THE ORTONS : WATERVILLE & LONGUEVILLE
ORTON LONGUEVILLE : CHURCH OF HOLY TRINITY
Church Post Code PE2 7DW
Normally closed to visitors
It was a cloudy early afternoon in June 2019, and the Cambridgeshire Historic Churches Trust tour afternoon was to visit Orton Longueville. As with the majority of churches around Peterborough itself, the church of Holy Trinity is generally closed to visitors, so this was an ideal opportunity to have a proper look around.
Orton Longueville is a couple of miles to the west of Peterborough, the busy A605 heading towards Northamptonshire running close by. The church is set in picturesque surroundings in the old part of the village. More modern housing estates stretch off towards Peterborough to the east. A large Hall stands to the rear of the church. Thatched cottages surround the church. Tranquil and pleasant!
There was a church mentioned here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. Nothing remains of that early structure, and a general re-building seems to have been started towards the end of the 13th century. The chancel the chancel arch and north chapel date from around 1280. The nave, aisles and west tower date from around 1300.
There was a church at nearby Botolph Bridge, closer to Peterborough, and this had fallen in to disrepair by the 17th century. The south aisle of Holy Trinity was doubled in size, and the porch was rebuilt using stone from this disused church. The porch has a date marker of 1675 on it. Two very ancient looking stone heads are positioned on either side of the porch. Possibly, these pre date 1675 and would have stood as part of the church at Botolph Bridge. The Reverend Sweeting, in his mid Victorian look at the churches in an around Peterborough, mentioned that at the time of his study, just a single gravestone marked where the church was. Today nothing remains at all although a depiction of what it may have looked like can be seen in a mosaic in a modern housing estate a few hundred yards away.
I had taken in a service in Peterborough itself that morning, and arrived early, sitting in the spacious and interesting church grounds, having a packed lunch and watching the people start to arrive. The structure that we see today consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and, clerestories, south porch and chancel.
The tower is buttressed and battlemented with stair turret to the south east corner. A small, but very lovely circular window frame, with quatre foil design inside can be seen mid-way up on the south face. A similar window is incorporated in to the porch. It is evident from the exterior that the south aisle is very substantial. The chancel is also battlemented. Empty image niches stand on the south wall of the chancel.
Just a single bell hangs here, but this is of considerable age and interest. It was cast by John Walgrave who operated out of London, as far back as 1440. Bells from Walgrave are scarce, not surprisingly given their age, but there is another three miles or so away to the west, at Chesterton. It does not necessarily mean that the bell was actually cast in London though. Some founders set up shop, so to speak, locally and it could be that the bell was cast in the church grounds; the founder building a foundry for the sole purpose of casting this bell and them moving on. The bell here is inscribed ‘Nomen Magdalene Campana Gerit Melodie’.
It was good to be able to see inside. There is the remains of a St Christopher in its traditional place on the north wall of the nave, opposite the south doorway. Just the top half survives, this being protected by a wooden screen, which had been opened for the day. The infant Jesus rides on the shoulders of St Christopher, who holds a staff. Jesus has arms help wide, with one hand holding a globe which signifies the world. Superstition of the day would have it that a glance at this before the traveler left on a journey would protect them whilst travelling.
It was a fairly dull day and there is a fair amount of stained glass here, and it was quite dull inside; the church lights being on as a result. The enlarged south aisle is very wide, so much so that the east end has two three light windows, each of clear glass.
Partially hidden to the north side of the chancel is a recumbent effigy of a cross legged knight, hands at prayer and shield at his side. There is a lot of conflicting information about cross legged knights on the internet. Some suggest that it signifies that they fought and died in the crusades, others suggest that it signifies that they died in the Christian faith. The tomb here is said to commemorate John De Longueville, the founder of the church here, who is said to have died whilst fighting the Danes.
The east window is of five lights, and is of clear glass, with a repeated quatre foil pattern repeated in the tracery. There is stained glass on the south wall of the chancel, the risen Christ surrounded by rays of light and displaying crucifixion wounds on His outstretched hands, quite appropriate given that the visit took place on Pentecost Sunday.
