our research any further than this, other that there was a connection, so her appearance wasn’t as random as we first thought, so another visit to the Park may be required to see if Laura is able to uncover any further information here.

(1)     Letter to Cassandra Austen – 18^th September 1796

4.       Flight Lieutenant Richard Carew Reynell

Information relating to Richard ‘Dick / Dickie’ Reynell was not hard to trace, with a couple of reliable sources found after a quick search online, documenting the sad events relating to the death of Reynell, which occurred on a sunny, Sunday afternoon, on the first day of the London Blitz.

Flt Lt Reynell was an Australian who had initially came to Britain in 1929 to study at Oxford University and subsequently joined the RAF in 1931, where he served at No. 43 Squadron, which was based at the time, at RAF Tangmere, near Chichester, in West Sussex.

His talent for flying saw him attached to Hawker Aircraft Company as a test pilot, in 1937, where he was involved with the development of the new Hawker Hurricane single seater fighter aircraft.

In August 1940, he returned to No. 43 Squadron so he could evaluate the Hurricane’s performance under combat conditions, which enabled him to make recommendations or modifications to improve the aircraft.

He was due to return to Hawker on the 7^th September 1940 but opted to stay with the Squadron until evening, so that he could take part in the day’s flying.

It was a decision that, sadly, would cost him his life.

The morning started relatively quietly, with a handful of bombs falling on London and the surrounds, but little else.

However, as history subsequently shows, things were about to change and little did Britain know that it was soon to face the full might of the German Luftwaffe later that afternoon.

The German attack was in response to a raid on Berlin two weeks earlier, with Hitler declaring to wipe Britain’s Cities off the map and the afternoon of the 7^th September, in the middle of The Battle of Britain, saw the commencement of what we now refer to as the London Blitz.

As the Luftwaffe flew across the English Channel towards their targets, six planes from 43 Squadron was scrambled at 4:30pm, with Reynell leading a half squadron of six, which was one of the first two squadrons to greet the 170 or so advancing German planes over Beachy Head, on the East Sussex Coast.

He and his Squadron pursued the enemy to the Suburbs of South London, where Reynell finally engaged a Messerschmitt Bf 109, over the skies of Blackheath.

During the engagement Reynell’s Hurricane was blown into three pieces, the engine falling through the roof of St Ursula’s Convent, opposite the Park’s western flank, causing a fire, whilst the main part of the fighter plane crashed to the ground onto Crown Point itself, where the monument to Reynell now stands.

Reynell himself was blown out of the aircraft, falling rapidly, his parachute only being partially deployed, crashing through a garden bench before he came to rest on the ground, at 3 Kidbrooke Grove, to the east of the Park.

Already in a bad way with chest injuries, Reynell sadly passed away at the scene, before medical help could arrive.

Flt Lt Richard Reynell's Grave, at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey

Laura picked up four pieces of information that she ascribed to Reynell, before we come across his monument:

i.                     this involved an aircraft, albeit type unknown

ii.                   the number 645

iii.                  that this aircraft was taken down, not crashed; and

iv.                 the first part of a name – Ray

Considering the information in relation to what I learnt surrounding Reynell on the 7^th September 1940, the first piece of information is self explanatory, we were looking for an incident involving an aircraft of some kind.

The second piece, the number 645, currently remains an enigma, it doesn’t relate to the place number or Reynell’s service number and, not the time of the incident, which was recorded at approximately 5pm. Could this relate to the time of his death? For the moment, we feel not as, although we currently do not have the time that Reynell passed away, only that it was before medical help could arrive, we feel that even in such a time of emergency, 1 hour 45 minutes was too long a wait before medical assistance arrived on the scene.

The third piece of information, that the aircraft didn’t crash but was taken down we found interesting. Reynell’s aircraft disintegrated in mid-air, with Reynell being thrown clear of his aircraft as it did so.

It was this, along with the fourth piece of information, the first part of the name being ‘Ray’ that gave us the belief that Laura was sensing this tragic incident, almost 78 years after the event.

Sources (including online):

The Advertiser (Adelaide)          

P7. 10^th October 1938

P6. 19^th December 1940

P9. 3^rd September 1941

P17. 19^th September 1941

P7. 16^th November 1941

Blitzwalkers:

https://blitzwalkers.blogspot.com/2012/02/flight-lieutenant-richard-carew-reynell.html

https://blitzwalkers.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-fighting-cocks-black-saturday-and.html

                                       

5.       Quadrant

Due to our ignorance in relation to the Park and the Observatory, our conversation during the drive home focused upon the geometry of the Park, the way ornamental gardens had been laid over the years.

