CHATTERIS : CHURCH OF ST PETER & ST PAUL
Church Post Code PE16 6BE
Open to visitors
It was early March 2025, Ash Wednesday to be exact, and a revisit to the church of St Peter & St Paul, Chatteris; a church that I had never been inside before. The church here is open to visitors daily and was opened up at 9am as I was photographing the exterior. I had been here with David previously on a Sunday late afternoon back in 2014 and again in 2019 at the end of a Cambridgeshire Historic Churches tour afternoon with the church being closed on each occasion.
Chatteris is a town in the Cambridgeshire Fens, which recorded a population of 11,011 at the time of the 2021 census. We are at the extreme south east of the catchment area covered by my sites; with Peterborough just over 20 miles away across the flat Fenland fields. March is seven miles away to the north with Huntingdon 14 miles off to the south west. The Cathedral city of Ely is 12 miles off to the south east.
There is a rich history here with settlements said to date back to Neolithic times. It is rumoured that Chatteris was the last refuge of Boudica as she fled the Romans, having previously ransacked St Albans, Colchester and London.
There was no mention of a church or priest here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086; with the town at that time owned by the Abbeys of Ely and Ramsey. There was a Benedictine Abbey here though as far back as the early 11th century, with much of this being destroyed by a huge fire which swept through the town in 1302. This fire also destroyed the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, which had stood in the town from around 1162, with only the base of the tower and the font remaining. Rebuilding the church took some time, with the restored church not being fully restored until 1352.
What parts of the abbey that survived the fire carried on in the town until it was dissolved under the reformation in 1538, with the ruins not being fully demolished until the mid 19th century.
The church here was in disrepair in the late 19th century, with much of the church being rebuilt in 1910. The structure that we see today consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, south porch, north organ chamber and vestry and chancel. The only surviving medieval parts of the present church are the west tower, nave arcades chancel arch and the south porch; with all being from that mid 14th century restoration, and the south porch which dates from the 15th century.
I approached the church from the west; with what I assume to be a millennium beacon to the south west of the church draped in poppies. The tower is of three stages, buttressed and battlemented, with a recessed lead spire; with stair turret to the south eat corner. The church clock looks out from the west face; with a pigeon looking out quizzically from a weathered mouth pulling grotesque at the label stop of a window immediately below.
As mentioned earlier, externally the only medieval survival is the tower and the south porch, with the rest dating from the 1910 rebuilding. The exterior is heavily buttressed throughout; the clerestory and chancel roofs are each steeply pitched and tiled, with the clerestory being formed from six small two light windows. At the west end, the eastern end of the south aisle extends level with the east end of the chancel.
There are six bells in the ring here; and at the time of Raven’s study of Cambridgeshire church bells, that was published in 1869, there were five hanging here with all being recast from earlier bells by Joseph Eayre of St Neots. The first of the ring had the inscription ‘VTILE DULCI VIVITUR INGENIO’ which translates as ‘Useful life is lived with a sweet mind’.
The second, third and fourth each have the same inscription ‘LABOR IPSE VOLUPTAS’ which translates as ‘The pleasure is in the work itself’; with the fifth having the names of Richard Clark and John Mariett, the churchwardens of the day.
Raven was not as detailed in his work as Thomas North who also studied church bells, but he did note that the tenor bell was broken at the time of his study. Two of Eayre’s bells were recast in 1909 by Taylor of Loughborough and one extra was added by Mears and Stainbank in 1886.
Visitors enter in through a door at the western end of the tower. Moving inside, it was bright and welcoming with sunlight streaming in through the south windows. I am sure some people will look at the comfortable seats with horror; seemingly to some the discomfort inflicted by Victorian pews being an important part of Christian worship. Perhaps people could instead look at the sheer number of seats set out; which suggests that this is a thriving church and be happy with that!
There are six bay arcades to north and south, with octagonal piers and capitals; medieval survivors with the exception of the most easterly bays which were added in the 1910 rebuilding; the original 14th century chancel arch being taken down and re-erected a little further to the east to accommodate the extra bay.
