LOWICK : CHURCH OF ST PETER
Church Post Code
Open for Ride and Stride Day
Visited September 2024
It was mid September 2024, Ride and Stride day, with a long overdue revisit to the church of St Peter at Lowick. I had previously visited here back in 2007, armed with a basic digital camera and was able to access the church with the help of a friendly key holder. The intention was always to return one day with the Nikon; that return visit coming a mere 17 years later! The church here is normally closed to visitors but was open this bright and sunny Saturday morning due to the Ride and Stride; and due to be open again the following Saturday for the village scarecrow festival.
For those who don’t know Ride and Stride day is a yearly event where people are sponsored for cycling or walking between churches; raising money for various historic churches trusts. I have taken part in this a few times over the years, but there was no riding or striding that day; but there was a little lounging and drinking when taking in the coffee morning at St James Thrapston a little later!
Lowick can be found a little over 20 miles to the south west of Peterborough; a small picturesque village which recorded a population of 287 at the time of the 2021 census. A very quiet place, despite the close proximity of the A6116 which runs to the east of the village as it heads towards Corby. The church of St Peter stands to the north of the village.
A mile to the south west of the village is Drayton House, which dates back to 1328, which Pevsner described as being Northamptonshire’s most impressive medieval mansion.
The church here has origins dating back to the early 13th century, with Nicholas De Nevil being the first recorded vicar here in 1217. The church was rebuilt and added to during the late 14th and in to the 15th centuries, with work financed by the Greene family of Drayton House.
The church that wee today consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, north chapel, south porch, south transept and chancel. This is a very fine church! It was described by Simon Jenkins in his book ‘England’s Thousand Best Churches’ as a ‘hidden masterpiece of English perpendicular’. The octagonal lantern tower was completed around 1470, with another to be found at Fotheringhay some 12 miles across the county to the north east.
Walking up the driveway to the church the tower comes in to sight above the trees, 12 pinnacles rising up, each topped with a golden weathervane. Flying buttresses join the four large pinnacles at each corner of the tower to the central octagon. A frieze with a repeated quatrefoil design runs along the top of the tower. A solitary gargoyle of high quality looks out centrally from each side of the tower. A faded undated sundial low down on the tower appeared to be keeping accurate time on this bright and sunny Saturday morning!
The church grounds are a little tight to the south east and it was difficult to get a decent shot of the exterior from that direction. Moving around further to the east though there are some fine shots to be taken of the east end; with fine octagonal lantern spire rising up above the chancel and fine north chapel, reflecting the obvious wealth that there was here in the past. There were two periods of Victorian restoration here in 1869 and 1887.
When Thomas North published his study of the church bells in Northamptonshire in 1878 there were five bells in the ring here. The first two each dated from around 1595 and were cast by the Watts family from their premises in Leicester. The first is inscribed ‘God Save the King’ with the second reading ‘Cum Cum and Prae’. My spellchecker does not care for Watts’ inscriptions!
The third of the ring was cast by noted founder Henry Penn in 1713, who worked out of his foundry at Peterborough. This bell was inscribed with the names Thom Goodfellow and John Lee, the church wardens of the day.
The fourth had Thomas North, who was extremely thorough, scratching his head. It is inscribed Richard Woode made me but there was no information on him to be found.
The fifth and final bell was cast by Hugh II Watts of Leicester in 1619. This bell is inscribed ‘HIS NAZARANUS REX IUDAEORUM FILI DEI MISERERE MEI’ which translates as ‘Jesus King of the Jews Son of God Have Mercy On Me’.
The situation today is a little different with a sixth bell being added to the ring in 1896, cast by Taylor of Loughborough; with this becoming the new first of the ring. The only other change from North’s day is that the bell cast by Penn was re cast, also by Taylor, in 1884
Entrance is through the south porch and moving inside it is bright and welcoming inside, with the sun streaming in through the south windows. There are four bay arcades to north and south, with each having double chamfered arches with octagonal piers and capitals. A large painted Royal coat of arms can be seen over the chancel arch.
The east window of the chancel is of five lights with stained glass panels on each of two levels. Central on the lower level is the crucifixion; with all of the panels on the upper level being post crucifixion, with Christ in majesty central, with other panels including the three Mary’s meeting an angel outside the empty tomb on Easter morning, ‘Doubting’ Thomas inspecting the risen Christ’s wounds, and the reinstatement of Peter. Up in the tracery of this window a celestial bans plays, sandwiched between panels depicting the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
The reredos consists of three painted scenes with the crucifixion central. Over against the south wall of the chancel, and very much crammed in to the east end of that wall is a double ogee headed graduated sedilia, the seating for the priests during the Mass, with as always the higher of the seats being closer to the east and reserved for those deemed holier! Immediately to the east of that is the piscina, used for the washing of the holy vessels used in the Mass. Each of these dates to the early 14th century.
There are several monuments here, to be found in the north chapel and south transept and will take a look at the most interesting. To the south of the north chapel we have a fine monument to Ralfe Green of Drayton House and his wife Catherine. He died in 1417, at the age of 38, after a short marriage and there were no children. They lay recumbent side by side, holding hands for over 600 years. Their heads rest under elaborate vaulted canopies, in which a small amount of original colour can still be seen.