We were firmly of the mind at this point that quadrant related to how the Park was set out.

As we previously mentioned, how wrong could we be on this point.

It didn’t take long for us to discover that the term quadrant could also relate to an instrument used to measure angles or, more relevant to Greenwich itself, longitude, latitude and even time itself.

These instruments have been in use for over 2,000 years, in some shape or form, having first being described by Ptolemy in 150 AD.

Greenwich Park had been the location for a Mural Quadrant (a large Quadrant attached to a wall) since around 1676, the first being designed by Robert Hooke, the architect, natural philosopher and polymath.

Robert Hook's original 1676 Mural Quadrant at Greenwich

This was replaced by a ‘slight’ Mural Arc in  1683 and again in 1689, both quadrants by the Royal Astronomer John Flamsteed.

The final quadrant, another Mural Arc, was erected in 1721 by Flamsteed’s successor, Edmund Halley (of comet fame), which is now on display at the Meridian Building at the Royal Observatory, albeit with several parts missing.

Unfortunately, whilst we were able to get to the source of Laura’s ‘quadrant’, she was unable to obtain any additional information relating to this during her visit, so our researches cannot progress any further at this point.

However, there was also a possible connection with Robert Hooke elsewhere for Laura, which is something that we’ll explore sometime in the future.

We know where the quadrants were located and, where the final, only surviving one is now situated. Again, a further visit will be necessary at some point, to attempt to progress this aspect further.

6.       Augustine
Augustine of Canterbury (not to be confused with St Augustine of Hippo), born in Italy, was a Benedictine who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury on 597, being buried (originally) in what is now St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury.

We have not been able to find any direct link between Augustine and Greenwich in our researches but noted that the original route of Watling Street, upon which Canterbury lies, passes through the north east corner of Greenwich Park, close to the Roman Temple (and Motherstone) and to the place where Laura was given the name.

Although pure conjecture on our part, did Laura pick up the thoughts of a traveller or clergyman from Canterbury, passing through the Park, on their way into London? 

Summary

Although we’ve yet to return, the Park remains a location of great interest to us.

During our time there Sam was careful not to relate any of the knowledge that he had of the area, unless directly asked, or steer us to any particular location of interest (to himself), whilst he was there.

Perhaps this visit was only the start of our connection to the Park. As with Greenwich itself, only time will tell.

Bibliography

A History of Greenwich – Beryl Platts (1973)

Working the Path – Jack Gale (1994)

Goddesses, Guardians & Groves – Jack Gale (1996)

Greenwich and Blackheath Past – Felix Barker (1999)

Synchronicity – coincidental occurrences or events with meaning?

A Church and some Snowdrops

Synchronicity – a concept introduced by the psychologist Carl Jung almost a 100 years ago, who stated that events are meaningful coincidences if they occur with no causal relationship, yet seem to be meaningfully related.

The term has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years within the paranormal community, but it is actually phenomena that the Psychic Questing community has been acutely aware of for over 40 years and plays a significant part in their activities.

Throughout our research, we’ve encountered many instances of synchronicity, many of which we’ve only been aware of after the event, but does it really have any deep meaning?

Snowdrops

To illustrate the point, recently, we visited a churchyard in a neighbouring village to photograph the first emerging snowdrops of the year, prompted by a post that we’d seen on social media the previous day.

We were honestly expecting more......

It was a cold, damp day, so our focus was purely to take a couple of photographs and get back home as quick as we can.

Having taken all the photographs of snowdrops that we’d ever want for, we decided to return to the car, walking back through the churchyard, near to the Church, when we noticed a handyman appear out of the gloom of the impressive porch, so we approached him and politely asked if we were able to go inside.

Without hesitation we were curtly told no, as there was a funeral taking place in 30 minutes. The response was abrupt, leaving the impression that the funeral was simply a convenient reason and that our presence inside the Church wouldn’t have been welcome regardless.

Taking the hint, we went to continue our walk to the car, disappointed at the refusal.

