Church Directory

The original building was constructed in about 1130AD, was dedicated to St Etheldreda and used to transcribe books for the Prior of Ely. The church was reconstructed in the 14th Century, the porch being added in the 15th Century. Do look for:-
1. The 15th century wall paintings on the north wall of the nave and to the right of the east window. The painting in the nave is of St Christopher. Some faint remnants of medieval decoration can also be seen on some beams of the nave roof (waves and chevrons).
2. The 16th century brass of John and Margaret Burgoyne with their 7 sons and 2 daughters in the floor under the tower. This can be seen through the glass doors at the base of the tower.
3. The East Window which was dedicated by the Bishop of Huntingdon on St Andrew’s Day in 1991.
4. The room with glass doors under the tower was built in 2020. Elements of the earlier screen across the base of the tower can be found in the modern bookcase in the southwest corner of the nave.
5. On the exterior south walls of the chancel and nave reuse of elements from other structures can be seen, for example some shafts and bases, and small faces. There is also a scratch dial one the buttress quoins.

The first church is thought to date only to around 1250 consisting of an aisled nave and chancel. The surviving north and south doors may have belonged to it. The chancel was rebuilt in 1310 and transepts added in 1350. Two columns of the original arcade remain on either side of the chancel arch. But by the end of the 16th century the church was ruinous, the nave roofless and only the chancel remaining. A magnificent 13th century double piscina survives in the chancel’s south wall and a two shelf aumbry in the opposite north wall.

The church’s salvation came with the appointment of the famed metaphysical poet George Herbert as prebend and his personal efforts to rebuild the church in 1632. He probably enlisted the aid of his friend Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding. The new church dispensed with the aisles completely and enlarged the transepts. Even after Herbert left to become vicar of Bemerton in Wiltshire the rebuilding was completed with the addition of a magnificent west tower in 1642, paid for by the fourth Duke of Lennox. Surrounding the building spectacular lead downpipes with decorative strapwork have survived dating to 1632 and 1634.

But the preservation of much of the original wooden furnishings from the 17th century makes St. Mary’s truly special. The original oak pews and benches fill the nave and transepts while sympathetic Victorian copies survive in the chancel created by the architect Ewan Christian. But the star attractions are the two exceptional Jacobean pulpits on either side of the nave, similar in size emphasising the equal role of preaching and bible reading in the 17th century liturgy.

The lower two stages of the tower and the west end of the Chancel are late 12th to early 13th Century. The nave, (built in two stages), and upper stages of the tower are 14th century. The chancel was raised late 1500 to achieve a large east window. The 15th century pulpit would have been painted. Look for the 16th century font with its very shallow bowl. There was a thorough restoration in 1771 with all of the pews of the same date. A discreet toilet and kitchen servery has now been added in the west end of the north aisle.

Remote and atmospheric despite the fact that it is known world-wide as the subject of a poem by T. S. Eliot. From the outside one sees a small and modest brick building. Note the date, 1714, on the obelisks above the gable. An intimate interior with woodwork of various dates all blending together. Note especially the late-medieval eagle lectern with an open beak once used to receive offerings and the early seventeenth-century brass Commandment tablets behind the altar.

1890 Methodist church. A large, striking Perpendicular Revival revival design in brick and dressed stone, designed by the Manea-born architect Josiah Gunton (1861-1930) of the London firm Gordon & Gunton, which specialised in chapels nationally (‘Nonconformist Places of Worship: Introduction to Heritage Assets’ Historic England 2016).