Cold Christmas Curch - Thunderidge

This tower is reported to be one of the most haunted church's in the UK (If you believe that old twaddle), situated in the middle of nowhere and only accessed by a miles trek on foot.

So there was no better time to visit it than at night

History

The old church known as Little St. Mary's is first recorded 1086 where it was part of the estate belonging to Hugh De Desmaisnil. It was demolished in 1853 but the 15th Century Tower was left intact along with the graveyard.

The tower has three stagings and some of the original fixtures from the chapel have been incorporated into it as the 14th century window above he door and the 12th century doorway.

There has been much interest in it over the years from different parties that have led to a number of stories and accounts of strange happenings. The latest in January 2009 led to a local newspaper sending an investigative reporter to see for themselves after recieving some strange video footage of something inside the tower.

This was the video which the reporter received
(Make sure your sound is on, contains swearing)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBfOgLD2h_I

Extracts of the report in the East Herts Herald

TREPIDATION and excitement gripped me as I saw a narrow bridleway leading to my destination, an eerie church tower looming above a distant copse.

The ruined church in Thundridge has been attracting attention of late, with two reports in as many weeks of bizarre and menacing growling noises emanating from the decaying tower, off Cold Christmas Lane.

After being sent a video and hearing the growl myself I was unable to fend off my curiosity any longer, and decided that the Herald should investigate.

When I arrived at the clearing where the tower stands my mind raced as I recounted the research I had done into this place. It has for a number of years attracted devil-worshippers at Halloween, and is rumoured to be haunted.

Before venturing to the site I read in the book Haunted Hertfordshire how, in 1978 a woman was confronted by a terrifying supernatural army which let out blood-curdling screams and walked straight through her.

Thankfully (or perhaps unfortunately) for myself and our photographer no such apparition transpired on our visit.

I peered into the tower through a small hole hoping to discover what the “menacing groan” which Hoddesdon pensioner Ann Crump, and husband Leonard had heard a little over a week before, but the tower remained silent.

Thundridge Bernard and Marion Hill were walking their dog nearby and I asked them if they knew what the fuss was about.

Marion said: “It does seem to attract people, there’s a bit of a fascination about it.”

But Bernard added: “We come here twice a day, and have lived here for 33 years and have never heard anything. 

 

Stone House Hospital/City of London Lunatic Asylum

Stone House Hospital, formerly the City of London Lunatic Asylum, was a hospital and former mental illness treatment facility in Stone, near Dartford, Kent

Stone House was originally constructed at a cost of £65,000 between 1862 and 1866 at the behest of the London Commissioners in Lunacy to provide for pauper lunatics from the London

The buildings were designed in a Tudor Revival architecture style by James Bunstone Bunning, and the facility accommodated 220 patients. The asylum grounds, at first 33 acres and later expanded to 140 acres included a working farm. 

After 1892, the asylum was able to take "private" patients (patients whose fees were paid by their families, or from pensions). The influx of private patients resulted in a budget surplus, and enabled expansion and improvements of the asylum's facilities. In 1924 the facility was renamed the City of London Mental Hospital, and in 1948 it was taken over by the new National Health Service and became known as Stone House Hospital. A 1998 assessment by Thames Healthcare suggested that the hospital was not suited for modern healthcare; plans for the hospital's closure were initiated in 2003 by West Kent NHS.

Among its most famous patients was the poet and composer Ivor Gurney, who resided there from 1922 until his death in 1937.

Closed in November 2007 and currently being redeveloped into luxury Houses/Flats

Un-nammed Hospital in Essex

Just that, a hospital in sunny Essex, started its life as an asylum and ended up as one of the NHS's abandoned Hopitals.

Un-named as it's unchaved and has sooooo much more to be explored before the metal thieves and arsonists find it

From the turn of the Century