Celtic Cross 303/365

We went exploring at Lidwell Chapel this evening. The ruin is deep into the dark woods of the Luscombe Estate, choked by brambles and trees. Only one wall remains and the surrounding metal spiked railings.

This is the place where the mad monk Robert de Middlecote withdrew to in 1325 after he was accused of attempted murder. Kind monk by day, he went out in search of travellers and offered them food and shelter for the night. The travellers, exhausted, starving and reassured by seeing a monk accepted and were treated to a hot meal he had laced with a narcotic which caused them to become semi-conscious, upon which the monk then murdered them with a knife, robbed them of any valuables and then dumped their bodies into the well.

After several years, A sailor accepted the monk's hospitality and during his stay but he saw the monk preparing to kill him with his knife, fought him and the mad monk was pushed down the well.

They say the ghost of Robert de Middlecote still haunts the church, trying to escape from the well. Painfully inching to near the top and then slipping back into oblivion. The ghosts of murdered women and children, have been witnessed around the ruined chapel. People have also reported hearing their screams and cries.

In the 1970's a photographer from Bristol travelled to the ruins and took some photos. When one of the photos was developed later he was shocked to discover that instead of showing the chapel in ruins it instead showed the chapel intact as it would have looked around about the 14th century. Despite serveral shots today I could only get what we saw (just about!) perhaps the paranormal only works on 35mm?

Other shots on Flickr: Ghosts in the Woods and Haunted Hills