Borley Rectory was reputed to be the most haunted house in the uk. The rectory was built by the Rev¹. Henry D.E. bull in 1863 near the river stour, essex, to house himself, his wife and their 14 children. However the rectory burnt down in a fire started in mysterious circumstances in 1939.

 

It's thought that the rectory was destined² to be a haunted house from the start due to the events that had occurred on the site many centuries before. The foundation was an age old priory on land that contained a 12th century church, caretaker's house and other buildings. a.c. henning, the rector in 1936, discovered that the doomsday book told of a borley manor³ prior to 1066, so he concluded a wooden church was probably also built around that time. The foundations contained underground tunnels and a complex of vault⁴ rooms. The rectory had 20 rooms, was about 3 stories high.

 

The most popular story to the background of borley was that in 1362 benedictine monks⁶ built a monastery⁷ on the site which would later hold the rectory. Legend told of a nun⁸ from the bures convent, 7 miles southeast of borley falling in love with a monk⁵ from the monastery. They had decided⁹ to elope to be together, but the elders discovered their plans. a friend of the monk was to drive a carriage to help them escape. On the fateful night they were captured by the elders. The coachman was beheaded, the monk hanged and the nun was bricked up alive in the walls of the vaults¹⁰ beneath the rectory. Their ghosts have haunted the site ever since.

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