A lady in black

Without warning, a smartly dressed lady, clearly there for the funeral, came over to us, having overhead the conversation and informed us that it would be fine and there would be plenty of time to view the interior before the rest of the mourners arrived.

Thanking her, we entered the church, the handyman’s stare burning uncomfortably into the back of our heads.

The inside was very grand, but we knew that the church was a former wing of a Priory that used to exist on the site, so this did not surprise us as much as it should have.

We restricted our tour to the rear of the nave, the altar area being prepared for the funeral and decided to leave, to give the mourners that were now arriving time for themselves.

As we went to leave, we approached the porch exit, the same handyman, now back inside the church, came over to us and told us that we needed to go and look at what was at the other end of the church.

He appeared rather proud of whatever this was and was quite insistent that we had to see it.

Laura, ever supporting, walked off at this point and left the church, leaving me to it.

With time running out, I quickly walked to the front of the church and immediately spotted what the handyman’s excitement was all about.

Well I thought that she looked like a knight.....

Above me, high up upon a window ledge, lay the stone effigy of, what I took to be at the time (due to my viewing position), a praying knight, which is relatively common in local churches, although this appeared to be one of the earliest examples that I’d seen to date and was exhibiting a bit of wear.

Disappointed, I walked back to the Porch to join Laura outside the Church, passing the now beaming handyman. “Did you see it?” he asked me, his large smile still in situ.

“Yes”, I replied, “it was interesting”, not wishing to disappoint him and bade my farewell.

Synchronicity?

Later that evening, my thoughts turned to the effigy that I’d seen in the Church earlier that morning.

With growing curiosity, I decided to establish exactly who’s effigy it was that I’d seen in the Church. I suppose it was the least I could do, taking into account how keen the handyman was for me to view it. I didn’t wish to appear ungrateful, even in his absence.

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for me to establish that the effigy was not of a knight (which was a surprise to me), but that of Maud 'Athelida' De Ingelrica (1032 – 1100AD), the founder of the Priory, the remains of which form the Church today, as previously referenced.

It was believed that the effigy was the lid of her sarcophagus, the only surviving remains of her tomb, which was originally located in the chancel - before being destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, in the 16^th Century.

There the story ends, but the synchronicity?

You see, Maud 'Athelida' De Ingelrica is my 32^nd Great Grandmother (on my mother’s side).

Whilst I was aware of her connections to the village we visited, I had never researched her any further and, had absolutely no idea that she was buried in what is now the Church there.

We had no intention of going inside the Church during our visit to the Churchyard and, we wouldn’t have done so without the intervention of a complete stranger, who had overheard our chance conversation with the handyman.

Likewise, even inside the Church, we avoided the area where her effigy lay and if it wasn’t for the handyman’s return as we left the Church, insisting that we went to see what turned out to be Maud’s effigy, we would have departed, without any plans, nor any need, to return in the future.

Now, when do we go back?

L&M

The search for the answers to be found in a hidden corner of Essex - the ghosts that just won't rest.

The sight that greeted us on our very first visit.

Ever since Laura and I first started working together, there has been one location that has remained a constant, even as we found ourselves relocating several times around southern and eastern England over the past ten years.

An ancient place of Christian worship, located deep in rural Essex, insular and isolated and, as far as we could tell from our initial visit, of little historical significance - although further research could reveal otherwise.

As any visitor will attest, as they often have, it cannot be denied that the location has a certain atmosphere, one that Laura herself is not to fond of, so we have always found ourselves being drawn back to the church, time and time again.

Needless to say, with so much time spent at the site, we hold a large set of notes on file, that have produced numerous lines of research that we have still yet to investigate fully.

However, we thought that it was time to share with you some of our experiences and discoveries that we have made there, over the last decade or so.

Background

The church building itself dates back several hundred years, of a very distinctive design and, without intending to be unkind in anyway, it certainly looks and smells its age. Over the centuries there have been several major alterations made to the current building, in more recent times, being mostly been enforced due to damage and decay.

The church was effectively abandoned to the elements some 50 years or so ago and now classified as redundant.

The building was only saved following a series of fortunate decisions that initially commenced with a demolition order in the 1970’s, leading ultimately to the substantial conservation work undertaken to halt the decay and underpin the church, that was completed a couple of years ago.

This is how the visitor will find the church today.

Even now, the church is little known outside of the local community and it still retains its sense of isolation.

