St. Mary's, Pulborough, England Investigation (Harry Price's gravesite)

The oldest part of this church dates back to 1220 according to Francis Steer, a former county Archivist. The chapel was reconstructed in the 1950s. No evidence has been found as to who founded the church or when it was consecrated and this is why the church anniversary is celebrated on the first Sunday in October. The first named associated with the church is that of Thomas Harlyng, a Rector of Pulborough in 1402 who died in 1423. His memorial brass now hangs on the wall of the north aisle. The brass depicts him as a saintly young man wearing mittens at prayer and wearing full-trimmed ecclesiastical garments.

The nave, north and south aisles, the north porch and the tower were all built between 1400-1435, during the reigns of Kings Henry IV, V and VI. Part of the money for the building of the new church was provided by Harlyng’s will dated 1422 and a further will dated June 30, 1404 by John Tregoz of Goring who left 20 shillings ‘ad opus campanilis de Pulbergh’ which suggests that the bell tower was either already under construction or had been planned.

(History courtesy of St. Mary’s phamplet)

Psychic researcher Harry Price (1881-1948) lived at Pulborough from before his marriage in 1908 until his death. Harry Price donated two chairs dedicated to Glory of God and his father and his mother in February of 1923.

Address: 2 London Road, Pulborough, Hersham District, West Sussex, RH20 1AFEngland

Phone: +44 1798 875773

Website: stmaryspulborough.co.uk

Hauntings: No specific hauntings or paranormal activity, to my knowledge, has been associated with the church or the churchyard, except for the Harry Price connection to psychical research.

The Ghost Research Society investigated St. Mary's Church and the grave of Harry Price on June 17, 2023 and the team members included: Paul Adams and  Dale Kaczmarek., with help from Sylvia Shults.

Equipment setup: digital recorder

Experiments performed: A single ParaTek session was conducted with a digital recorder at the grave of Harry Price.

Personal experiences:

Dale Kaczmarek:  It was a peaceful area both inside and outside the church. It was a real thrill to see the grave of the preeminent ghost hunter of England who was known for his tireless research and investigation of Borley Rectory.

Evidence collected: None!

Words spoken by the ParaTek: Edna, eleven, Terry, float, understand, finish, dug, mirrors, gate, white, Connor, wren, radical and seeds.

Conclusions: We were able to find and sit in the actual chairs that Harry Price had donated here in 1923. That was amazing! While conducting our ParaTek EVP session on the actual grave of Harry Price, one name came through, “Edna.” There was a grave right next to us that had the name Emma which is close but not an exact match.

It was a beautiful but quiet day as far as evidence collection here but a necessary stop to see the church, his donated chairs and, of course, the grave of the great man, Harry Price. It was something that I always wanted to visit.

Some have bad-mouthed Mr. Price for various reasons that I won’t go into here, however I always had a great admiration for him and his investigative techniques considering the limited amount of paranormal equipment that was available at that time. He definitely mad a great impression on a great amount of people, including me.