The Herts Advertiser had an article the other day that mentioned the former Ambassador College campus in Bricket Wood England Area Guide: The Hertfordshire village of Bricket Wood between St Albans and Watford. That campus was shut down in 1974 because the church could no longer afford to keep it up. In 2021 the former campus was bulldozed down. More COG members tithe money down the drain.
The Herts Advertiser says:
Hanstead House is one of the village’s best known buildings and has a rich and varied history.
It was once owned by the Scottish entrepreneur Sir David Yule, arguably the most influential Brit to do business with India during the British Empire.
Hanstead House was subsequently used as an Arabian horse stud farm, the UK college campus for American evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong's Radio Church of God movement, and a corporate training facility.
More recently, it’s been transformed into 11 luxury apartments as part of the wider Hanstead Park development of new build homes.
All the elegant apartments have been sold with prices from around £1m.
The article goes on to describe other properties and buildings in the Bricket Wood area. It has become the hot real estate market for the region.
What was interesting were the following about the area Herbert Armstrong picked to put his campus.
The area around Bricket Wood is also a hotspot for naturists.
For those who dare to bare, naturist resort Spielplatz – German for ‘playground’ – is located off Lye Lane.
Then there's the nearby British Naturism's Sunfolk facility, a five acre woodland naturist site in How Wood, that also provides ample opportunities to strip off and unwind among like-minded nudists.
Bricket Wood was also a hotbed for Wiccan activity:
Bizarrely, Bricket Wood is also known for its ties to Gerald Gardner, who is regarded by many as the "father of modern witchcraft".
In 1945, Gardner purchased a plot of land near Bricket Wood, now known as Five Acres.He dismantled a 16th century Wiccan witch cottage in Ledbury, Herefordshire, and reconstructed it at Five Acres as a convening point for his brand of pagan witchcraft.
It is interesting that Herbert Armstrong placed his two campuses (Bricket Wood and Pasadena) close to two areas known for Wiccan and satanic activities. Bricket Wood had its Wiccans and Herbert's campus was just up the street from Jack Parson's den of satanic debauchery and sex orgies that was frequented by Aleister Crowley and L Ron Hubbard.
Pasadena Now reports Exploring the Occult World of Jack Parsons:
Jack Parsons led a double life: rocketry pioneer by day, black magician by night who worshipped Aleister Crowley, had a run-in with L. Ron Hubbard and called himself the Antichrist
"Aleister Crowley was a mountain climber, poet, chess player, writer and mystical magician. And he was one of the most controversial spiritual figures of the 20th century. He developed occult philosophies, practiced sex magic and called himself the Beast 666. The British tabloids called him “the wickedest man in the world.”
He was also the spiritual mentor of one Jack Parsons, the rocketry pioneer from Pasadena whose fuel inventions led to the founding of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)."
"In 1942, Parsons moved to 1003 S. Orange Grove, a mansion next door to Lilly Anheuser Busch that became known as both the Parsonage and Grim Gables, and turned it into a Gnostic Mass temple where they hosted OTO gatherings—including orgies and magic rituals. The mansion was the former home of Arthur Fleming, Caltech benefactor and lumber millionaire who hosted Caltech luminaries such as Albert Einstein in that house, which he built in 1899 as one of the first Craftsman houses in Pasadena.
Parsons, Betty, Helen and Smith all lived in the 11-bedroom abode along with an eclectic and debaucherous group of people, many of whom regularly swapped partners sexually. Pendle called it a “Dionysian climate of excess.”"
Describing Jack parsons:
He began practicing black magick, witchcraft and voodoo. From December 1945 to March 1946, he performed a series of intense magical rituals called Babalon Working in an effort to conjure up an “elemental mate” using his own blood and semen, in order to then birth a “moonchild.” He chanted in the Enochian tongue, developed by 16th century alchemist Dr. John Dee, and drew pentagrams in the air. He believed he experienced supernatural phenomena, but it was likely Hubbard pulling a fast one on him. However, his future second wife Marjorie Cameron soon appeared at the Parsonage.
And then there was Armstrongism right in the middle of the mix.
See:
Area Guide: The Hertfordshire village of Bricket Wood between St Albans and WatfordCrazy Church of God Beliefs: Peter Buried on Bricket Wood Campus?
Ambassador College Bricket Wood England Torn Down