The Church At Willingham

The church at Willingham is really something special. The outside is attractive but does not give a clue as to what treasures lie within. Well, lets go inside and take a look.

The inside is unusually colourful and warm-looking. Regular travellers "by Stargoose and Hanglands" will have spotted what I'm getting excited about. Yes, it has lots of medieval wall paintings.

These two paintings, decorating either side of a lancet window are St Etheldreda and her sister St Sexburga (that really was her name!). Etheldreda was the foundress of the monastery at Ely which later became the Cathedral. The paintings date from 1244.

This splendid painting of St Christopher, done in 1380 or thereabouts, is considered to be the finest in the country. Click on it to enlarge and you'll be able to see the expressions on the faces and little details like the fish swimming in the water around the saints feet.

This remarkable painting of the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth (soon to be the mother of John The Baptist) shows both women heavily pregnant, something which is hardly ever depicted elsewhere.

More painting can be seen above the Chancel Arch. This shows the entire scene of the Last Judgement, complete with Paradise on the left and Hell on the right, just to remind the congregation what fate might be awaiting them. The lower part of the Rood Screen is original 15th century work, while the upper portion was reconstructed in the 19th century from old drawings.

The wooden screen above dates from 1320 and is the oldest in Cambridgeshire. Even more remarkably it retains much of its original painted decoration. What look at first glance to be rough crosses are in fact made up of four green popinjays or parakeets.

Another beautiful wooden screen stands around the Lady Chapel. It is richly and somewhat idiosyncratically carved with some very odd symbols including this depiction of two gossips...

...see their long pointed tongues extending out to the left and right corners! there are also depictions of a Green Man, a rooster and assorted heads.

Further interesting little heads, one of which is shown above, adorn the armrests of the choir stalls. These heads are only about 6cm high.

This head is carved high on the wall. It shows the Rev John Watkins, the Rector of Willingham from 1890 to 1906, who donated £20,000 of his own money to restore the church. That's £1,800,000 at today's prices! Having let our eyes stray up so far shall we look at the roof? I rather think we should.

The magnificent oak roof is of a double hammer-beam construction and thought to have been made in the 15th century. But it was not made for this church. It was acquired when Barnwell Priory was knocked down in 1613. The angels, however were added in the 19th century.

I wrote in an earlier post about church musicians playing instruments including the serpent. Scott (the writer of an excellent blog "It Just Comes Naturally" ) asked what sort of instrument a serpent might be. Well, the carvers of the angels anticipated Scott's enquiry and helpfully provided the illustration above.

Back down at ground level there's an interesting14th century font with an elaborate wooden cover which was made to celebrate Queen Victoria's golden jubilee.

And the sedilia (seating for the clergy) and piscina (used for washing communion vessels) are of particularly elegant design. We could go on looking at more details in this splendid church, the leaflet which is available in the church for a very modest price points out many of them. And there is one very intriguing theory which it puts forward about the Sacristy (where vestments and parish records were kept).

This tiny annex, standing on the north side of the chancel, is a unique little piece of architecture . It was in existence in the 13th century and there is evidence that it was originally built as an Anchorhold where an Anchorite, or indeed Anchoress, was enclosed for a life of prayer and dedication. The booklet puts forward a rather compelling argument for this origin:

• there is a narrow doorway, only opening to about 45 degrees, which would have allowed the recluse to take part in services.
• a small window on the north side where food and drink could have been given.
• the location on the north side would have meant that the penance would have been increased by receiving no sunlight.
• a floor area of 140 square feet conforms to the Anchorite rule book.

I suppose we'll never know but whatever the truth behind the this and the origin of other features in the church we can't help but be impressed by the workmanship and faith which went into the construction of each church. Most of the people involved, nameless and forgotten, lie in the churchyard.

Take care.