BRAMPTON : CHURCH OF ST MARY MAGDALENE
Church Post Code PE28 4PF
Open to visitors
My first visit to the church of St Mary Magdalene at Brampton Huntingdonshire was back in the autumn of 2011, visited as part of a four day cycling churchcrawl of the area whilst staying at West Perry on the banks of Grafham Water. The church was closed that day but was open when revisiting on Ride and Stride day in 2015 and open again when visiting with David on a Sunday afternoon in 2017. Photographs used on this page are a mixture from those visits.
Brampton is a large village, which recorded a population of 6584 at the time of the 2021 census; and can be found around two miles to the south west of Huntingdon. Godmanchester is a short distance off to the east and Peterborough is 20 miles or so off to the north. The church of St Mary Magdalene is off to the extreme east of the village.
There was a church and a priest recorded here during the Domesday Survey of 1086, in lands owned by King William. Nothing remains of that early church and with the exception of some 12th century chevron carvings built in to the tower walls nothing in the structure that we see today predates the 14th century.
There is an interesting legend which connects Brampton to the diarist Samuel Pepys; whose uncle lived in the town. Samuel was known to visit his uncle at also to stay in the Black Bull Inn. Legend states that there might be part of Samuel’s fortune buried in the town. His fortune was buried in panic after the Dutch raid on Medway in 1667. It is suggested that Pepys couldn’t say for sure whether he has retrieved all that he had buried after it was safe to dig it back up again!
In more recent times RAF Brampton was situated to the south of the village. This was a non-flying RAF base, which didn’t have an airfield. As well as the RAF, this was also used by the United States Air Force with the First Bomb Wing headquarters established here in 1942; until they moved to nearby RAF Alconbury to the north. Brampton airbase was finally closed in 2013.
The church that we see today consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, north and south porches, north vestry and chancel. The earliest part of the present structure is the chancel which dates to early in the 14th century. The chancel arch, nave aisles and porches are all from the 15th century.
The west tower dates from 1635 with a couple of date stamps recording the date with this probably replacing a previous 14th century tower. The south porch was rebuilt in 1828 and the church was repaired in 1835 before being thoroughly restored in 1877/78, at which point the south porch was rebuilt again and the gallery at the west end of the nave was removed. More recently repairs were made to the south aisle roof and the south west corner of the interior following a fire in 1994.
Due to the number of trees, this is not the easiest church to photograph, but this is an impressive structure. The four stage west tower is buttressed, battlemented and pinnacled, with the windows at the belfry stage sitting under elegant ogee headed arches. A frieze of a repeated ‘X’ design surrounds the tower with gargoyles of high quality at each corner.
Smaller carvings of human heads can be seen between the clerestory windows, a morose female figure looks down whilst her neighbour, depicted with stubble and a flowing beard, appears to have his attention caught by something off to his left. His neighbour to the left is a male figure with crossed eyes and an impressive moustache, which appears to be in a rage; perhaps this is what has attracted his attention!
The rebuilt south porch has empty image niches to either side which would have held statues prior to the reformation so it appears that the porch was rebuilt using existing materials.
There are substantial grotesques lower down on the walls of the nave, with some of these looking to be of great age. One of these in particular caught the eye; a badly weathered figure carries a small child under one arm whilst holding something too badly eroded to be identifiable to its mouth.
Other figures are more recent and would possibly date from the Victorian restoration; one having its tongue out in gesture of insult with one further tucking scaly wings to its side whilst gripping the wall with fearsome talons.
There are six bells in the ring here, but when TMN Owen compiled his study of the church bells in Huntingdonshire, which was published in 1899, there were five in the ring here; which he looks at in a little detail. The first of the ring was cast by Watts of Leicester in 1600; with their customary inscription which by spell checker dislikes so much reading ’PRAIS THE LORDE’.
