TANSOR & COTTERSTOCK
TANSOR : CHURCH OF ST MARY
Church Post Code PE8 5HN
Normally open to visitors
It was 13 years to the day since I did my first churchcrawl. On that first day, in late September 2006, I picked up a brand new cycle on the Saturday morning and cycled out to Elton, Fotheringhay, Tansor, Cotterstock and Nassington. Of these only Nassington was open to visitors, with the normally open Fotheringhay being off limits due to a wedding.
I thought that it might be a nice idea to replicate that route 13 years later. This coincided with one of the nicest late September days weather for years. Light conditions were among the finest that I had ever photographed in. Before I get to write up my visit to Tansor, all five churches were open this time, albeit Cotterstock was only open as a lady was in there preparing for a harvest festival.
Tansor is a small village in East Northamptonshire. The population was 172 at the time of the 2011 census. There is a church and a village hall and a phone box which now houses a defibrillator. One my first visit back in 2006, there were also lots of chickens, several of which were pecking their way through the church grounds. The church of St Mary sits at a crossroads in the centre of the village, on very slightly raised ground. Cotterstock is a mile or so off to the north east, with Oundle a couple of miles further on from that. Two miles off to the south is the famous Fotheringhay, with its Richard III and Mary Queen of Scots connections.
I have a great deal of love for this part of East Northamptonshire, and for the church here. This may not a well known church compared to some. It will not feature in many people’s bucket list I daresay. To my mind though, this is a very much underrated little gem of a church.
The church that we see today dates back in part to the 11th century, with work ongoing through to the early 14th century. The church consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles, clerestory, north and south porches and chancel.
The west tower is small and square, and looking from the east, the tower is only just discernible above the chancel. It contains work from the 11th 12th and 13th centuries. It is of five stages with a two light window on each side at the belfry stage. A crudely carved, square headed, lichen encrusted, gargoyle with mouth pulled open and five ferocious looking fangs in his lower jaw, looks out to the south. It is thought that the bottom section of the tower dates from the 11th century and is probably a survival from an earlier stone structure which stood on this site. The tower is of five stages but these stages are only realty identifiable when looking at the tower from the west.
Three bells hang here, all of which are of great age and interest. Two are dated to the 15th century, one cast in London by Balcombe Shield, who was active between 1487 and 1500. The second is from Newcombe of Leicester. The third was cast more locally, by Tobias Norris of the Stamford bellfoundry
The nave clerestory windows, three to north and south, are square headed two light windows. The exterior is pretty much without ornamentation. This is a plain exterior, but interesting nonetheless. Just a single grotesque looks out at those approaching the south porch, a human face grimacing, and exposing a mouth full of rotten teeth.
When I first visited here, the church was closed to visitors. Now, however, the church is kept open to visitors, a sign in the church ground proclaiming that fact, Entry is through the south porch. It was bright and welcoming inside, no doubt in part to the fact that all of the stained glass here is at the east end of the church. The sun was streaming in through the clear glass windows and the light quality inside was glorious.
There is a five bay arcade to the south and a six bay arcade to the north. The two western most bays to the south and the three western most bays to the north date from the 12th century and have a beautiful rounded arch. The underside of these bays is painted with a leaf and scroll design. These appear at first glance to be medieval, but were, in fact, added in the 19th century. The remained of the bays have pointed arches, and are later in date.
The western tower arch is an interesting thing. As with the western bays, it has a 12th century rounded arch. However, a 13th century double chamfered pointed arch in built inside this original archway.
The fine east window in the chancel depicts Christ, having just risen from the tomb, hand raised in blessing and crucifixion wounds visible; shimmering light radiating from Him. The glass in the south lady chapel depicts the adoration of the magi, given in 1902 to commemorate Rev John Richards, Rector of the parish for 14 years.
The font is octagonal and rests on five shafts. There are four ballflowers, which to be fair are pretty poorly carved, to the extent that one of them resembled, at first glance, an upside down skull. It was great to see a retired grotesque leaning against a wall, mouth pulled wide open and long, narrow tongue stuck out in a medieval gesture of insult. Originally, this would have sat high up on the church, doing its best to help repel evil attacking the church. Always fascinating to see these at eye level and this is a particularly fine one.
The church here has a connection with the churches at Hemington and Lower Benefield in that all three are home to some wonderful bench ends and misericords that used to be housed at Fotheringhay church. This wonderful and historic church was drastically reduced in size after losing its chancel during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. The carvings here are thought to date from 1415
There are two sets of three seats to north and south chancel walls. On the north chancel wall there is a single larger seat in addition. Two of the misericords to the north depict angels with flowing locks playing what I think are lutes. One of the figures is full bodied, the other is top half only. Each figure has damage visible to the nose, evidence possibly of damage inflicted during the reformation. The two other misericords to the north are a rose and birds feathers, possibly ostrich.
