Luds Church, Gradbach
You are almost on the edge of nowhere – in an area known as The Black Forest - at the point where the Westerly Pennines slip anonymously into the Cheshire plain. Nearby are places with names such as Wincle, Wildboarclough and Longgutter. Here is Luds Church (map ref 987656) – you will have to look hard to discover it. Often when I have taken friends to show them this strangest of places I have had to search again and again for the hidden entrance.
This is where they say the Lollards (condemned as heretics) hid out in the 14th Century – and it is easy to see why. Who would ever find this place without a map and a knowledgeable guide? Books will casually remark that Luds Church is ‘worth a diversion’. It is worth much more than that. Luds Church must be one of the weirdest and wonderful of places and deserving of more than a throwaway nod.
This natural cleft is over 100 yards in length and in height over 20 yards high in places. Here the light of day rarely reaches and damp mosses curl down from the walls. If you stop and listen, even on the sunniest of days, it is possible to hear the drip and drip of water from the ferns which cling to the sides of this cleft. Perhaps of greatest significance is that this spot has been identified as The Green Chapel – the very place where Sir Gawain met and battled with the Green Knight one new year’s day long ago.
These photographs were taken on that very day in 2006. Looking back into the dark cleft it is possible to distinctly see the outline, in the rock, of The Green Knight. Such is the affect of this place on a traveller that myth and reality merge seamlessly – which is which? I don’t care to remember. The original poem describes it in this way:
They rode up steep slopes where the branches are bare
They climbed up rock faces gripped by the cold
The clouds were high up – but dark underneath.
Mist drizzled on moor – broke up on the hills
Each peak wore a hat - a big cloak of mist.
Streams boiled and splashed down the hillsides about…
This is a remarkable place. You may not encounter the Green Knight but your imagination is sure to be stirred in one way or another.
How to get there
To reach it from Gradbach, find the Youth Hostel - itself an historic old mill (map ref 994661) - and walk down to cross a tributary of the Dane on a footbridge. Take the footpath up the hill to the right towards Swythamley. At the top of the rise after about 600 yards, turn sharp left to reach Lud's Church. Multimap.
Comments
I went to Luds Church with my other half yesterday and was taken aback by its beauty. The picturs on the site simply don't do it justice.
It was particularly boggy and drips were everywhere, it was quite eerie, like something out of Lord of the Rings or similar fantasy tales.
thank you for pointing us in the direction of this amazing place
Posted by: rt | December 17, 2006 04:03 PM
i went to gradbach on a school trip 20 years ago and still return there a couple of times a year as i still have great memorys of it, there were two tramps living in luds church 20 years ago!!! a must go for every walker
Posted by: kev alcock | April 9, 2007 11:01 AM
Great piece on Luds Church,and I certainley know what you mean by eerie.
I have a rather strange story to tell,and the pictures of this are available to view at my URL link.
My Grandmother had just passed away,followed a month later by my Father.
I had a recurring dream that I would see them at Luds Church.I remember clearly in the dream my Nan,sitting down to rest on a rock,turning to me and smiling...so I went there one day and called out their names.
The pictures you will see I can't explain.There was no rain and no camera fault.I haven't 'photoshoped' them.They are put straight from the camera into a slideshow.( I made some spooky music to add to the atmosphere!! lol ).
Keep your eye out for the mist.That was very,very strange.
Luds Church is a scary,but fantastic place to visit.My spooky experience has only made me want to go back for more.It is a wonderful,tranquill place and I can spend hours there,listening to silence.
Beautiful
Wavey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jslBiXqpPo
Posted by: wavey | May 13, 2007 12:25 PM
Just spent a wonderful afternoon walking in area around Lud's Church (Back Forest...not Black!!)Lud's Church itself has such an atmosphere...it feels like you are connecting directly with Mother Nature herself.I will be returning again to just sit and feel the energy in this beautiful place.
Posted by: Peter Osbaldeston | June 3, 2007 08:15 PM