www.ellisctaylor.com
Articles
Culbone Church
INTRODUCTION TO ARTICLES Please read before proceeding
Living in the matrix
Another Way
Numerology for a new day
by Ellis C Taylor
"A wonderful book"
"Much more than a numerology book"
"Brilliant"
click on the cover for more information
More articles by Ellis Taylor
at the links below
Please read before proceeding
Culbone Church
Introduction
As I glanced up from where I laid in the sun soaked grass below a huge sarsen in the northern circle of the Avebury complex a tall, svelte middle-aged woman in a flowing dress approached me. She sat for a while and then she asked me for healing. She had a troubled soul, was certainly psychic and I sensed that she had a deep fear within her about which she could not, and as it turned out, would not talk. She asked me where I was travelling to. A question I knew encompassed several meanings but I held to the obvious one and told her how I was making my way down to the southwest. She suggested that I visit 'the smallest church in the kingdom' at a place called Culbone on the north Devon/Somerset coast. I felt a chill but she assured me that it was a beautiful spot in heavenly scenery. I'd never heard of Culbone before but I'll never forget it. This was in the summer of 1996.
We bade farewell and I made for the Avebury Henge Shop. Half an hour or so later I emerged to see the lady walking towards me again. She asked if I could take her to Glastonbury where she lived. As I was heading for Glastonbury myself for an appointment with UFO Reality magazine the next day I agreed. It was dark when we reached her home so I said goodbye and drove up the hill to sleep in my car near the Tor. As I neared the top of the road a bright white light zoomed silently from left to right across dark blue sky parallel to the horizon in front of me. (This object was also witnessed by someone else who had reported it to 'UFO Reality' prior to our meeting.) As I parked up I noticed that the woman had left a scarf on the passengers seat. I decided that I'd return it in the morning, which I did.
At first light I climbed to the top of Glastonbury Tor, the landscape so breathtaking in the mists of dawn, and then drove back into the town centre. After an enjoyable time at UFO Reality magazine's offices I delivered the scarf and set out to investigate Glastonbury Abbey and the town centre. It was a beautiful day and my next stop would be Somerset and Culbone Church.
The Road to Perdition?
I arrived at the track to Culbone around 4.45p.m. and parked near a gate. The track went uphill to a farm and downhill to the church. I grabbed my camera and holdall and sauntered down the steepish incline and into the moss-laden and sombre tree lined avenue. On either side were remnants of old stone walls and ramparts. The road was much longer than I thought and as I tramped along the trees conveyed a very un-tree-like energy, if not menace. It really felt like they were watching me. The sun rarely, if ever, ventured into this musty tree-cave that was funneling me into somewhere I was beginning to feel very uneasy about. I recalled my initial reaction, a chill, to the woman's suggestion to visit this place while we lolled in the warm mid-summer sunshine of Avebury. It seemed so long ago. I did consider going back and forgetting about Culbone Church. I hadn't heard or seen any birds or animals let alone people, and that occured to me to be odd. Even the name was beginning to sound ominous...Cull and bone, but I'd come this far. (1) After a while I came to a sharp right-hand bend and in a few more paces I could see stone houses, just one or two...and sunlight...of a sort. I passed the first building (a mill at one time I pondered) and wound around to the little church topped by a witch's hat steeple and sporting a tall cross in the yard at its fore. I explored the church building's exterior and then tried to door. It was open and I ventured in. There was no one else about, I hadn't seen a soul since I drove from the main road. A pleasant enough building to look at, quite plain but to be honest I don't remember much about it. As soon as I entered the empty church this almost whispered, but clear voice, right at my side, cracked urgently through the silence, "GET OUT...NOW!!!". It wasn't an order, it wasn't threatening, the tone was unmistakeably earnest, benign and protective. Well, I didn't need telling twice...I threw open the door to be met with a glowering twilight. It was too early! I raced out the churchyard through the looming branches reaching out to my stumbling form and along the terrifying two miles of this sinister passage. All the while the voice accompanied me, encouraging me on, "You are safe... keep going... don't look back...you are always protected!" And I did feel strangely secure. And I got there, the other side of the woods...and it was daylight, 6.35p.m.!
A couple of years later, on another trip to The Isles from Australia, I went back to Culbone Church. I went much earlier this time. Again I didn't see anyone and yet again there was a sinister air pervading the place, but perhaps it was less so this time. I saw a blackbird, and a sparrow I think it was, but that was all. The millhouse(?) looked occupied, the church was locked and everything was I suppose quite normal. A week later I called on a friend. He showed me a photograph of a little church on the Somerset coast. Right across the photograph an eerie black band had manifested on the print. Apparently the photograph was sent to my friend by retired policeman and UFO researcher John Hanson... and you've guessed it, it was a photograph of Culbone Church.
End Note:
I often think about that trip and I've been meaning to write about it for years. For some reason I felt an urge to put this down today. While I was at it I looked up Culbone on Google. I came across an enlightening excerpt from a book on Culbone written by Joan Cooper. It seems it has been a place of dread for a very long time.
As I mentioned, this was a spur of the moment piece. I'll see if I can get a copy of my friend's photo and dig out my own. Meanwhile if anyone fancies a trip to Culbone Church here's a map:
Good luck!
© Ellis C Taylor 26th November 2005
Ellis Taylor is the author of
Footnotes:
(1) Culbone is apparently derived from 'Kil Beun', Church of St Beuno - Not recommended for people called 'Beun'.
Hi Ellis,
By the purest chance I was checking out summat for somebody concerning that marvellous poem 'Kubla Khan' written by Samuel Coleridge Taylor and I was amazed to see he wrote it quarter of a mile away from Culbone Church. If it was'nt for your marvellous atmospheric piece you wrote about Culbone Church the connection would never have dawned on me. Probably the combination of the 'medication' (opium) he took frequently and his trips to that church its not surprising he wrote fantastic stuff. Take care of yourself L.Jack.
