A Victorian church where Sherlock Homes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tried to contact the dead has gone up for sale.

The Cedars Spiritualist Church in Ipswich, Suffolk – once a hotbed of British spiritualism – is on the market for between £500,000 and £700,000.

In the 1920s it hosted packed meetings where psychics would try to contact the spirits of people who had passed on.

One regular visitor was writer Doyle who was one of the most famous spiritualists of his day, finding solace in the practice after losing his wife Louise in 1906 and his son Kingsley just before the end of the First World War.

Records show that Ipswich Psychic Society – as the church was once known – hosted popular garden parties and talks that attracted as many as 1,000 people.

Kandi Munson, The Cedars’ president, said the imposing Victorian property was originally bought for £800.
She added: ‘We had our own mediums, Joan Brown and Dorothy Abraham, who lived here in the flats above the church for many years.

‘They talked about people arriving in horse and carriages from London, visits from and to Native Indians in Canada and, of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who came to society meetings on a number of occasions.

‘We’ve got all his books on spiritualism – all first editions which he gave us. They are locked away but they won’t be sold as part of the house.

‘They are too precious and will be coming with us to our new home.’

Church leaders have taken the decision to sell up as they want a property more suited to what the church now offers, including activities such as yoga and meditation, as well as regular services.

The Cedars will be going under the hammer at Goldings Auctions at Wherstead Park next month.