1552
Record of 4 bells in the old church.

1722
5 bells were cast by Samuel Knight.

1742
Tenor recast by Robert Catlin.

1932
Bells tuned and augmented to 6 with the 3rd and tenor recast by Alfred Bowell of Ipswich. The bells were rehung in a new steel frame.

1944
16th Aug.
The church received a direct hit from a flying bomb. Only the badly damaged tower and parts of the chancel wall survived. This photo was taken in 1944.

1945

The bells were removed from the tower and stored by the railway line from where the 4th was stolen. The belfry stage of the tower was then largely demolished.

1955

The 5 surviving bells were taken to John Taylor & Co., Loughborough. The new church and tower were completed.

1956
6 new bells were cast from the metal of the 5 remaining old bells and hung in a new tower in the new church by John Taylor.

1956
29th Sept.
Service of Consecration of the new church and new bells, conducted by Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher.

c. 1964
The ruins of the old church were made safe and a concrete floor was inserted in the tower at "1st floor" level.

Ian’s personal account.

Investigators: Kim, Dean, Paddy, Ian, Sarah, Rick.

Introduction

St Mary’s is a partially destroyed church just outside Pluckley, Kent, and we all know the reputation that village has. It had been hit by a V1 bomb during WW2 hence was not used since, but maintained as a place to visit. I had been there twice before but not on an official group investigation, once during the day with Kim, Paddy and Dean and again in the early hours with Kim and Paddy when we were out “playing” one night!

Everyone has a “feeling” about this place which is why we were drawn to it for that last investigation before GCUK broke for Christmas, and it was also a chance for Rick and Sarah to join an investigation in their new roles as official core team members!

It was a night for travelling light so I only took my Sony Handycam DCR - H19 + Sony HVL - IRM infrared emitter plus my Olympus Camdia C-160 digital camera, oh and a large flask of coffee as it was going to be very cold!

Investigation

We had agreed to an early start as it would be dark and cold, so myself Kim, Dean and Paddy arrived about 6.15pm to find Rick and Sarah already there walking the site. Two very keen new core team members!

We chatted in the car park about the plan for the night ahead and headed up to the shelter of the remains of the church tower. It was very cold already and this offered some protection from the cold breeze. We then walked the site as a group taking photos and discussing the site as we went, finally returning to the tower about 7.00pm.

It was about this time that we decided we’d do lone walk-a-rounds the churchyard, but save our comments till we had all been. Rick went first whilst the rest of us waited in the tower. He startled us by retuning within only 5 mins! Then Dean did the same followed by Sarah, Paddy, Kim then myself last.

I videoed my walk-a-bout, which was fun and interesting watching back. The birds in a tree startled me, it was cold and dark and I was obviously shaking with the chill. It was the rear of the churchyard that posed the biggest problem. In between the trees and thickets there was a definite feeling of not being alone. It was eerie and uncomfortable when I was alone there. I stayed for a few minutes calling for spirit to show themselves but nothing happened, thankfully. I moved on around the open area of churchyard then returned to the others.

We discussed what we had felt and it so happened we had all experienced the same thing, so the group headed towards that area of the churchyard. There were knocks and creaking noises from within a thicket, which could have been the branches but then may be not? I called for spirit to make the noise again and it happened again. Dean called then Paddy, both times the sound was heard.

I saw Paddy turn quickly as though bothered by something, he said he has heard footsteps in the leaves behind him? Possibly an animal but they were quite heavy?

Then we all see some movement in the thicket but can’t make it out and still the noises come. There was not a lot of wind so it could not have been the branches knocking. Then Paddy and I think we hear movement like another foot fall just in front of us by the same thicket, but nothing is seen?

We decided to move off and walk around the remainder of the churchyard and ended up back at the tower by 8.30. By now it was very cold (-2) and bit breezy and the coffee wasn’t working! So we decided to close the investigation early and give people a chance to head of home and warm up.

Conclusion

It was a quick one due to the elements, but I think we found what we needed to know. None of my pictures or video found anything unusual, but we all had that same sense that something was there in that same area of the churchyard. This was something that some of the core team had felt before and for Rick and Sarah to have come along and felt the same may prove a point? Last time Kim, Paddy and I were there we most certainly saw dark shadowy movement in that area of the churchyard.

It’s an odd eerie place but also beautiful during the day, but there is definitely something lurking around St Mary’s!