MOLESWORTH : CHURCH OF ST PETER
Church Post Code PE28 0QD
Open to visitors
It was a crisp November day in 2023 and I paid a return trip to the church of St Peter, Molesworth. It was a mini cycling crawl of churches alongside the A14; the day starting off at Keyston and ending up at Catworth, with lunch at the village hall before spending the afternoon watching some football, with my old team Stamford AFC playing at St Neots.
Molesworth was my third church of the day; with the church here being most noted probably for a fine selection of medieval wall paintings; some of the finest to be seen in churches covered by my sites.
Molesworth is a small village, just off the main A14 which can be found some six miles east of Thrapston. There has been an RAF base here since 1917. The name Molesworth to me is best known for the peace protests which happened here from 1981; protesting against the Cruise Missiles which were based there. Events here were in the news daily when I was doing my A Levels in those long ago sepia tinted days!
Not much seems to have happened here over the years, but two people were tried for witchcraft here in the 17th century, with John Winnick being hanged at Huntingdon in the 1640's. Since 1931, the population of the village has been included with that of neighbouring Brington, with a joint population of 342 at the time of the 2011 census.
There was no mention of a church here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, with the church that we see today mainly dating from the 13th century.
The forecast had suggested that it was to be bright and sunny all day and that had failed to materialise; with just a little weak sunshine in the time that I was here. The church is pleasantly isolated and peaceful, perhaps surprisingly given the close proximity of the busy A14.
The church here is a fairly basic structure of west tower, nave, south porch and chancel. The square battlemented tower is fairly squat, being roughly level in height with the top of the chancel roof, which has a steeply pitches tile roof. The nave inbetween is considerably lower in height. The church is buttressed throughout.
The south porch has a series of ascending blind arcades, leading to the highest, which has an image of St Peter, bearded and with receding hairline; that is holding the key to the Kingdom of Heaven.
As mentioned earlier, there was no church here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 and the earliest parts of the structure that we see today date from the last quarter of the 13th century. However, there are some stones preserved in the church which date from the 12th century, so it is likely that there was a previous church here.
The chancel dates from around 1275, with the inner south door and the chancel arch also dating from the late 13th century. The west tower was added in the late 15th century, with the nave being rebuilt during this period.
The church was restored in 1884/85 with the south porch being added in 1890. It is said that during the restoration of the 1880’s the chancel was taken down and rebuilt due to its orientation differing from that of the nave. The tower and the west wall of the nave were underpinned in 1931, at which point a 13th century coffin lid was found, which again suggests that an earlier church existed here.
Three bells hang in the ring here, with the first being re-cast by Mears of Whitechapel in 1861. I haven’t been able to find out the original founder of this bell. This bell is inscribed with the name F Clarkson, who was the rector of the day and church warden Thomas Pashler.
The second was cast at the Stamford Bellfoundry, with this one being inscribed ‘Thomas Norris made me 1636’.
The third was cast by noted Peterborough founder Henry Penn, with this one dated 1710. Interestingly, this bell is also inscribed with the name of the church warden of the day; in this case Oliver Pashler, the same family name which was on the bell 150 years later.
The church was open to visitors, as it had been on my previous visit here. Moving inside, the visitor’s attention is caught by a display of ancient stonework, built in to a display on the north wall. By the side of this display is a wall painting, one of a pair for which this church is noted. It is thought that these paintings here were paid for by a man called Forster, who became Lord Mayor of London in 1454.
There is a St Christopher in its traditional place on the north wall of the nave, opposite the south door, and a painting of St Anthony on the south wall of the nave.
The legend of St Christopher carrying Jesus is that he was carrying him over a river, without knowing who he was carrying. He struggled with the load, feeling the weight increase with each step. When he asked the child he was told, I am Jesus and you are carrying the weight of the world.
The painting is much faded in parts but we see St Christopher carrying the child. There is a building close by with a man outside holding a lantern. St Christopher’s feet are in the river, with several fish and an eel swimming by his feet. The painting to St Anthony on the south wall is much faded but with a forest of exotic trees clearly visible.
The sun had come out while I was taking a look at the interior and the light quality was good inside. There are three bays built in to the north and south walls of the chancel, with a repositioned piscina at the south east corner. Unusually, there is stone seating alongside the north wall of the chancel.