Elsewhere, a nativity scene depicts Mary and the baby Jesus surrounded by angels, shepherds and wise men, poetic license with the latter arriving anywhere up to two years after Jesus’ birth. To the left as look at it, awestruck shepherds look up at an angel who point towards The Virgin Mary, who looks serene as she holds the baby Jesus. Joseph on the other hand is depicted a little way back with head in hand, looking, to be honest, a little bored!
In the tracery, angels play musical instruments; one fine panel depicting an angel with blue and white flowing wings playing a harp. Some medieval glass includes a figure with nimbus holding a sword and shield.
There are quite a few monuments and floor slabs to be seen here, with several being for previous vicars. A couple of things caught my eye; firstly was an exquisite monument depicting a seated woman, this being to one Lady Mary Seymour and dated 1828. The lady gazes upwards, eyes closed and an expression of peace on her face.
The other is a tiny little thing, which I didn’t notice until I looked back at the photographs after I was back home. I photographed a monument which is edged with coats of arms. Within the coats of arms is one which has a large bird, which looks down, perhaps protectively, on a very small baby, who is still in its swaddling cloths.
The church grounds are large and interesting, with some nicely crafted 18th century gravestones to be seen, especially to the south of the nave. To be fair though, there is nothing of any great rarity or importance.
This was a good start to the afternoon. A large number of people had turned out, which was good. It is good to meet like minded people, and it is always useful as afternoons such as these allow the interested access to churches which would otherwise be closed. This is a beautiful church and it was good for it to be seen by other than those who would normally be there on a Sunday.
ORTON WATERVILLE : CHURCH OF ST MARY
Church Post Code PE2 5HE
Closed to visitors
Orton Waterville is a large village, which can be found some three miles to the west of Peterborough, by the side of the A605 which connects Peterborough to Oundle. Orton Longueville is a short distance off to the east, with the two villages being separated by a school complex; where I attended secondary school in those long ago sepia tinted days!
There is a great deal of history here, with the Romans inhabiting the area and an Anglo Saxon community known as Overton being set up between Longueville and Waterville. The de Waterville family, after who the village is named, were Lords of the manor for three hundred years, and it was them that founded the first church here, which was originally a private chapel close to the manor house.
These days, Orton Waterville is a mixture of the old and new with the older parts of the village, with several glorious old thatched cottages, to be found to the west. This was a revisit; having visited this church on several occasions over the years. This was one of the first churches that I visited, when starting off the original website. Fond memories of photographing this church in the snow in the very early years of my churchcrawling, and equally fond memories of the Chinese take away in the complex of shops to the side of the church.
This August 2022 revisit coincided (deliberately) with a coffee morning. As with other churches in the area to the west of Peterborough, the church is normally closed to visitors so this was an ideal opportunity to reshoot the interior whilst eating a large amount of cake!
There was no church mentioned here in the Domesday Survey of 1086, but it is thought that a church with north aisle was here in the 12th century; this being the private chapel to the nearby manor house.
The church was re-built at the end of the 13th century, with the west tower dating from 1270 or thereabouts. The late 13th century nave has an arcade of four bays on both north and south sides. The north aisle dates from 1270, with the south aisle dating from ten years later. The chancel arch appears to have been re-built between 1300 and 1310.
A chantry of the blessed Mary was founded here in 1330 by Robert de Waterville, where a team of priests would spend their time at prayer for the souls of the deceased of the donor, in order to lessen their time spent in purgatory.
The clerestory was added in the 15th century, with the chancel being re-built in the 17th century. Restoration was undertaken here in the 1920's and in the late 1960's extensive restoration work was carried out to the tower after it was struck by lightning.
Looking at the exterior from the south as I waited for the coffee morning to start; the west tower is battlemented, with a parapet which has a repeated pattern of quatre foil design. There are gargoyles at all four corners of the tower, these taking the form of mythical beasts. The outline of the previous roofline, before the clerestory was added, can still be seen on the east wall of the tower. Moving around, the chancel is very wide and very low!
There are four bells hanging here with two from the Stamford bellfoundry and two from Joseph Eayre of St Neots. Starting off with the bells made locally and one of these is dated 1606 and is a very early bell from Tobias Norris I, who founded the Stamford bellfoundry. This has the inscription "Protete Prece Pia Quos Convoco Santa Maria 1606". This is an inscription that Tobias never used on his bells and it is suggested that he re-cast an earlier bell that hung here, which is thought to have dated from 1270, when the tower was built. This would make this the earliest church bell recorded in Huntingdonshire.
