The Graveyard of Mistley Towers
Welcome to the first blog post in the Graveyard series. Where we explore historical and haunted graveyards from around the UK.
I’ve been dreaming of writing this series for a few years now. But since listening to my new favourite podcast, My Favourite Murder, I’ve been inspired to start writing about my fascination with historical graveyards.
I don’t know what started this interest in graveyards, but I’ve loved walking around old cemeteries since I was a teenager. This could partly be due to my love of history, alongside my Auntie Jane taking me around local graveyards and telling me the local ghost stories. There is something eerie and peaceful about wandering around old Graveyards, and although I’m not religious, there is certainly a calming effect inside historic churches.
So without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the famous Mistley Towers in the small village of Mistley in Essex.
The imposing towers sit just off the B1352 that runs between Mistley and Manningtree. The twin towers are the remains of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin designed by Robert Adam in 1776. He had grand plans to turn Mistley into a Spa town and built the church between two symmetrical Georgian towers. The swan fountain in Mistley was also one of his designs.
If you want to read more about the history, you can visit English Heritage’s page here.
Manningtree and Mistley are infamously linked to the Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins. And back in 1644, he began his witch trials which led to the deaths of 300 women. Many of them were dunked in the nearby pond or hung from the tree outside The Red Lion Pub.
It has been rumoured that he could be buried in this cemetery, although there have also been tales of him being buried in an unmarked grave in Mistley Heath. There’s also a local ghost story that his ghost has been spotted walking along the footpath that runs behind the Towers, dressed in his Witchfinder outfit along with a pointed hat.
We did a ghost walk with Haunting Nights last November, and they told a tale of how one of the people on their tour spotted a man looking down at the group from the graveyard above. Learning over the cast iron railings as he watched the ghost tour guides tell local ghost stories and legends. Unfortunately, he didn’t make an appearance on our ghost walk. However, it was still incredibly eerie as the town was covered in a thick layer of fog.
While we didn’t have any ghostly experiences during the ghost walk, I did get some spooky vibes while taking some of these photos. I think of this graveyard as a tale of two halves. The atmosphere is fine until you walk around the back left corner, and then it starts to feel a little different.
I’m not sure if it’s entirely spooky, or if it’s just my imagination. But I didn’t hang around to find out!
I hope you enjoyed my little tour around the Graveyard of Mistley Towers. If you are ever in North Essex I highly recommend a visit, and if you want to have a look inside the tours you can grab a key from the Mistley Thorn pub up the road.
And I would love to know what your experiences are and whether you felt the same eerie feeling as me! Please let me know in the comments below.