Devil worshippers furious as small quiet countryside town is labelled satanic capital

Derbyshire: A small quiet countryside town has been dubbed the "Satanic capital of Britain" with the highest concentration of followers in England and Wales.

In the most recent census in 2011, 17 people out of 75,866 residents in Bolsover, Derbyshire, wrote Satanism as their religion.

But the Church of Satan have slammed the results, which sparked claims the area was a "hotbed" for the religion.

They blame pranksters for 'lying' on their census forms because they "think it is funny".

Priestess Serena Malone, administrator for the Church of Satan, said: "We tend to think someone is playing a prank here.

"While we have many members throughout the UK, that area does not have any exceptional concentration of our adherents."

The Church of Satan said it does not give out statistics on where its members are based, because "many bigoted people still see us as some form of threat".

The organisation was established in San Francisco in 1966, and says its members are atheists and do not worship the devil.

But Satanism is a broad term and many other people may identify themselves with the religion.

Bolsover District Council also believes the census results are not reliable.

Ken Walker, chairman of the council, said he had not heard of Satanic activity in the area.

"There's the usual traditional harvest festivals or flower festival, but that's more or less a fundraising job for the churches," he said.

"I think it's a load of rubbish."

The district of Bolsover includes the towns of Bolsover and Shirebrook and several villages.

A total of 1,893 people wrote Satanism as their religion in the 2011 census.

In Bristol, 34 people said Satanism was their religion - the highest number out of anywhere in England and Wales.

But Bristol has a higher population than Bolsover, so the concentration was lower.

Derbyshire Constabulary said it was not aware of any incidents reported in Bolsover or anywhere else which could be connected to Satanism.