As a child I was told a story about Old Church Field in Furneux Pelham but have only once seen it written down and I cant remember where.
The basis of the story was that when the good people of Furneux Pelham felt that they ought to build a church they decided that Old Church Field was the prime site and set to work. (The field is just East of Violets Lane). Unfortunately they had not checked on the ownership of the ground before starting work which annoyed the proprieters of the land. Even more unfortunately these propieters were Little People who dwelt below ground on this very field. (One suspects that they may have been Hobgoblins).
Every day the villagers laboured to build their church and every night the Hobgoblins came out of the ground and pulled down what had been built up in the day. Eventually the villagers took the hint and ,very successfully, built their Church on it`s present site.
Is this story well known in Furneux today? Was the story suppressed to hide a defeat of the Church by Hobgoblins?
Alternatively there used to be until some 40 years ago a large badger sett in the middle of Old Church Field. Did badgers undermine the foundations of the new church and drive the villagers to relocate?
Whilst I appreciate that eyewitness accounts will be hard to come by does anybody else have any theories? Surely Furneux deserves a legend like Shonkes and the Dragon at Brent.