The sanctuary is very tasteful, with a reredos in the form of a gold curtain with altar cloth that matches.
The stained glass in the east window is of great quality; courtesy of a stained glass artist that I had not come across before. This is the work of Margaret Edith Rope, with this window dating to 1929.
This three light window has Christ in majesty at the centre. Jesus, crowned as the King of Heaven stands, one hand raised in blessing, carrying a sceptre; with white blazing aureole surrounding him. The risen Christ is attended by angels and flanked by several figures. Mary the mother of Jesus, Peter and one other figure stand to the left as we look at it; John the Baptist, John and Mary Magdalene are to the right.
A key is included close to the figure of Peter, helping with identification. Text to the side of John the Baptist reads ‘Ecce Agnus Dei’ which translates as ‘Behold the Lamb of God’. Mary Magdalene is identifiable by her long hair.
People are gathered at worship close by, including a King who has removed his crown in respect to our King!
Below this is a depiction of the crucifixion. Christ in crucified, with Mary and John standing in their traditional places at the side of the cross. Roman soldiers, some partially hidden from sight, stand in the background.
To the left of this is the nativity; Mary holds the baby Jesus as the wise men arrive, with the light from the star shining down on Mary and her child. To the right, an exquisitely beautiful depiction of Jesus shows him standing outside a door, script close by reading ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock’. Well, have we opened the door is probably the thought which has probably gone through many minds during the last nearly 100 years!
A scroll running across the top reads ‘Thou are the King of glory O Christ; a further scroll lower down reads ‘When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers’. This is part of the text from the Te Deum.
In the tracery at the top of this window is a depiction of the trinity, with the Father, son and Holy Spirit in one form; the latter shown by a beam of light, within which is the Agnus Dei.
At the bottom are representations of Molesworth and neighbouring Keyston churches. At the side of Molesworth church is a small representation of St Peter crucified upside down, with cockerel also depicted close by.. Close to the illustration of Keyston church we see St John the Baptist baptising Jesus.
The only other stained glass here is on the west wall of the tower, where Jesus is shown in the act of placing on a crown on a knight, which I daresay is St George as his cross is included below.
There is a very cracked and battered marble memorial slab on the floor of the nave, which is thought to date from the early 14th century. The inscription is very faded and it has not been easy to establish who this is in memory of. On the floor slab is a worn inscription and over the years different interpretations of the words have been made. It was though, at one point, to relate to Walter de Molesworth’s wife, dating to about 1300. Walter de Molesworth was a sheriff of Beds and Bucks between 1298-1308, and accompanied Edward I to the Holy Land. However, it was later thought that it is instead the wife of William de Molesworth, named perhaps Amicia or Maria. Another similar slab is to be found under the pulpit.
The church grounds are compact and there is nothing which had its own Grade II Listing. A fine box tomb to one Elizabeth Stewart who died in 1811 aged 18 years stands close to the south porch. There are some finely crafted 18th century stones, several of which feature am angel, which symbolises the safe escorting of the soul to Heaven. To be fair, there is nothing of any great age or rarity though, except of course for the 12th century coffin lid mentioned earlier.
It was time to move on, with Brington the next point of call, as I continued to follow the back roads adjacent to the A14 west towards Huntingdon. To be honest though, the thoughts of the food at Catworth, who had a patronal festival taking place, with home made refreshments at the village hall, was a little bit too much in my thoughts. Not for the first time, churchcrawling and food were very much hand in hand.
This is a delightful church, which is usually open and welcoming and well worth taking a look at if you are around.
BRINGTON : CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS
Church Post Code PE28 5AE
Closed to Visitors
After leaving Molesworth that crisp November morning, I headed less than a mile to the east to Brington and the church of All Saints. This was a revisit having previously been here in June of 2013, when the church was open to visitors. I had originally planned to do this visit a few weeks previously that visit due to coincide with a works party tidying the church grounds. The church would be open and there were rumours that there would be bacon rolls! Sadly that trip was postponed due to the weather and was closed when I finally managed to visit.
