- Image by sweenpole2001 via Flickr
The old Thundridge church was demolished in 1853. The tower, however, was left in place. At the time Thundridge was one of the oldest churces in this part of England.
The new church was dedicated to Saint Mary and All Saints. It was paid for by a Mr Hanbury in 1858 and cost £9,000.
The original burial ground remains which contains a number of ld tomb and mausoleums. One unusual epitaph for Roger Gardiner and his wife reads;
Roger lies here before his hour,
Thus doth the Gardiner lose his flower.
Thundridge is just shy of three miles north of Ware. The river Rib can be seen from tower.
Locals report tales of wichcraft, vandalism and desecration at the church.
Hauntings
The Church – sometimes known as Cold Christmas church – is believed to be haunted.
A common report is of a ghostly grumbling growl that echoes out from the tower. Reports of the noise became so frequent that in January 2009 the local East Herts Herald sent a camera crew and journalist to investigate.
Another famous tale dates back to 1978 when a terrified local woman reported an entire ghost army marching out of the church. Reports say the ghost army let out a blood-curdling roar and marched straight through the poor woman.
Other reports speak of a figure in a black robe that is sometimes seen in burial ground.
In Pure Spirit
Have you seen ghosts near Cold Christmas Lane, the church or tower?
If you’re a local we’d love to hear what you think about the site!
May 16, 2011 at 1:22 pm
I went there last week and wen we got there we all had chills down r spines, we all got in the tower and a black ghost raped us all and stole my yams and bananas :( that bastard
May 24, 2011 at 4:36 pm
After my recent experience i managed to get hold of some historical recordings of the church and it confirms my sightings…in fact the first identical sighting goes back to 1797….i will never visit the church again.
June 5, 2011 at 4:50 pm
i went to cold christmas church the 5/6/11. with my 3 daughters we walked around the grave yard looking at dates on the head stones and then went into the church, it was very cold inside and very hot outside! it was also very scary. As we was walking around the grave yard we spotted a dug up grave, when walking back to the car shanise my 13 year old daughter had 2 scratch marks 1 about 2 inchs long on her left hand and 1 about 1 inch long on her right arm. We have been once before and both times was great, i would go agian.
June 10, 2011 at 6:13 pm
Will u lot please stop coming in to my church the reson I scratched ur daughter and most people that come in is because people ruin my chuurch bless you all and DON'T COME BACK
June 27, 2011 at 6:11 am
Go away this is my church. None of yours so go away and don’t come back. Or I will scratch u alll hahaha
August 17, 2011 at 7:10 pm
Ah gonna go up there tonight , went up there the otherweek got past the gate where you park your car then i was with 2 friends which both went over to a "plastic bag" to investergate and both thought diffrent things becuase we where stoned in the end they thought it was a man witha "Nailgun" Run off and just left me behind( be careful who u go there with!)
September 5, 2011 at 6:22 am
Myself and a few friends went to Cold Christmas a few days ago. You have to park on the road and walk for about 10 minutes through fields and bushes to get there. As we were walking there, we heard some voices but it was probably the trees – our minds playing tricks on us. As we arrived we heard some moaning/voices/rustling, but it wasn't horribly loud or terrifying. On the side of the church is a sign that says 'DANGER, DO NOT ENTER', but that is probably because it's so old and could crumble to pieces at any moment. There's a hole round the side of the building which you use to get in because the door is locked, and just outside of the hole is a gravestone. We could only make out some of the carvings on it which were 'sacred' and 'death will come to those who…'. We went inside but didn't want to go too far in so only stayed in there for a few minutes, but nothing strange happened. When we came back out, everyone was fine apart from two of my friends who looked quite pale and were acting very strange. We stood just outside of the hole for a few minutes and definitely heard some whispering coming from it, but when we shined the lights, nobody was there. We started to walk back to the car, and our friends were acting dazed and odd all the way back. When we drove away, the engine wouldn't stop cutting out and it only began to work properly when we were at least 2 miles away from where we had parked.
We are planning to go back there this weekend to explore more into the church, it is so addictive, but spooky!
September 27, 2011 at 1:29 pm
me and my mum mate tyler burroughs slept there for 7 days and nothing happened at all and its all fake!!!!!!!!
November 22, 2011 at 5:08 pm
me and m husband went to thundridge church two sundays ago sunday 13th november around 4pm we only spent 20mins there as didnt want to stay when it got dark, anyway" I took a franks box with me , which for anyone who does,nt know this is a radio which has been haked to scan am fm stations, spirits can then speak over the scanned channels, this works, if you believe me or not it doesnt matter, just go on u tube and type in ghost box and there are loads of examples of sessions with this gadget, I put the ghost box on and aked if any spirits were there, I got the names Bruce, peter and neil and then, help, also an evil voice very quietly said yes mother, and straight after that in my voice I heard clearly Yes mother, it wasnt me I had it recorded so I could listen to it when I got home, I thought, why would I say that out of the blue, that was unsettling to hear that, a few days later I did anouther ghost box session at home, I think that we bought something back from that place, when I played it back I could evil noises sighs and mumbling, this really frightened me to think that I had bought bad spirit into my home, I did a ghost box session last night and it seems to have gone.
November 22, 2011 at 5:18 pm
sorry this is not a reply this is carrying on from the post above, just wish to say, dont disrespect this place, it does have an evil spirit there and it can follow you home, not trying to scare anyone, I know that there are sceptics posting stuff, you have a right to not believe but keep your comments to yourself. be very carefull when visiting this place
December 4, 2011 at 5:12 pm
I went last night. We went to the top of the towel I went last night. We went to the top of the tower, (well as far as you can go) it was good as 3 of the group hadn't been and iv not been for years. We had a good look about. Took loads of photos and a video. Nothing come out with anything odd on it. On the way out some other people were making there way to the church. So we scared them lol. When we got back to the pub my mate had scratchs on his neck and they got worse before we left the pub.
Also I have been up there years ago and a head stone moved on its own.
I was very gutted to see that some people have smashed some of the head stones up. If there is a evil ghost up there let's hope it fucks these people up!
January 12, 2012 at 12:59 pm
I wish these morons would leave this place alone, haunted or not it is english history and part of our past I really wish that these arseholes could be caught in the act or the spirits there give them a good lesson to learn, if i could let you hear the evidense i have you would see what I mean. no one should go there to take the piss, I do believe that there is a nasty spirit there, preventing some other spirits from moving on, on the recording there are cries for help and three names, Peter, Bruce and neall, I would swear on it, be carefull if you visit this place and be respectfull it is the unknown that your dealing with, if you are a skeptic then I am not going to convince you I can only let let you know what I got there just be open minded and be carefull. good luck.
January 21, 2012 at 9:50 pm
Me and 2 friends see a bright flash come out of a grave there like a strobe light and another time see ppl in white hoods walking towards our car gesturing us to turn round and go was late at night and no we weren't on drugs !
February 2, 2012 at 10:06 pm
i grew up in thundridge been in ,on and around the old church countless times never saw or heard anything untoward and have never heard the tale of ghost armies marching around the place