Investigation Report: Battlesden

Interesting night in the lanes entering Battlesden. A lone soldier "John" came forward along with other information that centred around a minor engagement between the opposing forces in the English Civil War.

Graham Matthews sensed John nearby, I saw the head and shoulders of a figure walk across from the field into the road then vanish. Further down the lane this same experience was had by Jason. I felt like someone had stabbed me between the shoulders and felt a strong penetrating stab through the left shoulder and out the front of my chest. I have no pre-existing injury here that would naturally cause that.

When we walked back to the cars I then felt as though there was a little too much 'spirit' interaction and got the thoughts of "Cromwellian Scum" and the names "Mary", "Parnell" and "Hanslope". I felt they were connected but got no further sense of the links just assumed they were linked in some way.

We visited the church at Battlesden but this was peaceful and gave us no sense of their being anything remotely paranormal about the place.

Graham Matthews was recording some video and audio so we will wait to see if there was anything to come out of that.

All in all a good call by Jason King to bring up Battlesden just need to set up the next few and hopefully get some indoor ones which we have lined up.

Found this after the investigation:

Can't find any obvious links between John and Parnell and Hanslope. Parnell and the Civil War yes, Sir John Parnell existed but the person we came across was not the same one.

Another snippit from the archives - William Pedder, appointed rector in 1634, was of moderate churchmanship and a royalist. He found the parish in a divided state and encountered much opposition. He was turned out of the living in 1642 and in his place Parliament appointed a group of eighteen “lecturers,” who preached in the church on Sundays and weekdays. However, this arrangement did not fulfil the expectations of the parishioners, many of whom wanted a minister of their own. Less than two years after this scheme was instituted, the town was raided by a party of Royalist soldiers from Leighton Buzzard, who on a Sunday in June, 1644, made an attack on the church during service time. The congregation had barricaded themselves in, and the soldiers forced the doors, shooting a “case of pistols” at the minister in the pulpit and wounding several of the congregation. The incident further embittered the factions. - http://www.dunstableparish.org.uk/history-of-st-peters/