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“Woodley
- Yorkshire, England - July 1891.
The
ancient chapel outside the village of Woodley, in Yorkshire, has suddenly
subsided and the west wall now lies in ruins. The Arch-Bishop of York has
dispatched a team to assess the damage and make their recommendations. What they find
is a collection of caves beneath the old chapel and in one of those long
forgotten and unknown Caverns, a terrible secret that has lain hidden for
almost thirteen hundred years. Jericho Tibbs is also dispatched because what
the cave contains may change human history!"
Episode may contain the following warnings:
Average reading time: 75 Minutes. 
Episode can be found in BOOK SERIES 4.
Human years:
Muslim Calendar: 1308 - 1309 [AH]
Hebrew Calendar: 5651 - 5652
Christian Calendar: 1891AD
"THE WOODLEY HILL CHAPEL MYSTERY.” This episode, which was conceived and written by him. Copyright © 2011-2025 Stephen Williams. No reproduction of any part without written permission.Author’s notes about this episode:
[1]
This episode is contains some strong language and anti-religious sentiments.
[2]
The original Title for this episode was: ‘THE CHAPEL CAVES.’
[3]
A ‘Jericho Tibbs’ original story.
[4] Background Illustration is a photograph found in the Public Domain by the photographer Michael Porter with no copyright details available. He appears to have released into the Public Domain. It shows 'The ruins of St. Anthony's Chapel in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.
[5] There is NO Alexandra adult extended version available.
Episode details:
Concept
date: 13th March 2018
First
published: 24th September 2018
Status: COMPLETED & PUBLISHED.
Revisions: 6 [last revised September 2020]
Version:
Final.
Published Episode No. 36
Previous
episode: “The corpse chronicler of
Canterbury Cathedral.”
Next
episode: “After the last sunset.”
Angel-in-charge: Philippe
Team Assigned: Team 74
Mission: 9 - 270914 - 3 - 1891
1. WOODLEY HILL CHAPEL, JULY 19th, 1891.
"It's probably the unusual and unseasonal amount of rain that we have endured, which has contributed to this." Thomas Wycliff thrust his hiking stick into the soft ground and stared at the ruins of Woodley Hill Chapel; one side had subsided and lay in a cluster of brick and stone. Two craters had appeared, neither larger that a hay carriage, just below the west side.
Everything had been closed
off with poles and white rope, with little red rags attached to the ropes.
Someone had placed a hastily painted sign by the old iron gates, which led up
to the ancient chapel, that declared; 'DANGER! DO NOT ENTER CHAPEL!'
The two men stood before the small disaster and Edward Forshaw [the local
school teacher] took up the story so far; "A couple walking in Poppy Lane
heard the noise; they said it was like a crack of thunder - but of course it
was a clear quiet evening with no rain, thunder or lightning and when they
turned back to the chapel; they saw the west wall had gone. They rushed to the
village and informed Father Gillingham, who was about to start evening mass in
St. Mary's."
The Engineer and Surveyor; Thomas Wycliff, who had been dispatched from the
city of York under the direction of the Archbishop of York himself, folded his
arms and stared at the dismal sight; "Our priorities will be to make what
remains safe - if we can - and I fear there will be no attempt to rebuilt. It
will remain a ruin from now on, if Woodley Chapel wasn't so ancient; they would
probably just demolish it and be done with it." Edward agreed with that
statement and both men headed for the old army tent that had been struck near
the main door of the chapel.
Both men collected lamps from the tent and some wooden ladders and headed for
the larger of the two holes. Edward shuddered a little as he stared down into
the darkness of the hole. "I had the ladders removed last night - I didn't
want anyone going down there and seeing that." He spoke quietly and
extinguished his small pipe, placing it in his shirt pocket and rolled up his
sleeves, adding; "At first I thought it was just a plague pit, but the
original chapel was built about 700 AD and they had to be already there, when
that was constructed. The damage done to the bodies is extensive.....well,
you'll see for yourself."
Both men lowered the ladder and secured the top; Edward climbed down first, his
lamp swinging gently and called out for the second ladder. It took a good
twenty minutes to secure the ladders safely and Thomas descended into the pit,
slowly and carefully, lamp slung over his shoulder. They stood in the dark,
damp quiet and held their lamps aloft; "Sweet fucking Jesus!" Thomas
muttered as he viewed the mass of skeletons, strewn about the floor of the pit.
He could see heavy cut marks upon each piece of bone and particularly on the
skulls near to him. Edwards whispered; "Doctor Soames had a quick look at
them yesterday and told me, quite flatly, that they were NOT plague victims. He
believes that these people were killed - some by wild animals - on mass. There
must be at least thirty individuals here; men, women and several
children."
