October 28, 2018

Outwell, Norfolk – St Clement

We drove on a mile and parked by the east side of St Clement’s in Outwell. The Nene flows round two sides of it, grid reference TF 513036.  There is a Friends website (it has an excellent section on the church history, and a link to an article on all the carvings), and Simon’s site is – as always – worth a read – here. St Clement, Pope and martyr, circa AD 100, is the patron saint of mariners – a good dedication for this inland port. The tower is C13 Early English at the bottom, C14 higher up,...
Categories Norfolk/Railway History Comments: 3
October 26, 2018

Upwell, Norfolk – St Peter

In Wiggenhall church I purchased a Church Trail. It is trail 2, “Tailors and Tank Engines”. Are there other trails? I look at the Diocese of Ely website, searched for “Church Trails”, no results found. No results for “tourism” either. I can find nothing on their website about visiting churches. I get very frustrated – actually, that’s the polite word. The trail starts at Welney, but we joined it at Christchurch. Henry Sayers, father of Dorothy, was rector here from 1917-1928. Dorothy was an adult by this stage, so only visited her parents here. The church was built in...
Categories Norfolk/Railway History/World War 1 Comments: 0
October 25, 2018

Wiggenhall, Norfolk – St Mary Magdalene

The next church was in Wiggenhall, grid reference TF 598113, excellent  website. The base of the tower is C13, the top early C14. There are six bells, and the clock commemorates Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. Most of the church is C15, lovely windows and lots of light. We know that in 1431 Philip Mayner left 5 marks for the building campaign. I like the little brick turrets at the east end of the nave – stairs to the rood. One side is round, the other is octagonal. The brick porch used to have an upper room, once a school...
Categories Norfolk Comments: 2
October 24, 2018

Watlington, Norfolk – St Peter and St Paul

We are staying in Norfolk, and on Tuesday 18 September decided to go for a drive and discover a few churches. Julie is leading a book group on Dorothy L. Sayers The Nine Taylors in a couple of weeks, so trying to find Fenchurch St Paul seemed a good idea. We headed west into the Fens. Still in Norfolk, but in Ely Diocese. St Peter and St Paul church at Watlington is at TF 621111, and it was open. The benefice has a website,  but there is a more informative page here. If you want to know about the...
Categories Norfolk Comments: 0
October 23, 2018

Cherry Hinton, Cambridge – St Andrew

Rob and I continued on a bus to St Andrew’s church in Cherry Hinton, which is at TL 490571, and has a website. At 3 pm we had an appointment with Karin the Vicar and a lady called Isobel. We were to look at Evetts glass. For those who haven’t followed my blog for years, Leonard Evetts was an artist who lived in Newcastle for many years. I had some of his stained glass windows in Ponteland, and found others as I travelled round the North East (you can search for them all on this blog by using the category...
Categories Cambridgeshire/Evetts' windows/Personal Comments: 2
October 21, 2018

Cambridge – photos of Robinson and Selwyn Colleges

We had a day in Cambridge (Monday 17 September). Julie and Anne did Heffer’s and other bookshops. Rob and I had a walk. We called in at Robinson and Selwyn Colleges, both of which have been blogged before. Rob takes better photos than me, so we’ll add some of his photos to this blog (with my thanks). Let’s start with the Piper window in the chapel at Robinson. Selwyn remains very special – it is frightening to think it is 38 years since I met my beloved in this very chapel … We continued our walk down Church Rate...
Categories 1,000 mile walking/Cambridgeshire/Personal Comment: 1
October 20, 2018

King’s Lynn, Norfolk – All Saints’

The last Lynn church to blog is All Saints’. Not the easiest to find – it’s rather hidden in the Hillington Square flats – grid reference TF 621195. The website is here, and they describe their church as The Hidden Pearl. It is the original parish church of Lynn, and is referred to in a document dated 1101 relating to the building of St Margaret’s. The Saxon church was rebuilt around 1095, and was a splendid medieval church endowed by rich merchants of the parish – and there were rich merchants in this parish. After the Reformation it entered...
Categories Norfolk/World War 1 Comments: 0
October 20, 2018

King’s Lynn, Norfolk – St John the Evangelist

The next church was St John the Evangelist. It’s in The Walks, not far from the station – grid reference TF 623199. It has a website,  but no posh guidebook like St Nicholas, just an A4 sheet of paper. It is known as the poor man’s church, the first Anglican church to be erected in King’s Lynn since the Reformation. It was built with good buttresses. We were welcomed into the hall at the front, refreshments, a second hand sale, and nice conversation. I also liked the piano notice. St John’s was founded by John Motteux, at that time...
Categories Norfolk Comments: 0
October 19, 2018

King’s Lynn, Norfolk – St Nicholas

St Nicholas’ Chapel is stunning. It is on the north side of the centre at TF 618204. The Friends of St Nicholas have a website. It’s in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, with website. I shall also remind you of Simon’s wonderful website. It has a facebook page – here. This took me to this website – a superb set of photos taken while conservation work was being done in 2015. He got right up close to the angels and his photos are stunning – I will stop my blogging now. I can also recommend this website...
Categories Churches Conservation Trust/Norfolk Comments: 0
October 14, 2018

King’s Lynn, Norfolk – Minster, St Margaret (again)

When I went to Lynn on an old diesel unit back in May – see the blog – the Minster was nice, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with the town. When we came while on holiday in July we did the shops, and were un-impressed. We are on holiday nearby again, and when I searched the Heritage Open Days website I was amazed how much seemed to be going on in King’s Lynn (especially in comparison with Derby). On Sunday 16 September we drove into town, walked down to the area by the Minster and found a food fayre and...
Categories Norfolk Comments: 0