We first came across the location whilst searching for new research projects in the East Anglian area, where we were both based at the time.

We’d found several reports made by various people mentioning the high number of EVPs (Electronic Voice Phenomena) that were allegedly being recorded there, but little else of note concerning the history of the church, which still remains elusive, even now.

However, this was still enough to pique our interest, so notes were made and the site added to our ever growing list of future locations that we intended to visit.

Thinking nothing more of the matter, we then turned our attention to other areas of interest and simply forgot about the church.

Several months later, during a quiet period, we went back over our notes and decided that it was finally time to undertake a field trip to see if there was any substance to the reports that we’d read.

The start of our relationship with the building had begun.

The visits commence

Our initial visit took place on a warm summer’s evening, the air filled with the rich evening chorus of blackbirds ringing out to accompany the setting sun, greeting us as we left the car.

Despite this pleasant welcome, Laura immediately commented that, to her, the location had a foreboding atmosphere and I noted that she appeared apprehensive as we entered the church grounds.

The entrance to the church stood in front of us, at the foot of the Tudor Bell Tower, almost obstructed by a grave memorial, which in itself we found unusual.

We soon realised that the doorway was a more recent addition to tower, the main entrance being located on the North side of the building, via an impressive 17^th Century wooden porch, that complemented the tower.

The present view, looking up from inside the Tudor Belfry.

To our disappointment, we found that both entrances to the church were securely locked, upon safety grounds as we later found out, due to the desperate condition of the building and the imminent risk of collapse.

Indeed, apart from an annual service, the church had been closed off to the general public for a number of years, until the conservation project was undertaken and completed.

The restoration itself was completed a couple of years ago and thankfully saved the church from demolition, with the added bonus that the public were now able to view the interior of the building, but we digress....

Finding ourselves restricted to the small churchyard, we decided to walk around the structure and examine the building and explore the surrounding churchyard to see what was revealed.

We found that the land surrounding the church was very overgrown, with trees encroaching right up to the building itself in places, adding to the atmosphere of the location.

At the time we recall thinking that someone would need to act quickly, as nature was clearly looking to reclaim what was originally hers with a vengeance.

Thankfully, as events transpired, action was taken.

Darkness falls – a secret to uncover?

As we strained our eyes and looked as far as we could into the wooded areas, we could make out old gravestones dotted amongst the trees – a particularly eerie sight as the sun finally set.

General maintenance of the graveyard had evidently long stopped here, although the remaining grassed areas had clearly been recently mown.

We continued our exploration and, Laura remained unsettled.

In addition to some names and dates, Laura also felt that the location was being used for occult purposes and not in a particularly nice way. This use was both historical and, something that was continuing to the present day.

A quick search of the surrounding area thankfully found no psychical evidence of such activity.

There was one particular monument that Laura was drawn to and which continues to be so to this very day, a very large slab of (type of stone), surrounded by a set low, decorative cast iron rails, protecting the monument.

The memorial was engraved with the name of family members covering a number of years, even some that had left these shores and commenced a new life in a distant country.

However, despite being in a relatively good condition for its age, it was covered in ivy and other fauna and its inscriptions proved difficult to read.

Thankfully, this memorial has also been restored and we now have a complete copy of the inscriptions.

The memorial, now restored, helpfully providing us with a lot of information.

An interesting back story surrounds the family commemorated by the memorial, although we have still to undertake any further research relating to this.

Laura felt that the whole location held a secret and that the memorial, or the people listed there, were the key to unlocking the whole thing. The memorial indicates that most of the family emigrated in mid 19th Century, which obviously will form one line of our ongoing research.

The EVPs

Over subsequent visits, various EVP’s were recorded and the ominous feeling that Laura was getting from the location intensified, to the extent that Laura was eventually reluctant to visit the church, even in day light hours.

Laura has never been keen on visiting the church......

It is worth mentioning that, despite continually searching, we’ve thankfully never ever found any evidence of ‘occult’ activity to this present day. Although, in spite of the lack of physical evidence, Laura is absolutely certain that the location is still being used for such purposes.

The EVPs that we record at the location are of varying quality, but at a more frequent level than we experience elsewhere. Helpfully, they are usually in direct response or in context to the conversation that we were having at the time.

We’ve also recorded the same EVP on two separate audio recorders that were recording at the same time, one of the few times that this has occurred for us.

