Hi
Our next YouTube video pushes the boundaries a bit
Its filmed in 360 VR which means that you can move the camera about to look at things as I move through the location
As I used to tell my son when giving him vegetables with his dinner – try it you might like it
As always the tale is quite interesting and is detailed below
This is using a 360 camera which you may have seen us use to create a lot of our drone type footage
We have decided to see if this technology adds a new aspect to our videos by basically bringing you along and maybe spot what we have missed.
I don’t know if it will work but if it does, it opens up a whole new dimension in our investigations
You should see a control on the video which will allow you to pan, zoom and do other things as we walk about the site – it will vary depending on what you are watching the video on
This first trip is to what is known as the Black hole of Derbyshire in Chapel-en-le-frith. Specifically St Thomas Becket church.
The Black hole reference seems to be related to The Black hole of Calcutta, so called because British soldiers, were captured and forced into one room in Calcutta India. 123 out of the 144 men, died through crushing and suffocation. Unfortunately this practice wasn’t exclusive to India, as we will see.
In Chapel-en-le-frith there is a lovely war memorial, an ancient celtic cross and there are ancient preserved stocks to see. Further along, we can see a carved bulls head.
Then we have the church
The reason we came here was that we had a report of mass death, ghostly moaning and a general sense of foreboading in the church yard. We were in the area for our werewolf story so we thought we would tick this off our list.
It shows that we are living in a different reality when I asked my husband what was the plan for the rest of the day and he replied that we have two werewolves and a screaming skull to sort out then we can have some tea
The original Church was built in 1225, by local woodcutters, who worked in the Royal Forest here. There is a grave in the churchyard, which is said to be the oldest surviving grave in England. The initals PL and an axe are engraved on there. There is also the stem of an old saxon cross, which would predate 1225. Perhaps this was a religious meeting place even before the church was built.
The church was rebuilt in the 14th century and some of that remains. The south porch, south aisle and tower were rebuilt in 1733. The chancel was rebuilt and in 1893. So what we have is a 13th Century crypt on an earlier site, with 14th Century, 18th Century and 19th Century additions.
The Battle of Ribblesdale Moor in Preston occurred in August 1648 between the Parlimentarians and the Royalists. The Parliamentarians won easily, even though their army was smaller. A retreating battle continued all the way down to Ashbourne. 1500 Scottish soldiers were captured and the intention was to send them off to Australia, but for some reason, they were imprisoned in the old Thomas Becket church. There was no room, or food or basic human comforts. The soldiers were crushed inside, just like the poor fellows in Calcutta. From the 14th of September they were left to their own devices. How loud must 1500 men have been, echoing through the night? How terrible must it have been? Why did the villagers not intervene? Were there soldiers guarding the outside? Or did the villagers think that this was fair punishment? Whatever happened, it was 16 days later before they unlocked the doors. 44 of the men were dead, 10 died later on their march to Chester, towards the Australia bound ship.
The 44 dead scotsmen were placed in a mass grave here at the Church which like most graveyards we are still looking for the actual grave
As mentioned earlier ghostly moans have been heard many times around the Church and its grounds. These have been heard several times and there is supposedly a terrible atmosphere here at night. I’m glad we came on a sunny summers day and we never heard any ghostly moans during our time here
Other notable points here are the fabulous sundial on the side of the church and the large tombs situated in the older part of the churchyard. ,