Your Experiences and Comments:
Please contact me if you have any information that you wish to add to this page. Please note that these accounts refer to visits in earlier years. Oxney Court estate and the Oxney woodlands, including the ruins of St Nicholas' Church are private property and trespassers will be prosecuted. Investigative groups mentioned on this page can be accessed from the Links page.
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Sean writes to tell us of his experiences of Oxney Court:
On an earlier night-time visit to Oxney at the age of 19, he was forced to return to the car and leave because of a feeling of intensely nerve-wracking forces surrounding him. When driving away his companion had to swerve dangerously to avoid hitting something grey that appeared in front of the car. Here are extracts from his account of a later visit:
We went back... this time in daylight with another friend in tow. it was a sunny day and we parked, climbed the gate and started to walk up the driveway. I couldn't believe that I was having the same feeling during broad daylight, I felt as if I was being smothered in something that came from the left of the path. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I could see what was around me. Then we arrived at the second gate and a clearing with what I can only describe as the most beautiful ruined building I had ever seen. We climbed the gate and hadn't gone very far before we were stopped by a man who lived in the small building next to the ruin. I told him we were doing research on old buildings for a college course and he kindly gave permission to look around but warned that the place was dangerous.
I remember looking up and seeing all the floors missing and fireplaces from each floor above one another in a line, I came across a concrete slab (I had already heard about a young lad who had fallen down the well in the 60's). I felt very sad for him; it's an exceptionaly lonely and scary place for a child to be on his own but surprisingly, although the events at the time must have been traumatic I felt a sense of calm and ease around the well. I went down into a basement and saw what looked like old wine racks and then I came to a broken down spiral staircase....and that's what changed things for me. As I climbed I came to an arched window half way up and the weirdest thing happened.
It was as if I was transported back in time, I saw a young woman brushing long hair with a silver brush and she was crying, looking out over towards the gate. I can't help but feel she was desperately waiting for someone. It sounds mad but I didn't see a ghost, I saw an image like a quick film clip from the past. It lasted just a few seconds. In those few moments everything felt different, the light changed, I was in shadow, the only light being from the window; the building wasn't a ruin but was still intact. She had the silver brush in her left hand, and it had creamy white bristles and a curly pattern on the back, and she wore a long white frilly dress. Although I don't remember seeing one, a small pink rose is the most important image that comes to mind whenever I think of this woman and I have no idea why.
Suddenly sunlight hit me again and the normal sense and sounds of my friends talking came back and I felt out of sorts to say the least. I remember turning and going back down the stairs wiping tears from my eyes and fighting the urge to literally burst into tears. I acted as normally as possible and never said a word as they would have thought I was mad.
Thanks, Sean for a fascinating account - it would be interesting to know if anyone else has had similar experiences at Oxney Court. Most contributors to date have only talked of the area around the church and the main highway.
Chris from Chris Huff's Paranormal Investigations writes:
One interesting phenomenon I remember at Oxney was the mist that seemed to appear from nowhere, and be patchy. A dangerous thing considering the amount of wartime trenches lying around. On more than one occasion I beat a hasty retreat from the encroaching mists. There were strange winds as well....funny that they always seem to abate before the Dover/Deal road was reached.
On more than one occasion in there the sounds of someone walking around were heard - following at a few yards distance (Nobody was there apart from my friend and myself of course). There were also what I can only describe as strange malevolences that seemed to build in intensity - even in the full sun of a summer afternoon. On one occasion, in such weather, we beat a hasty retreat because it was so cold. And every time we were in there at some time there was the distinct feeling of being watched. Once, and once only thought I saw a misty figure hanging in a tree....but with the atmosphere in the place I am convinced it was imagination.
The mansion itself was incredibly atmospheric, and dangerous to wander around with unsafe flooring and a sudden drop into the cellars The ruinous stairs up to the upper floors were exceptionally oppressive. I never ventured to this part during the late evening, more for the dual risk of an accident and tramps who would frequent the ruins.
On two occasions I had personal accounts related to me of the grey woman at the trackway junction with the Dover/Deal road.
One related to me by a colleague at work in perhaps 1988, was of her daughter driving her car late at night from Dover to Deal, which upon passing through the dip at Oxney suddenly bumped over something and lurched violently to the left as though something had been run over...there was nothing in the road although the car ended up off the road and into the dip and fields.
On another occasion (can't remember the date of which) a friend's father was driving through the dip travelling from Deal to Dover when he glanced in the mirror and saw an old woman in the back seat of the car. At the top of the hill and the bend to the left before the St Margarets turning he looked in the mirror again and she was gone....he, being very much a materialist put it firmly down to imagination...yet he came and told me of the "encounter".