To the south, two of the three misericords feature falcons, whilst the other, my favourite of the lot, is an exquisite depiction of a woman wearing a horned headdress, the fashion in the 15th century. On the armrests of the seats are carvings of figures, some at prayer, with the facial features worn down by thousands of hands over hundreds of years.
Fabulous carvings, of the highest quality, as one would expect considering where they have come from. A page for Fotheringhay can be found in the Northamptonshire section of this site, for anyone wanting to take a look.
The church grounds are of interest and beauty. Over to the south west, the church grounds fall away to the river Nene. There are some beautifully carved Georgian gravestones, especially clustered over by the south aisle wall. It looks as if these may have been repositioned at some point as they are joined together in a line, almost forming a wall.
One 18th century gravestone, script weathered away and beautifully aged with orange lichen, features the scallop shell at the top. The scallop shell was often used as a symbol of Christian pilgrimage, and is also a symbol associated with St James The Greater and is also used as a symbol for baptism, with water from the font sprinkled over an infants head using a scallop shell.
It was quiet and peaceful in the church grounds. The main road through the village runs close by, but there was very little in the way of traffic. A narrowboat made its way lazily towards Fotheringhay. The sun was shining, the sky was cloudless and all was well in this picturesque part of East Northants. Sometimes it all comes together. The right place at the right time in the right conditions.
It was time to move on and I mounted back up and peddled off towards Cotterstock a mile distant. Thirteen years had taken their toll and my average speed was considerably lower than on that first days shooting. Who cares! It was just great to be out with the sun on my back. The church of St Mary was open to visitors and is a little gem!
COTTERSTOCK : CHURCH OF ST ANDREW
Church Post Code PE8 5HH
Open weekend during the summer months.
It was a gloriously warm early Autumn afternoon and it was 13 years to the day since I completed my first ever churchcrawl. To commemorate that, I replicated that first crawl, with the church of St Andrew at Cotterstock being my third church of the day.
I have a great deal of time for this church. On that first day, back in 2006, I had cycled out not really being sure if my proposed hobby was going to work or not. Did I really want to commit time, energy and finances into visiting and photographing churches? Well, as I arrived at Cotterstock that opening day, and saw this exquisite church set alongside the river Nene, I knew that this is what I was going to hopefully be doing for many years. I have visited many times over the years. It is a place to sit and enjoy the peace and the tranquillity. There used to be a white horse in the field in front of the church. He was there for several years and took a bite at my breakfast one day when I was stroking his head.
For me, this hobby has many pleasures. Sometimes, despite the beauty of the places that I photograph, it is the places themselves and what goes on around the churches that provide some of the best memories.
Cotterstock is a small village in East Northamptonshire. The population of the parish was just over a 150 at the time of the 2011 census. The town of Oundle is a couple of miles away to the south west, historically famous Fotheringhay is two villages away to the north. There is a considerable history here, with evidence that the Romans lived here. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086.
Standing off to the south, on the main road that leads to the village, the church of St Andrew is before me. The river Nene is close by and the church is built on the far side of the flood plain. We have west tower, with castellated top and two light window at the belfry stage, nave with small south aisle, castellated south porch and very large chancel, which is out of proportion to what you would normally expect.
Moving in to the church grounds, and looking at the tower from the west, there is an image niche part way up on the west face, which contains an image of St Andrew, depicted with saltire cross. This image looks to be fairly modern, possibly dating from the time of Victorian restoration, but figures on which the niche is resting are considerably older.
Today, there is a ring of five bells hanging here. At the time of North’s Victorian study of the church bells of Northamptonshire. There were four hanging here, each cast by Henry Penn, a celebrated bellfounder from Peterborough. Today, there are five bells in the ring with a fifth added by Taylor of Loughborough in 1892. Two of the Penn bells were also re-cast by the same founder in 1878. According to North’s study, the fourth of the ring was inscribed ‘To the church the living call and to the grave same and all’. The year after Penn cast the bells at Cotterstock, he was to cast a ring of 10 for Peterborough cathedral.
There is a very fine and very ancient west door in the tower. This dates from the late 12th century and is a survivor from the original Norman church that stood here. A suggested date for this doorway is between 1150 and 1170 and appears to have been re-set at some point back through history. Moving around the church, there are some very ancient designs in the stonework above the two light window on the west face of the tower. Considerably more modern are the two wasp’s nests that hang alongside.
Some fine gargoyles are placed on the south wall of the chancel, lion like and with eyes cast upwards. There is no great age to these, possibly being added during Victorian restoration. Some are older though, with one gargoyle on the west face of the fine castellated south porch, appearing to show a monkey, wide eyes and with nostrils flared, riding on top of another animal. This one is quite weathered so it is hard to establish exactly what we are seeing.
