Scaffold Hill: The Mysterious Corner Of Essex Featured In 'Broken Veil'

If you've been listening to 'Broken Veil', the podcast hosted by Will Maclean and Joel Morris, you've probably spent a few hours on Google Maps looking for the corridor of strange happenings in Essex that becomes the focus of the series.

In episode one, Will and Joel speak to their friend Tony. Tony is in fact Tony Way, a British actor who you are sure to have recognised from countless films and TV series, including the Netflix series 'After Life' and 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', to name just two.

Tony talked about his odd experience in a mysterious single-storey office building he once visited in rural Essex, which he describes as utilitarian and featureless. Years later, when he returned to the spot, the building was in ruins. But when Will and Joel investigated, they found no trace of the building at all - just concrete footings on a former military airfield.

If you're one of the growing number of listeners trying to locate this elusive site, which is never explicitly named in the podcast, then this is just what you want to hear - clues like these that will have you scouring satellite imagery and forums for days.

A big part of 'Broken Veil' is the hosts' attempt to explore this almost-empty patch of Essex countryside, where Tony's and others' stories supposedly happened. While some names are beeped out and a few details withheld, there are enough breadcrumbs to give us a feel for the area.

We know the landscape is flat, rural and sparse - a patchwork of narrow lanes, open fields and scattered buildings. The first major clue that you're near this strange zone is a roundabout.

Referred to by a local dog walker as Scaffold Hill Roundabout, this landmark doesn't appear on Google Maps - but that's not surprising. Roundabout names are rarely official and often only known locally. More unusual is that Tony described it as a "roundabout to nowhere," with three "blind exits" - roads that are blocked, closed off or lead nowhere. The only active exit takes you towards a historic church, which plays a key role in a later episode.

According to the local, that same road also leads to a disused aerodrome, once used by the US military. The name of the site is beeped out in the episode, but they do tell us it's decommissioned MOD land.

Tony also remembers a scorched, dead tree near the roundabout. When Will and Joel visit, they find only a decaying stump - assuming, of course, it's the same one.

We also know that a short walk on Scaffold Hill through a field near the roundabout takes you to a stream, which in turn leads to the medieval church at the centre of Paul's story in episode four.

That episode features the brilliant comedy actor Paul Putner, who I know from his extensive work with a comedy hero of mine, Peter Serafinowicz. He recalls visiting the medieval church on a school trip when he was about 10 or 11 years old. Paul described the church as being "way out in the sticks" and that it was "really, really old."

Another location in this strange area is a Cold War-era bunker described by director Al Campbell in episode three. When asked whether it's Kelvedon Hatch, Al confirms it's not - though the similarities are striking. The hosts describe the bunker as "very real, very solid, and very reachable," but unlike most bunkers in Essex, this one isn't on any public list or tourist map.

We also learn that the bunker was once served by a now-defunct railway line. The line, which ended in London, was closed in 1994 - the same year the bunker was supposedly decommissioned. The track bed is now a gravel path through a nature reserve, but one of the former station buildings - Station 12 - survives as a private home. Station 13, meanwhile, has been repurposed as a heritage railway.

As for Station 14, it was never built. Yet the name "Station 14" crops up repeatedly in the podcast. It's spoken through an intercom in episode two during Sara Barron's strange corporate gig, and even appears in an EVP captured at the church.

Armed with all these cryptic clues, you're now ready to begin your own search. Maybe you'll start your journey at one of Essex's heritage railways, by hunting down the concrete monolith of a Cold War bunker, or exploring an abandoned airfield. Maybe you'll find something that's not on any map - a dead tree, a roundabout with blind exits, or the glint of stained glass in an otherwise forgotten church.

Who knows what you'll find out there. But if 'Broken Veil' teaches us anything, it's that the search is often more rewarding than the answer.