Four Churches Walk - Part Four (St Mary Magdalen)

It's time to wander on to the last stop on the walk, the village of Wiggenhall St Mary Magdalen. You'll be pleased to hear that common sense prevails here and just about everyone calls it plain old "Magdalen" rather than use the full name. The railway station just down the road (which now takes its name from the nearby village of Watlington) used once to be called Magdalen Gates, which is a grand name for a rural train stop.

Before reaching the church my attention was grabbed by this red-brick house. It's now called "The Priory", and indeed there used to be a priory near here, but this is not it! This was probably built as a grange (that is a monastic farm), not by Crabhouse Priory in this village, but by Castle Acre Priory, about 14 miles away. What we see today is the 17th century house which was built around an earlier timber-framed building.

Right next to the church stands the old school (now a private house) which dates from 1841.

The church is as grand as any we've seen on this tour. Like St Germans, it stands at the heart of its community and is very much alive. Lets poke our noses inside and see what we can find.

The pews, though nice enough, are not as ornate as we've seen in the previous two churches. There's plenty of interest though - for a start you can clearly see how the nave and chancel do not quite line up. There are lots of churches built like this, far too many for it to just be a mistake. The church was supposed to represent the body of Christ and there are often transepts leading off right and left, representing the arms of the cross. The chancel represents His head and is accordingly tilted to the left, as Jesus's head is on the cross.

And here is a very old chest that was probably imported from the Continent in about 1420. Originally churches used these to store valuable items, but from the time of Elizabeth I they were required to keep records of births, deaths and marriages and these were then stored in such chests. 

The roof is a rather rustic effort but does have some "angels" - such wooden roof carvings are always called "angels" even when they look nothing like them!

There's also a bier standing in one of the aisles. I've seen quite a few of these and there's nearly always a sign on them explaining that they are no longer in use as they proved too unstable. This one, with what look like bicycle wheels, must have surely been used fairly recently, if not still in use today.

It is high up in the upper lights of the aisle windows that the great treasures of this church reside, in the shape of some very early stained glass figures. Medieval stained glass is very rare, particularly if it represents saints, popes and archbishops as these do. This was because Protestants opposed idolatry and icons according to their strict interpretation of the Bible. And stained glass was just so easy smash to pieces.

Today's visitors look a lot more peaceful and cuddly!

Time to leave this calm and peaceful old building and make my way back to the modern world, which in this neck of the woods means wide flat fields of intensive agriculture.

Take care.
(We'll be back to some more traditional countryside soon).