The first modern reports of UFOs in Britain were the airship sighting wave which began in 1909 and continued throughout the years leading up to World War I. However, earlier writers record a number of events which would certainly be categorised as UFO sightings today.

In AD 664, according to the Venerable Bede, a light that "made the sun at midday seem dark" appeared at one side of Barking monastery before moving to the other side.

Another "sighting" reported by Bede sounds ominously like an alien abduction story as a nun watched a corpse being "carried upwards".

In the 14th century, at the funeral of the Abbot of Durham Abbey, a "light like the rays of the sun" descended and moved around. Naturally this would have been taken to be a sign from God at the time.

In the middle of World War I in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, a woman saw a round platform floating 10 metres off the ground. It had a handrail running around it's circumference and approximately 10 'beings' on the platform, each wearing blue uniforms and small round hats. It remained in view for more than 5 minutes.

In 1939 a grey, bell-shaped object was spotted hovering over a field in near Brockworth, Gloucestershire.

In 1954 there were a number of UFO sightings in the north of Britain - one of the clearest photographs of a 'flying saucer' was taken in Coniston, Cumbria in February of that year. Two weeks later a man claimed to have 'spoken' to an alien near Lossiemouth in Scotland.

In 1957 a radar station followed a large UFO all over the west of Scotland. A huge flying saucer was seen by dozens of people over Wardle in Lancashire (also 1957).

In 1960 a tramp who had gone missing from Carlisle, Cumbria 5 years earlier re-appeared claiming he had been on a 5 year voyage with aliens.

In 1972 a security guard in Oldham, Greater Manchester heard a humming noise. He turned round to see a UFO about 30 metres in diameter. It had a large window brightly lit with a blue light. After 5 minutes it turned on edge showing that it was saucer-shaped with a large dome. Then it shot straight up into the air.

At Tittensor, Staffordshire 1977 a cigar-shaped object was spotted. It was about 12 metres long with a small dome on top and was flying about 30 metres above the ground and was in view for about 30 seconds.

In 1979 a pilot flying over Bolton, Lancashire saw a bright circular object about 12 metres across moving below him. Minutes later he saw 2 more moving in the opposite direction moving at about 250 miles per hour.

In 1988 a stranded flying saucer was spotted at the side of the road near Kendal, Cumbria.

The best places to find concentrated UFO activity in the UK seem to be Warminster in Wiltshire, Barmouth in North Wales and Bonnybridge in Scotland.

Britain's own Roswell Incident
The well-known Roswell Incident in the USA involved a crashed flying saucer (or saucers) but Britain has seen a number of other well-documented reports of crashed UFOs which mirror the Roswell Incident in the USA:-

Cader Bronwen
On January 23rd, 1974, witnesses in Cheshire and Lancashire saw a number of green lights crossing the sky haphazardly. Just after 8.30 pm an object crashed into Cader Bronwen a mountain in Clwyd, Wales. Exactly what the police who investigated the crash scene found has never been made public. Unmarked black helicopters were on site almost immediately, possibly carrying rapid deployment personnel. The army arrived that night and cordoned off the area and dismissed police and crash investigators. A nurse living in the vicinity of the crash said that she had seen a flying saucer 'the size of the Albert Hall' smash into the mountain. She allegedly walked to the crash site and saw bodies that were not human. She was then silenced by the Ministry of Defence in the interests of National Security before she was able to describe exactly what she had seen. Since then, strange green pieces of metal recovered from the rocks of Cader Bronwen have been shown to give off an electical charge.

Rendlesham Forest
Shortly before New Year, 1981, there were a number of UFO reports near to Ipswich, Suffolk, where it is claimed that a UFO crash-landed in Rendlesham Forest - 2 miles from US Woodbridge airbase. According to investigators, an officer at the airbase claimed to have spoken to the occupants of the craft (they were about 1 metre (3 feet) in height) who asked for help in repairing the craft. The aliens managed to fix it themselves and then took off. Those soldiers who took photographs of the aliens and the UFO had their photos confiscated. In separate verification of the unnamed officer's account, Forestry Commission workers reportedly found a number of burnt trees in the vicinity where the crash is supposed to have happened.

Boscombe Down
Wiltshire, England, August 1994. Several witnesses saw a UFO over Salisbury Plain near Stonehenge. It crashed into Boscombe Down runway and was taken to a US Airforce base in America.

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