The Old St Marys Church at Clophill is now standing in ruins on the top of the hill. The old building seems to have been built in the Perpendicular style (from about 1350) and it is unusual in that the nave has only two windows which face North and South
Through the early 19th Century the church saw some improvements and additions, including plans to increase the size of the church to accomodate a growing population. However these plans never came to fruition and later in the century it was decided to build a new church in a more convenient location within the village. The old church was converted for use as a mortuary and the graveyard still used. By 1854 the church appears to have been completely abandoned and by that time may be in need of some repair. In 1956 the lead was stolen from the roof and the decision was made to remove any remaining fixtures and fittings and the building then fell into ruin.
Normally such buildings would remain part of the local landscape and fade from the collective view, however not so St Marys Church. In 1960 the Church made the news when it was supposed to have been the site of a satanic ritual and in March 1963 the tomb of an 18th Century Apothecarys wife was broken into and the bones arranged ritualistically in the nave. Who carried out these acts was never discovered and it was presumed that some 'black mass' had been involved.
Since then the Church has remained topical with reports of hauntings and rituals occuring at night. Many people have visited the old church to see, for themselves, the site of the 'paranormal' sightings, and some attempts by ghost hunters to capture images of such occurances have occurred, without success.