Thanks Chris for some great new information. Chris's site at Chris Huff Investigations has some fascinating additional information about the Oxney area and Kingsdown as well as an account of the sighting of the ghost of the luckless highwayman and the story of an escaped Polish POW who died in the woods near the chapel.
Clive from Folkestone has raised some interesting questions:
He stresses that neither he nor his partner believe in ghosts or the paranormal, however their visit had some interesting aspects, as you will see in these excerpts!
As soon as we got into the woods we felt VERY spooked - strangest woods I have ever been in - ivy covering the floor - not a single sound of birds. I can nearly always see my target from fair distance away but didn't see the church till about 10 yards - and we both actually felt queasy when we were about to enter the church - we both went in but then decided we didn't feel comfortable unless one of us was inside with the other outside - spooky!!
He raises the point that windows and the main entrance had been filled in with bricks made from chalk and also red bricks at some time - was this during the time it was used as a barn? In addition we found great lengths of heavy wire throughout the area, some 60 feet long, that disappeared into the ground in places. This was extremely strong wire, at least ¼" thick that would have been quite expensive. Three broad-leafed trees to the south-east of the church have been bound together with 20-30 feet of wire wrapped round them in 3 lengths and all slope outwards at about 60 degrees. Does anyone have any idea why?
I would like to know the age of the Yew tree outside the church - the one in Ringwould churchyard is reputed to be 1000 yrs old!!
Thanks Clive - I had forgotten about the wire, I wonder if it goes back to wartime years, or was it done during the nineteenth century to keep people out of the area, by the owners at that time. I have a new theory about the church that can be read on the Oxney history page. R.M.B.
Simon from Liverpool has written asking for help:
His great-grandfather and grandfather lived in their time at Oxney Hill Cottage, Ringwould from around 1905 (?) till the late 1920's and he is anxious to track the location of this cottage for the interest of his ailing father. He has papers from the admiralty addressed to his great-grandfather, Samuel Joshua Glinn at Oxney Hill Cottage, Oxney, near Ringwould (Kent) as well as a copy of his death certificate with the same address. He goes on to write:
So I do get the feeling that the cottage is/was near the Court or the Church! I also note that the family had a run of really bad luck whilst they were there - not only did Nellie die in 1919 ("acute nephritis and exhaustion") aged only 41, a fifteen year old son, Sam, died the following year at the cottage (I've not yet get the full story on this) and then Samuel Joshua himself - from falling off his bicycle, aged only 51. (The same thing led to Tom's death too, but he was 83 at the time.) "If any of this is worth putting on your forum please do - I'd love to get any feedback anyone might have about the cottage, and I shall definitely find the time to go and explore the area some time during the coming year.
If you have any information that might help to identify the location of Oxney Hill Cottage, please contact me and I will put you in touch with Simon! R.M.B.
An old friend, Bill from Finland writes:
I worked at a boatyard on the Stour near Pfizer around 1970. At the time, one of the yachts we were building was a large live-in all-year-round trimaran for a (naval) Commander and his [female] companion, . Before the yacht was finished, he hanged himself one night in the woods at Oxney Bottom. It was odd that he chose that place to finish himself.
Wow, a fairly recent event that echoes tragic events of the past! Thanks Bill! RMB
Leigh from Australia writes:
I've just been viewing your Oxney Bottom site. Extremely interesting and very well presented. I was born and raised in Kingsdown and have been living in Australia for the last three years. As kids we always used to visit Oxney Bottom but never saw anything creepy. I actually worked on the rebuilding of Oxney Court for the landscaping contractor. I cut all the stones for the patio out the back and also dug the holes for the underground gas tanks. If I recall correctly the place was brought and rebuilt by the owner of the Trust House Forte group. He had it rebuilt for his daughter. A 6 million pound project I believe. I also have a friend back in the UK (lost contact now I'm afraid) that took a series of photo's down there for a college project. In about four of the photo's you could clearly see the caped figure of a man with a skeleton like face. Very strange!
Thanks, Leigh - it would be wonderful if your friend read these pages and not only sent us the pictures but was able to re-establish contact with you! RMB
Herbert from Australia writes:
During 1939/40 I was a 'despatch rider' and had to visit the many AA sites in the Dover area. Whilst riding along the road through Ringwould and then down to Oxney Bottom a German shell from the Calais area EXPLODED in Oxney Bottom just ahead of me. I immediately turned back and stopped a bus at Ringwould and diverted it to the back roads to Guston and Dover. I have always remembered that close encounter with death and no doubt that 16'' shell shook up the Oxney Bottom 'spirits'. Thank you for your most interesting site. My last English home was in that lovely village of Kingsdown.