Nave is separated from chancel by a screen with a cross atop and a look at the chancel arch itself to the north shows the doorway which led to the rood stairs, with a further door higher up leading out on to the rood loft itself. This would have held the rood itself; a carving of the crucifixion, with Mary the mother of Jesus and John depicted alongside the cross. These were hated by the 16th century reformers as being idolatrous; the view being that the worshiper was worshiping the carving in this case, or statue or stained glass in other cases with these being destroyed in an attempt to strip religious worship back to a more pure form.
Moving in to the rebuilt chancel itself, the altar is plain and simple with just a single cross; with the piscina used in washing the holy vessels used during the mass, restored in to its original position at the eastern end of the south wall.
The east window is of five lights and has at the centre the risen Christ in majesty. To be fair, this suffered a little due to a large Christmas cross still hanging in front of the window, which partially obscured the central panel. Christ is flanked by people at worship and it is interesting to see that various symbols associated with certain characters are laid on the ground at the foot of those characters,
For example, Pauls’ chains have been laid aside, as has Peter’s keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Alongside that is a knife, which might refer to Bartholomew and the means of his martyrdom; with him being flayed. Close by we see St Andrew Saltire cross laid down alongside John’s chalice, out of which a rather forlorn serpent emerges.
A closer look at the others that flank the risen Christ shows St Stephen; the first Christian martyr, who carries stones which indicates the manner of his martyrdom. Kneeling alongside a lamb we see St Agnes, one of the virgin martyrs, whilst alongside here, holding an arrow I think is St Ursula; which may well be a decent shout as she is another virgin martyr.
To the right as we look at it, we see another female figure wearing a crown with a spiked breaking wheel alongside here. This is St Catherine of Alexandria. The spiked breaking wheel is part of the legend surrounding her but was not the instrument of her death. Condemned to death after her refusal to recant her Christian faith, it was ordered that she be tortured on the wheel; but this shattered at her touch and she was finally beheaded.
The east window of the south aisle is of three lights and shows the crucifixion. Christ is crucified in front of a symbolically blood red background. Mary the mother of Jesus and John are in their usual positions alongside the cross. Mary is in her traditional blue cloak, with hands raised in prayer. John has hands clenched together and is depicted staring away from the cross, seemingly lost in thought!
Elsewhere, we see a two light window showing the scene on Easter morning. Christ has risen from the tomb; emerging with hand raised in blessing in front of a sleeping Roman guard. To the left, an angel of the Lord has appeared to Mary Magdalene, supporting the lid of the empty tomb that Mary stares in to. One further window shows several women playing instruments; one of whom is playing the organ. This figure is portrayed with a nimbus (halo) and this is liable to be St Cecelia, the patron saint of musicians.
The church grounds are of great interest, with some very interesting gravestones to be seen, particularly to the south of the porch where a row of mid 18th century gravestones have their own Grade II Listing. This area of the church grounds is as interesting as any within the catchment areas of my sites.
On one stone we see depictions of angels in flight blowing trumpets; this being an often used symbol of the resurrection. A plaque below recorded the details of the deceased; these long since weathered away, and this is flanked by two figures, with one pointing upwards towards Heaven.
One very interesting stone shows the deceased on their death bed. An angel flies over the body, again blowing a trumpet; in its other hand is a palm front, with this being a symbol of triumph and victory. As with the stone above, a central plaque is flanked by two figures, one of which holds a crown of victory; with the victory here being over death itself, with the soul of the deceased moving on to eternal life in Heaven.
Elsewhere, the death head features on several gravestones, a depiction of a human skull designed as a symbol to remind the onlooker that all Men are mortal and will go the way of the deceased. We also see a winged hourglass; there to pass over the same message that Man is mortal, ‘Tempus Fugit’ time flies! A close look at another stone shows another hourglass; this one circled by an Ouroboros’ a serpent with its tail in its mouth, which is a symbol of eternity.
Close by Old Father Time reclines with the book of life, which records the deeds of the deceased.
It was great to see inside this church at last. It was time to move on; heading south west in to Huntingdonshire; towards Hemingford Grey where I was due to attend an Ash Wednesday service at 10.30. My start of Lent 2025 churchcrawl continued. To conclude my look at this church, below are a few shots taken from the previous visits; with a few different angles and under different lighting conditions.