He is dressed in armour and holds a gauntlet in his free hand; she is elegantly dressed in long flowing robes with horned headdress. Her head rests on a pillow, at the side of which is a tiny attendant. A small dog nibbles at the foot of her robe.
Below are angels holding shields. This monument was carved by Thomas Prentys and Robert Sutton of Chelleston in Derbyshire; being made for the sum of £40! At one point the whole things would have been covered by an arched framework; the stumps of which can still be seen. A stunning piece of work!
Memorial to Ralfe Greene d1417 and his wife Catherine.
A fine monument to Mary Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, of Drayton House, can be found at the east end of the north chapel. She was the first wife of Sir John Germain, whose own monument can be seen close by. The Duchess is portrayed reclining, propped up on one elbow which rests of a cover, which in turn rests on a depiction of a human skull. Images where a human skull is pressed down upon, trodden on or leaned against symbolises that death is beaten; this furthered by the fact that she also holds a palm frond this being a symbol of victory and eternal life.
Sir John Germain had an affair with Mary Howard and married her after she was divorced; with him inheriting Drayton House on her death in 1705. He remarried Elizabeth with whom he had three children, all of whom died young; passing away himself in 1718. He is depicted reclining, dressed in armour, helmet off with long hair flowing down. His three children are shown surrounding him.
Memorial to Mary Howard Duchess of Norfolk d1705
Memorial to Sir John Germain d1718
Moving in to the south transept we have a chest tomb in memorial to Henry Greene, who died in 1468, depicted alongside his wife Margaret. He is dressed in armour, she also wears a horned headdress; with figures shown at prayer.
Close by with have a memorial to Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire. After the death of his father Edward had become an Earl at just three years old. He himself died early, at Drayton House in 1499 at the age of 28 years and was responsible for the rebuilding of the south chantry chapel. Edward lays recumbent, dressed in armour with sword at side, gaunleted hands at prayer; bare head with long flowing hair resting on his helmet and feet resting on a muzzled bear.
There is graffiti on this monument, as there is on others here, with the name Thomas Robinson scratched deeply at some point back in time, along virtually the full extent of Edward’s right leg.
At the east end of the south transept, where at one point there would have been an altar given that this was a chantry chapel, is a fine monument to Charles Sackville, 5th Duke of Dorset who had inherited Drayton House in 1815. He died in 1843 at the age of 77 years. A carving of his mantle is draped across the left hand side of the memorial with his coronet close by on a cushion. To the right a human sized angel holds open a book which has two quotes from Romans Chapter 2. On the left hand page it reads ‘There is no respecter of persons with God’ which becomes a little clearer with a more modern translation, reading ‘God does not show favouritism’ in the NIV Translation. On the opposite page it reads ‘He will render to every Man according to his deeds’ with this in the NIV Translation reading as ‘God will repay each person according to what they have done’.
Memorial to Henry Greene d1468
Memorial to Charles Sackville 5th Dune of Dorset d1843
Memorial to Edward Stafford 2nd Earl of Wiltshire d1499
The monuments here are very fine, but possibly the church here is best known for its medieval stained glass, which can be found contained within the upper sections of four windows in the north aisle. It is thought that this glass dates from the earlier 14th century church and was originally a gift from Simon De Drayton who founded a chantry in the church in 1317. He is shown making a gift to the altar in the right hand panel of the most easterly of the windows.
These panels are all that is left of what would have been a large Tree of Jesse window, which would have traced the lineage of Jesus from Jesse to the Virgin and child. According to the notes on the glass at the church there was mention of the destruction of some scandalous images here in the 1640’s; with possibly what we see here escaping the hands of the Puritan iconoclasts. In addition to those of Jesus’ ancestral line we also have various Old Testament prophets. It is suggested that the glass dates from 1310 – 1320 which would fit in nicely with the founding of the Chantry here.
There is other glass, more modern than that of the north aisle, all of which is of high quality. Just to mention a couple; against the south wall of the chancel is a fine four light window which has exquisite depictions of the nativity; with the wise men presenting their gifts and the annunciation with the Angel Gabriel portrayed with glorious golden wings.
Over in the North chapel, behind the monument to Mary Howard, we see a beautifully crafted window showing scenes from Acts with a depiction of the stoning of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr and Peter, free from chains and being led from prison by an angel, each catching the eye.
Moving out in to the church grounds there are three chest tombs to the south of the church which have a Grade II Listing in their own right. Also having its own Grade II Listing is a coffin lid dating back to the 14th century, which can be found against the west wall of the south transept.
With regards the gravestones there is nothing of any great rarity of importance but a carving of a human skull looks out from one; reminding the onlooker that they too are mortal and will go the same way as the deceased; with this message in the form of a symbol as most could not read or write at that time. Therefore live a good Christian life, trust in God and do not be caught short when your own time comes!
What a beautiful, historic church; what a joy to be able to see it. It was time to move on; heading the short distance to Thrapston, another church that is normally kept closed but is normally open on a Saturday morning for teas and coffee. At the risk of proving myself to be even more boring than you already suspect I was looking forward to using the new number 94 bus service which connects Stanwick Lakes to Oundle before the crushing disappointment of finding out that this doesn’t yet run on a Saturday! Despite that, this was a good enjoyable mini crawl; if indeed two churches can even be called a crawl!
All photographs on this page are from the September 2024 visit, with the exception of the two shots below which came from a brief visit back in 2013.
