A Cumbrian church is on the market for £100,000.
Croglin’s Church of St John the Baptist was built in 1878.
The 147-year-old Grade II-listed church, which has been closed since 2012, has been brought to market by PFK and is open to cash buyers only.
Plans were put forward to renovate the church into a community hub and visitor centre.
The Helm at Croglin, a charitable incorporated organisation set up to preserve the future of the church, wanted to transform the building, but could not raise enough funds to see the project to fruition.
Earlier this year, Ruth Lawley, chair of The Helm, said: “We have been unable to raise the necessary funding and, understandably, Carlisle Diocese isn’t prepared to wait indefinitely.”
A church has stood on the site since Norman times and the current church was designed by J Hewison, of Edinburgh.
PFK said that it could be transformed into a home, commercial space or cultural venture, but that any change of use would require planning permission and extensive renovation.
Croglin Grange vampire
The church has also long been connected to the Croglin Grange Vampire story, which was first officially written about by 19th century English author Augustus Hare, who claimed he was told the story by a local.
The story goes that a humanoid creature with ‘flaming eyes’ attacked and bit the neck of a woman in her bedroom in her home – Croglin Grange – in the 17th century.
The woman’s brothers later shot the creature in the leg after it attempted to attack her again, causing it to flee and disappear into a crypt in the local cemetery.
Following their attack on the creature, the crypt was then opened to reveal coffins opened and bodies eaten, with only one coffin left intact.
The lid of the coffin was slightly ajar and when the brothers opened it, inside lay the shrivelled corpse of a child, with a gun shot wound to the leg.
The tale then goes that villagers staked the corpse and burned it.
It’s a legend that has been retold by several generations of writers, local people and more recently YouTubers and podcasters and has captured the imagination of people across the world.
The story itself is believed to be around 400 years old, predating Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and is considered rare by folklorists, as pre-19th century vampire legends are scarce in the UK.
Folklorists also believe the tale is likely to have changed over time, resulting different variations of the story being shared during different time periods.
While some legends have elements of truth in them, no evidence of a real incident echoing the Croglin Grange vampire story has ever been found.
