St Mary's Church, Eastwell
This one is explicitly local to Jamie and as such was one he was eager to take Lauren to when they had the opportunity. He'd been here back in his Urban Explorer days and revealed that the ruin has a sister church nearby which was hit by a bomb and abandoned. Fascinating and morbid which is exactly the sort of history our relationship thrives on.
Now this one was a focus point due to the abandoned graves which had been destroyed and left to nature, we find this incredibly sad yet intriguing, but more on that later.
St Mary's Church in Eastwell had a far less tragic ending than the one of the same name in Little Chart nearby. Located in the grounds of Eastwell Park, the church was a mere CoE parish church. The 1940s brought shockwaves what with the nearby tank training explosions from the army and the church structure was weakened. Weeks of heavy rain brought its downfall and the church was abandoned in 1951 when the roof of the nave fell in and took the arcade with it. All that remains of the church now is the tower, the mortuary chapel, and the wall of the south aisle, not to mention the scattered graves in the small churchyard. While the tower dates back to the 15th century, the chapel wasnt added until the 19th century so we assume the graves date back to then also but as they are in such a sad state of repair we cant date them for sure.
In 1957ish the church was dismantled. The bells were sold to the scrapies, the V&A Museum in London took the monuments including those for Sir Thomas Moyle and his wife, and the remaining features were left for nature to make its home. The graves here abandoned along with the remaining structure of the building.
This church does have a royal connection, some going as far to say that royalty was secretly buried here. The site held a memorial to Richard of Eastwell, the supposed son of Richard III and it is said that the Victorian tomb in the churchyard belongs to him. The church register recorded the illegitimate heir to the throne and it notes he was buried on 22nd December 1550.
In the most overgrown part of the churchyard, and the most destroyed part lays the 11th Earl of Winchilsea, George Finch-Hatton, his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Georgianna, and his son George William (Viscount Maidstone). They have a simple grave and we reckon this may be the old cross seen in the undergrowth.
This site is well known among locals to be haunted. The lakehouse nearby (just next door is such a beautiful lake!) is haunted by a monk, and the lane outside of the church is reported to have a horse and carriage travel along it. We were more interested in the goosebumps and jumpy dog that we experienced when we entered the section open by the mortuary chapel. There was a horrible feeling in that white bricked room and from that point onward we felt uneasy and watched. Several years earlier when Jamie explored the site with friends he felt the same and came away with an injury which could not be explained, so the site does hold something malicious despite not being able to physically see anything. It is also said that a child from the manor drowned in the lake nearby which accounts to the air of loss the entire site holds. There is something not quite right about this area, but no more so than the church and its inhabitants being abandoned rather than repair sought.
Would we go again? Absolutely! Further investigation is needed for sure especially into the paranormal aspect. We would likely go at another time of day and perhaps without the dog as we dont want to distress him. It also didnt help that there was a man with several tripods and a drone at the site which made it a little awkward to have a proper look.
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