The second of the ring was cast by Thomas Norris of the Stamford bell foundry, with this one inscribed ‘Thomas Made Mee 1679’. This bell was recast by Mears and Stainbank in 1934,
The third is really ancient, cast by Robert Newcombe of Leicester around 1520; with this having the script ‘ABROS’. The fourth is courtesy of a founder that I have not come across before; Thomas Russell of Wootton Bedfordshire who, according to the excellent Bellfounder Database website was an active founder between 1712 and 1743.
The fifth of the ring was cast by James Keene, another Bedfordshire founder, who was based in Bedford itself. This bell is inscribed ‘ALL GLORI BE TO GOD ONE HI’ (to be fair my spell checker doesn’t care for his inscriptions either!) This bell is dated 1630 and the following year Keene was to moved his foundry to Woodstock in Oxfordshire.
The one bell added to the ring since Owen’s study was a new first of the ring which was cast by Mears and Stainbank in 1962.
Owen also mentioned a Priest’s bell here, which was blank and thought to date from around 1500.
Moving inside, it was quite dull inside, this being the price you pay for having a large amount of high quality stained glass inside. The north and south arcades are each of five bays, with each being of identical design; grouped quatrefoil piers with octagonal capitals.
Nave is separated from chancel by a 14th century screen; which is more complete than would normally be, and is said to be one of the most complete medieval screens in the old county of Huntingdonshire. A look upwards to the north side of the mid 15th century chancel arch shows the doorway which would have led out on to the rood loft in pre reformation days. The church organ sits at the east end of the north aisle; with an altar set up at the east end of the south aisle, which is screened off on two sides.
The high altar at the east end of the chancel had a green altar cloth, this being the liturgical colour used to mark ‘Ordinary time’ that time in the church calendar which is between the main Christian festivals. In this case, with it being September, this would be the colour used until the start of advent; starting on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. A glance over to the south wall of the chancel shows an early 14th century piscina, which would have been used to wash the Holy Vessels used in the Mass in pre reformation days.
There is a great deal of stained glass to be found here, with several windows from the Kempe studio. Charles Eamer Kempe’s traditional signature was a Wheatsheaf which can be found incorporated within his designs. After Charles died in 1907 the company was reformed, with the chairman being distant cousin Walter Ernest Tower. The wheatsheaf was retained but included a black tower on top of the wheatsheaf. We have windows here which have this reformed signature, and so date to after Charles Eamer Kempe’s death.
The five light east window of the chancel is from the Kempe Studio and is a Jesse window. We see Jesse seated central at the bottom, with his son King David above him and Mary the mother of Jesus, with Jesus in her arms, the two surrounded by an aureole of golden flames. To the side we have various Kings of Israel, with identification of some made a little difficult by the almost unreadable script! At the bottom we have other characters such as St George and Bishop Hugh of Lincoln who is depicted with a swan; said to be his loyal friend and protector; these characters tended to by golden haired, golden winged angels.
The east window of the south aisle is of five lights and was made by the Kempe studio, dating from after 1907. The central three lights depict the crucifixion, with Mary the mother of Jesus and St John standing alongside the cross. These are flanked by St Nicholas and St Christopher. St Nicholas, to the left as we look at it, is shown in Bishops’ robes, mitre and carrying a Bishop’s staff is also shown carrying two children; with him being the patron saint of children. St Christopher, or ‘Xtopher’ as it reads under his depiction, is as always shown carrying the Christ child on his shoulder across a river.
Alongside that is a four light window which shows two female Christian martyrs, St Catherine, with a spiked wheel alongside her which was part of the story of her martyrdom and St Cecelia the patron saint of musicians. Below are four smaller images, with central being the nativity.
One further four light window, again from the Kempe studio with the black tower over the wheatsheaf signature at the bottom left of the design, shows Hannah, David as a shepherd before he became king, Joseph and Ruth who carries an ear of grain. Below this we have four delightful roundels which tell the story of the shepherds at the nativity. We see firstly the shepherds playing musical instruments, including one with bagpipes. Secondly we see the angel of the Lord appearing to the shepherds then leading them towards the fourth roundel, which shows the shepherds at the side of the manger, the main colour in all four designs being gold.