Of greater interest to us, looking back through our notes, Laura has been receiving the name ‘James’ during the majority of our visits, although we weren’t really conscious of this due to the time that had passed between our visits and this has only come to light recently when looking back through our notes.

Curiously, during a recent visit, Laura once again picked up upon ‘James’, only this time our audio recording also picked up another female voice whispering ‘James’ immediately following Laura asking if James was with us at the time.

(As always with EVP, best listened to via headphones)

‘James’ is undoubtedly a person of interest for us in our research, although we have made no progress as to his identification to date.

The restoration...... and a new chapter begins

The restoration of the church itself a couple of years ago affords visitors access to the interior, after many years of being sealed off.

In 2015, having recently moved back to the area, we visited for the first time since the restoration work had been completed and finally found ourselves stood inside the building at last.

Opening the door for the first time, we found ourselves inside a church that looked far bigger inside that it did from the outside, causing us to look around quickly for any Time Lords in the vicinity.

Breathing in the musty air, we found bare plaster walls, compete with sections of 300 year old murals and even older wall paintings.

The pews and pulpit, which, at the time, we took to be of a similar age to the murals, but have subsequently found out had been salvaged from another church locally, were in excellent condition.

The floor mainly consisted of black and red clay tiles, straight onto an earthen floor, that looked to date from Victorian times, but we could be wrong.

Almost immediately, upon entering the building, perhaps unsurprisingly, Laura started to pick up people’s names and dates, together with what she described as a ‘young boy’, around 11 or 12 years old, who was holding her hand.

This was not the first time that she had experienced this at the site, although she was unsure as to whether this was the same ‘boy’ that has been attracted to here on previous visits.

She also felt that there was a room or area beneath the church floor itself, where young children were secretly taken and ‘punished’.

At one point Laura received this impression so strongly, she knelt down to examine the floor for any signs of an entrance to the room below.

Was there a room beneath the floor here. Research has indicated that there isn't, but
was something here in the past?

 When I later pressed Laura for an explanation, she told me that all this activity was linked to a person (or persons) that was connected to the large monument outside (the one that she’d always been drawn to and mentioned previously) – if we could identify the person(s), we would get closer to what had happened and, perhaps, the truth behind it all.

More Research and another visit

Over the following months, I made some discrete enquiries and undertook further research, but could find no mention of an underground room or area - although, tantalisingly, I did find references as to the reason why the church building had been in danger of collapsing, necessitating the restoration, which was down to subsidence, in part caused by vaults, or crypts under the church.

Could it be that one of these vaults be the room that Laura had referred to, where the ‘punishments’ to the children had taken place?

This new information led to me to visiting the church once again, without Laura, to see if I could find any trace of the vaults in the fabric of the floor that remained, although I had my doubts, as the tiles were clearly of a relatively recent vintage.

I particularly wanted to inspect a gap under a pew that we’d noticed on a previous visit, although the task would be made more difficult, in the fading winter light at the time I made the visit.

Although I was unable to determine as to whether there was anything underground, my inspection was nonetheless worthwhile and, undoubtedly necessitated a further visit when the light was better.

Of more significance however, it appeared that my visit to the church had acted as a trigger of some sort, as later that evening Laura received an image and a vision, relating to the church.

The good the bad and the Pigman.......

The image was that a shard of white frosted, or smoky glass, self standing, in the area of where the font is now located, containing an image of a female saint, in prayer.

The Praying Saint

This image quickly faded and was immediately followed by a ‘vision’.

It should be noted that we use the term with reluctance here but there were no other words to describe it – a vision.

In it, Laura was stood at the threshold of church itself, at the entrance in the Tudor Bell Tower, the door wide open.

Here, she found herself facing a priest, who was stood immediately inside the church.

Beyond the priest, she could see a figure, a man with a pig’s head (the skull being almost skeletal, coloured brown, but she could definitely see ears, albeit dried and curling over).

The ‘pigman’ (for the lack of a better term) was stood at the end of the pews, in the open area adjacent to the font, next to the North Entrance to the church.

In her ‘vision’, as Laura strained to see beyond the clergyman, the ‘pigman’ asked her if she was coming in.

As she thought carefully about the invitation, the vision faded and ended.

Laura, re-enacting her 'vision' of the pigman

Looking at my phone I could see that it was approximately midnight (my phone was displaying the time of 00:00 am).

