The little-known Victorian sex cult where members were never allowed to leave

What happened to members of a little-known Victorian sex cult still has international interest today, an author has said.

The group called Agapemonites was based at a chapel in Spaxton, near Bridgwater, which is now used as an Airbnb. People who joined the cult were told they could never leave, and many ended up taking their own lives.

Their leader, Henry James Prince, claimed to be the Holy Spirit. He made his members hand over their family fortunes and take part in sex ceremonies similar to scenes in The Handmaid's Tale, where Prince's wife would watch him impregnate other women.

"What went on behind those walls became a subject not just of local curiosity, but of international interest," said Stuart Flinders, a former BBC journalist and author of A Very British Cult.

Prince's first job was as a priest in the village of Charlinch, nearby to Spaxton.

"He didn't go down well because he told half the parishioners that they were beyond his help and were going to hell," said Flinders.

"He came to believe that he was the physical embodiment of the Holy Spirit - in other words, he was God.

"He would have conversations along the lines of saying to the Holy Spirit 'Is it going to rain today? Should I take an umbrella?'"

After being moved around various parishes and kicked out of the Church of England, he bought a plot of land in Spaxton and built a large chapel and house for his followers.

Membership of the cult was strict, and leaving was not allowed.

A number of members took their lives, and inquests at the time revealed the controlling power that Prince had.

"There were three sisters called the Nottidge sisters, who had each inherited £6,000 - about £500,000 in today's money," said Flinders.

"Prince told them it was God's will that they married one of his followers, which they did.

"This being the 19th Century, the women had to hand over their money to their new husbands, who put their money straight into the Agapemonites' coffers."

Talking about the sex ceremonies, Prince justified them to his followers by saying he was the physical shape of the Holy Spirit, and it was part of a religious ceremony where the Holy Spirit took flesh, Flinders said.

"All we know for a fact is there was a ceremony where everyone gathered, including his wife," he said.

When Prince died in 1899, a new leader from Somerset arrived, John Hugh Smyth-Piggott.

"During a service at a church in London in 1902, he declared that he was Jesus Christ come again.

"There were riots in the streets around the church, so appalled were people by this blasphemy. He had to retreat to Somerset," said Flinders.

When Piggott died in 1927, it was rumoured he was buried standing up by his followers to be ready for the call to heaven.

After his death, the cult dwindled and the home became more like "an old people's home".

The chapel was sold in the 1960s to become a TV studio, where classic programmes like Camberwick Green and Trumpton were filmed.

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