Alongside this we have another from the same maker, with this window doubling as a war memorial to those who fell in the First World War. Central in this is a figure in armour who is St George depicted slaying the dragon. It could also be St Michael, who is said to have vanquished Satan in Revelation Chapter 12, which also would have been appropriate given that it is a war memorial.
Another from Kempe Studio is of two lights and shows Jesus being presented to Simeon in the Temple by his parents. The cage is opened and Joseph holds the offering of Doves in his hands; this being the offering required for those of limited means. Anna looks intently at the Baby Jesus and the words ‘Nunc Dmittis Servum Tuum’ appear on a banner over Simeon’s head, this translating as ‘now thou dismiss thy servant’.
The stained glass on the west wall of the tower is of three lights; with the risen Christ central, flanked by St Philip to our left and the Roman Centurion who attended the crucifixion being shown to the right. A close look shows that Philip is carrying loaves of bread; this being a Biblical reference to the loaves and fishes in John Chapter 6 where Jesus asks Philip where they might buy bread to feed the crowd.
The visitor enters in under the tower arch and the eastern arch has a glass partition at the top. The light was such that there was a perfect reflection of this three light window in the glass panel; the image appearing from a distance to float in mid air.
There is other glass here, but I am conscious that this page is getting to be quite long; suffice to say though that I was very taken with a small panel which showed Mary of Bethany of Bethany anointing Jesus’ feet with pure nard shortly before the crucifixion and one further from a few days later; showing the body of the Crucified Christ being laid out ready for preparation for burial, with Mary Magdalene at Jesus’ feet, deeply affected. There is also a delightful two light window showing the scene of Easter morning with the risen Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene and an Angel of the Lord appearing to the three Mary’s outside the empty tomb.
As is often the case it is well worth while taking a look in the tracery at the top of the stained glass designs. Here we see a celestial angelic band of musicians, angels holding a crown and palm frond, each a symbol of victory and a small but exquisite depiction of the crucifixion; complete with further unreadable script.
There is a little graffiti in the choirstalls, mainly just names and dates, with one in particular catching the eye. ‘MF’ left his mark here in 1815, the date of the battle of Waterloo. It’s always fascinating to see dates that are of particular historic importance and I have seen several over the years which date from the times of the English Civil War and from the time of the Bubonic Plague in 1665 and 1666. The thoughts of the frustrated historian turn to what things might have been like when this person, long since gone, left their mark. In more recent times, at Temple Bruer in Lincolnshire, Imogen left her mark in chalk in 2020; another memorable year sadly!
Probably most memorable in my visit here are three oak stalls which date from around 1350. Fascinating to think that these were carved immediately after the Black Death had decimated the country and Europe. These were taken out of the church for repair in the 1870’s, finding their way to the Museum of Archaeology at Cambridge before finding their way back to the church here in 1929.
The carvings on the misericords are fascinating. On the first we see a Knight and his Lady, who hold a shield between them; this is flanked by two roundels which depict a man writing and an animal. The second shows a man and woman haymaking; the two roundels on this one showing a carpenter working and a weaver at work, wielding a huge pair of cutters. The third shows a man reaping corn with a sickle, flanked by a woman on one side and a man blowing a horn on the other. The roundels on this one show a woman gleaning and completed sheaves of corn.
Above left is an example of a Kempe Wheatsheaf with black tower, dating from after the death of Charles Kempe in 1907
This is a fine church and one that I enjoyed looking around very much. To my knowledge it is normally open to visitors and it well worth taking a look at if you are in the area. Visitors might like to know that Godmanchester, a short distance away is normally open to visitors and if visiting on a Saturday, All Saints in the centre of Huntingdon is open for a regular coffee morning between 10 and noon.