Things did not end here and, at approximately 00:40 am, Laura received her final image of the night, of a rectangular, almost square headstone, that was in the churchyard, lying flat on the surface of the ground but raised (rather than level with the surface), with the inscription of a young woman’s name and age.

To bring this particular episode to a close, the next day Laura saw a set of symbols that she drew for my inspection when I returned home that evening.

At the time, I attempted to link these events together and felt that perhaps the best to interpret the whole affair was on a symbolic level – clearly British history had not been awash with reports of pig headed men, from our current level of understanding at least.

We therefore decided that a further visit was necessary, this time with Laura in attendance, to try and make sense of the vision.

The follow up

Within a week Laura and I found ourselves at the location, this time late morning - the first time that we’d visited the location at this time of day.

Laura, having just had her hand 'held' by a child once again.

As I stopped to get my equipment ready, Laura stopped ahead of me and turned to tell me that she’d been touched by a child, although she was not certain that it was one of the ones that had made contact with her previously.

We started off with a tour of the graveyard, meeting a friendly dog (and owner) out enjoying the crisp spring air.

This was the first time that we’d really inspected the area surrounding the church together in detail since its restoration, so we spent some time looking at the memorials, wondering if any of the names were familiar to us from our previous visits.

We then turned our attention to the church and began to walk the circumference of the building in a clockwise direction.

At an area on the south side of the church, Laura suddenly knelt down and started ‘sweeping’ her arm across the grass.

Catching my attention, I asked her what was wrong?

Laura informed me that, at this spot, she had felt the urge to immediately kneel down and pray, which then quickly turned to the desire to uncover something that was buried, or concealed, beneath the ground.

The ‘spot’ was close to the south wall of the church, immediately next to a bricked up (very large) door or window, with the ground being uneven or disturbed, which we’d always put down to rubble being dumped there in previous years.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the bricked up aperture was the grand entrance to a private chapel attached to the south side of the church, which had been destroyed and removed in the past. This had resulted in the disturbed ground where Laura had felt the need to pray.

The former entrance to the chapel, that stood in the grassed area to the lower left of the image. It was in this area that Laura felt the need to pray and uncover a concealed object.

With nothing else forthcoming, we made our way to the Tudor Bell Tower and into the church itself.

Once inside the church, Laura pointed out where she’d been standing during her vision and, where the ‘pigman’ and priest were stood in relation to her, but nothing further was forthcoming.

As we moved further into the church, Laura mentioned (as she had done on her previous visit inside the church), that she felt that we were once again being watched by a man high up in the church, against the Bell Tower. She felt that the man lived in the church, or at least had the habit of staying overnight there and, was possibly a curate that was attached to the church.

Laura walked towards the altar and sat down on the step in silence and attempted to tap into the atmosphere of the building.

After several minutes in quiet contemplation, she arose, walked forward several feet and then bent her knees and touched the floor at a certain point in the aisle. She insisted that there was still, or had been, a room or chamber below.

It was at this point that Laura asked out aloud if James was with us now, sensing that he was possibly close, resulting in us recording the female voice whispering ‘James’ that we referred to earlier.

The present day.

As we mentioned right at the start, our research is still ongoing and there is clearly far more to be revealed at this location.

However, we have reached the point where we have started to make some progress, so perhaps this is an opportune moment to cover some of our experiences at the location, together with our current findings date:

1.     There are a lot of children connected to the location

This has been a constant for Laura ever since we first visited the location - the building would have served at sometime as a sort of workhouse, possibly a school.

Whilst we’ve been unable to establish anything definitively, in a recent conversation with a local historian, from his research, he believed that there was a second chamber within the church, no longer existing, that was used either as a school room at some point, or indeed where a priest lived (which also ties us to point 5. below).

As you can imagine, this has been an important development for us and has now become a strong line of research for us, which we will hopefully be able to expand upon at a future date.

2.     An underground vault, where children were abused (not sexually)

This has, so far, proved a dead end for us. Apart from a reference to underground vaults, or crypts, being mainly responsible for the subsidence at the church, we’ve not been able to progress this any further so far, even with physical inspections at the location itself.

a.      A secret connected to the family mentioned  in the large memorial slab, adjacent to the Tudor Bell Tower

b.      A woman, her young son torn away from her, still upset; and

c.      James

Laura feels strongly that these three separate ‘events’ are potentially linked.