Three tethered beasts can be seen on top of the south porch, heads upturned and baying towards heaven. A little internet research has seen these described as being either lions or bears. I will class these as simply mythical beasts and they reminded me of the carvings around the tower at Glatton in Cambridgeshire.
The clerestory consists of two square headed windows to north and south. The chancel, as was mentioned earlier, is very large, both in length and height, and dates from the 14th century. Cotterstock was once home to one of the largest Collegiate churches in the country. This was founded by John Gifford, a man of considerable means, who was once the rector of the church here. It was founded in 1338 and consisted of a provost, 12 chaplains and two clerks. Their purpose was to sing daily masses to pray for the King and Queen and their children, for John and his brother William Gifford and their parents, and for the benefactors of the college. Prayers were for these while they were living, and for their souls after death, to lessen their time in purgatory.
A history of English Collegiate Churches by GH Cook describes the attributes required to be a member here. They were to be ‘…of honest report, chaste, sober and quiet abstaining altogether from junketings, drunkenness, wanton ways, strife and brawling’. Not surprisingly, my spellchecker did not care for the word ‘junketings’ and a quick google search described this as any occasion in which a junket might be served, such as jousts, banquets and general merrymaking. The college here was closed in 1536
Revising this page during the early autumn of 2025, I am pleased to say that he church here is now open at weekend during the summer months when previously it had normally been closed to visitors. On this visit back in September 2019 preparations were underway for the harvest festival service; which was to be held the following day. It was lovely to be able to see inside and spent an enjoyable time chatting with the lady doing the work. On entering through the 15th century porch and glancing upwards, there are a series of ceiling bosses and immediately on the right hand side of the south door, a medieval coffin lid has been repurposed as a bench end.
Despite it being bright and sunny outside, it was quite dull in the nave itself. The north and south aisles were each built during the first quarter of the 14th century; the clerestory windows are few in number and the lights were on as a result. However, when you cross in to the chancel it is a different matter altogether, with three large windows to north and south and a fine west window all in clear glass, making for a large and bright space.
The nave here is quite small, with the north and south aisles each being of just two bays. To the south of the chancel arch is a doorway which housed the stairs that led to the rood loft, with the corresponding door which led out to the rood itself being still visible but bricked up. The rood was a carving of the crucifixion, with Mary the Mother of Jesus and John alongside the cross. These were hated by the reformers, who saw them as being idolatrous; with them being taken down and destroyed accordingly. A squint allows a view out to the high altar from the east end of the south aisle.
Moving in to the chancel, there is graduated triple sedilia in its traditional position against the south wall. This was the seating for the priests during the Mass in pre reformation times. As is always the case in graduated sedilia, the seats rise in height with the higher seat being to the east; the highest seat for the holiest person at the holiest part of the church.
The sedilia canopied, with ornately carved heads throughout, was the seating used by the clergy during services. One of the stone heads here is wearing a bishop’s hat and has an enormous nose. Often wonder how many of these carvings are based on actual people of the day. Immediately to the east of the sedilia is the piscina, in which the holy vessels used during the Mass were washed.
There is some stained glass, with by far the oldest being a few medieval fragments in the nave. A two light window tells of Jesus raising to life Jairus’ daughter which appears in the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke); with scrips reading ‘Weep Not She Is Not Dead But Sleepeth’.
We also see a two light depiction of the nativity with the wise men appearing; heads bowed as they present their gifts. Mary in her traditional blue tends the Baby Jesus. She is depicted with a halo but Joseph, who leans on his staff and look on intently, is not. The Holy Spirit shines down in the form of a dove.
Also depicted is the Parable of the Talents, with the servant bowing before the master, receiving his reward, with script below reading ‘Well done good and faithful servant thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things’.
Also worth noting here is a carving of a figure at prayer under the tower, though to be a 13th century canon. Whilst taking a look at the west end of the interior, the outline of the previous roofline before the clerestory was added can still be seen against the west wall of the nave. A carving of a bearded figure with eyes that peer off in different directions; hand inside a mouth that is almost totally devoid of teeth.
The setting here is a delight. As mentioned earlier, the church is set close to the river Nene, in idyllic picturesque countryside. There is a decent selection of Georgian gravestones here, without there being anything of great importance. A quick walk and you will see the spire of the church of St Peter, Oundle off to the north. Gaps in the trees on the road to neighbouring Tansor give a view of the church from the east. On this day there were sheep grazing in the field in front of the church and all was well with the world.
An enjoyable time spent here. It was time to hit the road again, with next point of call being Nassington, three miles or so to the north. The church of St Andrew at Cotterstock is now open at weekend during the summer months and is well worth taking a look at if you are in the area.
And to complete this look at the church of St Andrew at Cotterstock, a couple of exterior shots from previous visits.
