A CHURCHCRAWLER'S GUIDE TO VILLAGE CHURCHES AROUND PETERBOROUGH
Join me in an affectionate ramble around the village churches which surround Peterborough...
Thank you for taking a look at my website, which takes a look at the parish churches which can be found around Peterborough in the United Kingdom. This website is designed to replace my original site, Peterborough Churchcrawler, which was originally set up back in 2006, and which ran for 15 years, before the hoster ceased trading.
This replacement site was started in early December 2021 and I hope to be in a position to have it completed within a year or so.
What you will see here is a record of my travels as I visit and photograph the churches that have become an important part of my life during the last 15 years. I have cobbled together a brief history of each of the churches and will combine this with a few, occasionally tongue in cheek, observations of what I have seen.
I hope that you enjoy what I have put together, please get in touch if you wish. A special hi to all of those who supported the old site and have found the replacement site for the first time. Welcome back...!!
Best wishes,
Robin Peel Peterborough (December 2021)
Photographs included on this page. Top left, the spire of St Peter, Oundle from across the fields, Top right, a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon as a VW Camper van drives past the church of All Saints, Easton on the Hill. Below that on the left, an internal grotesque at the church of St Peter, Lutton. Immediately above on the left, a delightfully snowbound St Michael at Chesterton. Above right, approaching Crowland Abbey from the west.
Above left, beautiful vibrant stained glass from the church of Holy Trinity, Blatherwycke. Above centre, detail from the Norman font at the church of St Mary The Virgin, Wansford. Above right, part of the angel roof at the church of St Kyneburgha, Castor. Below left, close up detail from a monument at the church St Mary The Virgin, Marholm. Below centre, medieval wooden carving at St Mary, Tansor. Below right, poppy head carving at St Andrew, Ufford. Both Ufford and Blatherwycke are cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.
How This Site Works
The churches can be found as follows. The menu runs across the top grouped by county. Scroll down from the county that you wish to see and the churches are in alphabetical order.
In my original site, the churches included were in a very rough twenty miles radius around Peterborough, more a dodecahedron than a circle. I have drawn in the boundaries a little on this site, not going so far out but hopefully covering each church in a little more detail than in the original site.
All photographs on this site are my own; church histories are also my own work and are put together using internet research and church guide where available.
Pictured above right, the deaths head; a skull on a gravestone at the church of St Guthlac, Market Deeping. Below, two photographs of glorious East Northamptonshire countryside. Below left, the church of St Andrew, Cotterstock from the east. Below right, twilight approaches at Stoke Doyle, the church of St Rumbald.
The Small Print...
There is a note against each church to say if they are normally open to visitors. This is what I have found whilst visiting; it is wise to check before setting out to visit.
Wix sites are pretty good! They are easy to use but they have one disadvantage in that I can only add a maximum of 100 pages per site. There is a way of getting around this but I don't have the IQ to do it! Therefore, I have added the maximum number of churches on this site as I can. Where a church close to Peterborough is missing, it is mainly not added due to not being able to gain access; others a little further away from Peterborough being added instead!
WHY THIS SITE WAS SET UP...
The original Peterborough Churchcrawler site was set up back in September 2006, running for just over 15 years before it fell foul of hoster Moonfruit ceasing to trade.
Some of you who visited the old site may know the reason that it was set up; for those who don’t the story is as follows.
I was struggling for a while following the loss of my father, who I had helped to look after through a long illness. The manner of his passing, early in 2004 was traumatic. Life was a struggle for quite a time and there were long periods of depression to add to a life long anxiety problem.
One day, a friend suggested that I go on long walks and I found myself on a day off from work, walking three miles or so to Castor. The church there was open and I went inside to sit down. There was a real sense of peace and calm inside; I can remember a solitary bird song as I took in the peace.
At that time I was quite heavily involved with football; following Stamford AFC who at that time played in the Southern League. The day after my walk to Castor, I went with a friend to see Stamford play at Cirencester. We lost quite heavily and my friend suggested that we visit a few Cotswold villages on the way back to try and cheer ourselves up a little.
We visited three villages and took a look at the churches in each of the villages. On the drive home, the first thoughts came to mind about visiting each of the churches within a ten miles circle of Peterborough, and setting a website up detailing my travels. This would give me somewhere to go, something to do! People to meet, places to see! This was a means to fight against the depression which left me not wanting to do anything!
Well, the ten miles soon became 20 and then 30 and then I was sitting in a fish and chip restaurant in the Peak district, on a week long Peak District churchcrawl wondering how the heck that had happened.
When the Moonfruit site closed there were two options, give up or start again. It was a no brainer! Start up again from scratch but try to make this new site a little more detailed, with better photographs and fewer spelling mistakes! One of my Facebook followers said in a comment ‘Remember why you set it up in the first place’. Spot on!
I have seen some beautiful churches and met some lovely people. The Facebook page has lead to friendships being made which are greatly valued.
Thank you for taking a look at my site; this is why it is here!
Best wishes
Robin Peel,
Peterborough. December 2021.