Fond memories of that earlier visit; warm shirtsleeve weather and a Saturday morning spent taking in churches on a long circuitous and illogical route from my home to the west of Peterborough to my bed and breakfast in Chelveston, Northants. Looking at All Saints from distance from the north east the tower is long and slender, made more so with the nave being quite low due to there being clerestories here. The steeply pitched chancel roof stands higher than the nave. A delightful church in a picturesque setting!
It was quiet and peaceful on this November morning with no one on the streets except a small band of Jehovah Witnesses going door to door. The village sign shows a depiction of the church central, with a tractor ploughing a field, children playing and charmingly a cat sitting in front of a water pump over to one side. In reality the water pump dates from the 19th century and has a Grade II Listing.
There was no mention of a church here at the time of Domesday but there was a church mentioned in 1178 with this 12th century structure likely to have been an aisleless nave. The structure that we see today dates from the 14th century, with the original nave having been rebuilt at that time. The west tower dates from around 1370 with the south porch being added a few years later. The chancel was rebuilt during the 14th century and again in 1675 with a date stone at the east of the chancel recording this date.
As we shall see shortly, there was work on the bells and bell frame here in the early 1840’s with the church being completely restored in 1868.
Looking at the church from the south we have a square three stage west tower, with recessed octagonal broach spire rising up, which has three tiers of lucarne windows at the main compass points. A close look at the south window of the belfry stage shows a couple of weathered grotesque creatures, one of which has its tongue out in gesture of insult.
The nave is battlemented and is low in height given the lack of clerestories. A close look at the exterior shows that several of the windows have had their tracery restored with the priest’s door against the south wall of the chancel also showing the signs of repair; the replacement stonework not yet aged to fit in with the rest.
Visitors enter in through the south porch, with a little graffiti inside, just a few initials and dates; amongst which saw AB and WN leaving their mark here in 1892.
There are four bells in the ring here, with each of the four being recast by Mears of London in 1845. There were bells mentioned here as far back as 1396 and in 1552 there were four bells here. In 1840 the bell frame and bells were said to be out of repair and by 1842 three out of the four bells were said to be cracked, hence the need to recast.
Inscriptions on three of the four bells were recorded prior to recasting with these reading ‘MORIENDUM EST OMNIBUS’ 1615 (All must die), MULTO VOCATI PAVCI ELECTI’ 1604 (Many are called few are chosen) and ‘ANNSON ME FECIT’ (Annson made me).
The bell frame was newly installed at the same time as the bells with the name of the churchwarden of the day Jonathan Lewin carved in to it, along with the name of John Eaton of Titchmarsh who made it.
To be fair I don’t have a great deal to say about the interior. Fixtures and fittings appear to be from the Victorian restoration; with blue carpet running the length of the nave and unto the altar. A modern children’s depiction of Noah’s ark can be seen on the north wall of the nave; this taking the form of cut outs added to a background; it took me back reminding me of Fuzzy Felt from back in the day.
The doorway to the former rood loft can be see high up to the north of the chancel arch with a square headed squint to the south allowing a view to the high altar for those at the south eastern end of the nave.
The east window is of three lights and of clear glass. The only stained glass here is some 14th century fragments in a roundel which would probably date to the rebuilding of the present structure, along with a modern depiction of a cross, with the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and a crown alongside.
The piscina in the chancel and the font are each suggested to be 13th century, making them the oldest things at the church are predating the present structure.
There is little of interest in the church grounds to be fair, but mention should be made of a fine grieving widow gravestone; the window wearing a veil and with head in hands is bent before her husband’s urn, the scene framed by a weeping willow, an often used symbol of grief and mourning.
This is a lovely church in a quiet and picturesque setting. It was time to head off again, crossing the A14 and heading south for a little less than two miles, with Catworth the destination, this being the fifth and final church of the morning on this mini churchcrawl. I was looking forward to seeing this church again, and also looking forward to the refreshments, with the church hosting a patronal festival that day. After that it was off to the football, with the afternoon suddenly being a little less calm!
Interior photographs used here are from the June 2013 visit. Exterior photographs of the church are from the November 2023 visit but the photograph of the cottage against the church grounds and the two long range exterior shots immediately above are from the June 2023 visit.