(Maybe those 'spirits' saved you from joining them, Herbert! What a great account.- thanks for your kind comments RMB)
Ian from Deal writes:
"Oxney Manor along the Dover, Deal road is a well documented area for hauntings: highwaymen and villains were hung in chains there in the 18th C.. If you venture into the woods the first thing you may notice is that birds don't sing... just silence..... There is an old chapel in the woods, abandoned since the Reformation, this has been subject to satanic rituals, as evidenced from pentagrams painted on the walls and black wax littered around.
I had a rather "odd" experience as I was walking through Oxney Bottom one night, returning from Dover to Deal. For no apparent reason I felt "heat" or a kind of "electricity" surge up through my body....I tried to run but it felt as if I was running in a swimming pool, not getting very far....."
(This account is an excerpt from Ian's submission to another website that covers the supernatural and is featured here with his permission. RMB)
Ian goes on to add in a recent email:
"I take great interest in local history & paranormal things and have learnt quite a bit over the years. I have also studied local history books & more recently the net. When you say that the highwayman was hung on a tree on the spot of his crimes, I read a similar account but in the book I read, it said he was hung in chains - I guess we will never know the small details. From a couple of sources I learnt that the Oxney Church was in fact a 'Chapel of ease' for the nearby Abbey in Langdon, and both were sacked during the Reformation. I have used my metal detector in the fields surrounding Oxney and have found many Roman coins, mostly dating quite late 4thC but have yet to find much else from other periods, however I have found some Iron Age Pottery south of the manor house. Did you notice when you visited Oxney that the birds did not sing in the woods? Funny enough since the Manor has been rebuilt they do now. The Manor belongs to the Trust House Forte Group & when it was nearly finished my girlfriend and I had a look around inside (with the contractor's permission) and it is very plush! There are five bathrooms all with spas and a lovely swimming pool out the back.What I did find interesting on your Forum was the lady that did a night vigil had a tightening of the chest and was choking, I wonder if she was aware that the Chapel burned down in Victorian times when being used as a barn. Maybe she was picking up on this without realising it."
Paul from Dover writes:
"We parked in St Margaret's, to the south, and followed the tracks and bridleways to the kennels at which point the paths almost vanished entirely. We found the church on a small rise, not too far from the road, without too much trouble. But, because it merged into the woodland so well, due to the overgrowth, we had stood almost directly in front of it before noticing it. In the spring sunlight, the area felt calm and welcoming and was very picturesque. Other than feeling quietly amazed that we were standing at the site of what was once a village, we didn't feel or notice anything particularly unusual or threatening. Nonetheless, I can easily imagine that that would change quite quickly after dark and must have been quite different before the Manor was restored, which nowadays looks very impressive and has beautiful gardens."
(Very special thanks to Paul for contacting me with the great photographs that he has allowed us to use on these pages RMB)
Kim from Ghost Connections UK writes:
"We parked at the bottom of the lane that leads up to Oxney Court and cut through the trees into the woods.
One of our group, Dean, had been to Oxney before and was sure of the location of the chapel. However we walked round for what seemed ages and could not find the place. We were aware of noises all around us, several times we heard whispers, and what seemed like a child calling out, this was very distant.
Round and round we walked, falling into several pits that were dug by the army we believe when the court was used as a barracks.
Finally from nowhere we stood in front of the chapel. We ventured in and took some photographs, Matt was drawn to the outside of the chapel and felt uncomfortable. We all felt as if someone was watching us. Our torches began to fail, so we decided to leave, as we took our final pictures of the outside of the chapel I began to feel breathless and my chest began to tighten and I started to cough. We left quickly and the tightness subsided. We began walking through the woods not sure which way we had come, after some time the tightness returned to my chest and I began to cough again, it was only then that we realised that we had come full circle and were standing in front of the chapel again. We became really worried that we would never leave the woods, just as in some bizarre horror story. Strangely enough, after we left again, my chest eased and we were back on a dirt track that we had seen earlier.
We left the woods at the top of the drive and walked down to our car."
(Just an incredible account - takes me right back to my adventures there one night in the distant past....Be sure to visit the Ghost Connections.com website! RMB)
Kathy from Kingsdown writes:
"I remember going to Oxney with some friends from work at Kingsdown Holiday Camp one evening back in 1968. The night before, we talked about going there and we held a seance. My best friend Una was afraid to come with us because the improvised Ouija board had kept spelling out "X Una do not go" over and over before the wineglass went flying off the board.
We were very scared when we got to Oxney bottom the next night and some of the lads kept trying to scare us even more by hiding and jumping out and screaming. It was very windy and cold and it started to rain. We gave up and left - the place was too spooky for words! I never went back!"
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