Throughout our visits Laura frequently senses the presence of a woman, who is grieving, having had her son taken away from her.

In the same way, she feels that this woman is linked to the family detailed on the memorial slab and that the child was taken away because of the shame that it brought onto the family.

Less confidently, Laura feels that the James that lingers there could possibly be this child, but she has never receive any answers to this when she has asked.

At this moment, this remains an ongoing line of research, with the only facts that we’ve been able to establish is the names on the family memorial. However, Laura feels that we’re close to getting an answer here, so only time will tell.

3.     Something concealed beneath the ground where the chapel was located.

Again, our enquiries are ongoing, but details of the former chapel are sparse and obviously we’re not in a position to go around digging up church yards.

However, the fact that Laura felt the strong need to kneel pray and then uncover a concealed item beneath what we now know would have been the chapel floor provides an interesting line of research for us.

4.     That the location is used, both historically and currently by people for occult purposes

Whilst we are not in possession of any supporting evidence whatsoever for this, the relative seclusion and remoteness of the location would not appear to exclude this. Interestingly, Laura has felt that a particular person could have visited this location and, in a completely unrelated conversation recently, another person suggested something that could support this.

This is one aspect that we’ll maintain a watching brief upon.

5.     The man, possibly a curate, that watched from high, who lived in the church

As mentioned in point 1. above, a recent discussion with a local historian revealed that he believed that historically, there used to be a second chamber within the church that was where the priest used to live or was used as a school room (possibly both), who produced an historical plan of the church, a few hundred years old, to illustrate his point.

When asked why would the priest live inside the church and not elsewhere, the historian explained that during Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, from 1536 to 1541, the priest in residence was ejected from the neighbouring Manor House when it was seized by Henry's men and he therefore took residence in the church itself.

 This would support what Laura had picked up, but how does this explain the ‘watching from above’ element?

The area of the Nave from which Laura has always felt that we were being watched, from above.

This part was clarified by another historian, who advised that in the past, there was a former upper floor gallery at the rear of the Nave, as was popular in churches at the time, which would clearly have provided the platform ‘from above’ that would allow the man to observe visitors.

6.     The gentleman, unflatteringly referred to as ‘Pigman’

It probably goes without saying that Laura’s vision of the ‘pigman’ was the most difficult to understand.

We initially thought that we needed to interpret this at a symbolic level, especially in light of the symbols that she received and drew, the following morning after the vision.

We thought that we arrived at a plausible interpretation for the vision and symbols, when taking into account other things that were occurring with Laura at the time. However, subsequent events led us to dismiss his interpretation.

A few weeks later I met an historian at the church who, whilst discussing the development of the building over the centuries, mentioned the upper gallery at the rear of the Nave, as discussed in point 5. above.

As I’d tentatively touched upon the reason for enquiring about the gallery during our conversation and hadn’t been rebuffed, I pressed on and, after providing a lengthy introduction as to what I was going to say, explained what Laura had seen and threw myself at the historian’s mercy.

To my surprise, the response was not what I was expecting.

The historian explained that the grave immediately outside the ‘new’ entrance, in the Tudor Bell Tower, was that of a gentleman, an ex-serviceman, who served the church and, was in the habit of standing at the corner of the building, directing people around to the North Porch entrance. Being ex-military, he had a certain way about him and the historian could imagine him standing there, asking, of any stragglers, are they coming in?

Although the gentleman was of a different age, the historian knew that he had a certain reputation locally, of being a ‘pig’........

Another possible explanation provided by the historian was the locality’s connection to pigs, dating back to Anglo Saxon times, if not earlier. Was the vision a link to this?

Either way, had we finally found our ‘pigman’?

The future?

It must be said that we both found this very difficult to write.

Not only was there so much that we could have written (there is a lot that we’ve simply left for another time), but things that have been moving at such a rate, we have had to constantly re-write, add or remove elements.

 Indeed, we started writing this over 15 months ago and even now were in two minds as to whether or not to publish what we had written.

Unlike most if the other pieces that we’ve written about here, there is no conclusion to our research and we simply, at this stage, do not know where it is going, so it’s fair to say that we will be issuing further updates, from times to time.

However, what we are certain about is that this location has many secrets to reveal, which we both feel we are on the cusp of discovering.

 In some ways, our journey with this location has most definitely only just begun.