They stood in silence and finally Thomas turned and gripped the ladder; "I
will get some photographs taken and write up some kind of report. Then head
back to York and inform the Arch-Bishop myself." He looked back at the
dreadful sight, still caught by Edwards’s lamp and added; "We're going to
need professional help about them; I'll get hold of Professor Hallbrook at York
University about getting some archaeologists down here."
Edward agreed with that and watched his colleague ascending to the light, he
looked about and crossed himself; whatever happened here all those centuries
ago was about to be exposed to the light of day. He shuddered a little and made
for the ladder and climbed to the edge of pit, where Thomas was waiting;
scribbling in a notebook, and shouting at a couple of men who had just arrived.
"I'll send Robert back to the town to get the photographer, whilst Danny
can get the tea on and I'm having some of this." He held up a small
hipflask and half smiled. Edward agreed with that, even if it was the middle
of the morning.
Edward and Thomas walked slowly to the tent and sat on the two camp chairs that
had been placed there and watched young Danny light the small paraffin stove
and place the black kettle upon the blue flickering flames. "What the hell
happened here all those years ago?" Edward said softly and re-lit his
pipe.
Thomas wiped his hands with a clean rag and lit a small yellow cigarette that
gave off a pungent smell; "Make yourself a brew young Daniel and your
probably old enough for a shot of this." Thomas held up his hipflask and
grinned. Danny Kessler smiled back and poured boiling water into the metal tea
pot and arranged the mugs with milk and sugar. "My old gran - she's dead
now - use to talk about the Legend of Uriel, the Devil's pet dog. Stories have
it that old Nick himself use to walk his favourite hound around this parts,
feeding him on the souls of the blasphemous and unrepentant disbelievers".
Both men chuckled at young Danny and accepted their mugs of hot tea gratefully,
with Thomas adding a little something from the hipflask to each mug.
"I've asked old Roland Page to drop by; he's a local Historian and if
anyone will know anything about those poor souls, it will be him." Edward
sipped his tea and actually enjoyed the little drop of whisky it contained.
Thomas was sipping his tea between scribbling in his notebook and sketching;
"Some of those cuts look like they could have been done by swords or axes;
but many of the skulls and large bones clearly have teeth marks. We really do
need those archaeologists down here."
"Hello in the tent!" A voice drifted in and Edward returned the call;
"Ah, Roland come on in, the tea's just been made." A frail looking,
grey haired, tall man stepped into the tent and placed his hat and stick upon
the table and accepted a mug of tea from Danny. Edward gave up his seat to the
old chap and refilled his own mug; "This is Thomas Wycliff; an engineer
and surveyor sent by the Arch-bishop, he doesn't believe the old chapel can be
repaired."
Old Roland Page nodded and praised Danny for a good strong cup of tea and then
pulled a little black notebook from his coat pocket. He tapped the book against
his knee and smiled slightly; "There is only one legend that may have been
based on those poor souls that I know of locally. You won't pay it much kind,
if you’re not superstitious and don't believe in Satan."
Edward and Thomas chuckled at that, and Danny quietly left the tent and scooped
up a couple of camp chairs from the doorway of the old chapel. He stared into
the 'Black Forest' and actually shuddered a little. He remembered as a child,
the finding of the strange skeleton by 'Preacher's Pond'. It was whispered
around the village that it was half human and half wolf. The reverend and big
Harry, the local gravedigger, had disposed of it before anyone could study the
remains. No-one in the village ever spoke about the incident.
He returned to the tent with the extra chairs and refilled the kettle, the
conversation was about the origins of the village. He listened with some casual
interest. He knew all about his own village; so he believed.
Edward smiled and lit his pipe; "The one about the Norse God Odin or as he
was called around here; Woden." Edward turned to Thomas and added;
"That's where the village got its name, originally it was called 'Woden's
Ley', but over the centuries, this area became known as 'Woodley' because of
the fallow land around the settlement - that's when the name changed from the
old pagan-based title."
Thomas asked the old man to elaborate, and Roland sipped his tea and imparted the Legend of a local King Cuthbert's persecution, with the wolf pack from Hell, of the pagans who resided in Woden's Ley.
"THE WOODLEY HILL CHAPEL MYSTERY" CONTINUES IN 'TEMPORAL DETECTIVES' BOOK SERIES 4 [EPISODE 1.]End of Preview.
“All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures, are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figures appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.”
CAUTION:
“SOME OF THESE EPISODES CONTAIN VERY STRONG LANGUAGE, VIOLENCE, HORROR AND SEXUAL REFERENCES. Some are RECOMMENDED suitable for persons aged 15+ years only.”
THE AUTHOR.