The second bell from the Stamford bellfoundry is dated 1670, and was cast by Thomas Norris. The two bells from Eayre are dated 1754 and 1755. The former bell has the name of Richard Chambers, the church warden of the time. Interestingly, there is a floor slab inside St Mary marking Chambers' passing in 1770. The latter bell has the name Samuel Sharman inscribed on to it, another church warden of the day.
A friendly white and black came over as I sat in the church grounds and said hello, leaving a trail of white hairs over my trousers in the process. He/she then spotted the door to the south porch open and made its way inside. It was enjoyable for the next few minutes watching the people setting up gently attempting to remove the cat, who really didn’t want to be removed! At one point the cat was gently taken out; turning sharply and heading back inside at speed. The lady looked at me, laughed and shrugged… sometimes you just have to pick the battles that you fight!
Moving inside, and tables and chairs were set out throughout the naves and aisles. This is a coffee morning that has been running for years and a large turnout was obviously expected. My shots of the nave towards the chancel were cluttered as a result and I have included one shot from a previous visit so that the usual view can be seen.
There are four bays to north and south, and there are altars set out at the east end of each aisle. Each has a piscina, designed to wash the holy vessels; indicating that the mass was served in each. As mentioned earlier, the 17th chancel is very wide and low. The altar is plain, with just a couple of candlesticks and a cross. The four light window is of clear glass. In fact, there is no stained glass to be found here at all. It is interesting that there is no piscina or sedilia in the chancel itself. Possibly this could be due to the fact that this chancel was built after the reformation with the subsequent change in the style of worship.
Standing at the chancel and looking west, there is no tower arch, just a simple doorway leading in to the west end of the nave. The 13th century font is plain and octagonal, resting on four smaller octagonal shafts.
Pride of place in the interior of St Mary goes to an intricately carved pulpit. Without wishing to sound unkind, as I like this church very much, the pulpit does tend to stand out as the rest of the church here is quite plain in design.
This was carved from Elizabethan oak in the early 17th century and was a present to the church from the church of Great St Mary in Cambridge. This is a beautifully carved piece of work and there are depictions of bare chested female figures in parts.
It is suggested that the reason that this pulpit was given as a gift is that these images of the female form were proving too distracting to the male students at Cambridge, where the pulpit previously stood. A Mr Paley, being quoted in Revd Sweeting's Victorian study of churches in the Peterborough area said... " it says little for the taste of those who rejected so magnificent a specimen of carving" It is recorded that the cost of the transportation from getting this fine piece of work from Cambridge to Orton Waterville was 37 1/2p!
The female figures carved in to the pulpit here are in the form of mermaids. There is also a mermaid on the pulpit at nearby Farcet and there is similar at Stow Longa near to Kimbolton. Occasionally the church visitor comes across things that you would not expect to find inside a church; this is doubtless one of those occasions but we need to know what these symbolised in those days long gone and it is really hard to put ourselves in the medieval of Tudor mindset. Mermaids as a symbol obviously meant something, and I daresay that the message may still be relevant now, if only we knew what it was!
I was reminded of a recent church tour in Lincolnshire. Amongst the graffiti is a carving of a pentagram, which the tour guide glossed over. After the tur I questioned her on it and she said that it shouldn’t be there! But when this was carved, the pentagram was a Christian symbol. By today’s standards this symbol in unacceptable but in the days that it was carved it was acceptable. Perhaps what we see here with this pulpit is the same!
To complete my comments on this pulpit; if anyone thinks that this pulpit is rude, just take a look at sheela na gigs throughout the country; and particularly the one that can be seen at Kilpeck in Herefordshire!
The church grounds are of interest, with some finely carved 18th century stones. On in particular caught the eye; with two angel’s depicted carrying off a frame, in which is an effigy of the deceased. To be fair though there is nothing of any interest to be seen here; with little in the way of gravestone symbolism. Having said that though, two figures on one gravestone each hold a Bible aloft, whilst blowing a trumpet, which was an often used symbol for the resurrection.
I enjoyed this revisit very much. It was good to see inside the church here again after several years. To be fair, it is worth visiting just to see the pulpit! The church here is normally closed to visitors but the locals are friendly and welcoming; and there appears to be several really good bakers among their number.
