All Saints, Bighton

St Andrew, Medstead

St Mary, Bentworth

Bentworth is a delightful village with an interesting church, just north west of Alton.

The church itself has a nave with north and south aisles, and chancel. Dating from the 13th Century, the aisles have four bays each, of robust round piers, scalloped capitals and pointed arches. The chancel east window has delicate shafts inside, alongside which is a piscina with a trefoiled head with dogtooth - an unusual form. The tower arch is later, as is the font, which dates from the early 16th century and has attractive cusped arches on the sides. The font also has a delightful cover, dated 1605.

The porch arch is worth a closer look for the graffiti which is carved into the outside; alongside the usual initials, there are several representations of the cross on a hill, and what might be Marian ("M") markings - apotropaic marks, intended to ward off witches. There are dates inscribed ranging from 1597 to 1967. Outside in the churchyard, tucked away under a tree, is the grave of George Cecil Ives (1867-1950). A poet, writer, penal reformer and early homosexual law reform campaigner, he was an acquaintance of Oscar Wilde and a friend of Edward Carpenter, and deserves to be better known.

The church is part of the united benefice of Bentworth, Lasham, Medstead and Shalden. Services are held every second and fourth Sunday at 10am.

St Mary, Church Street, Bentworth, Alton. GU34 5RE

St Botolph, Hadstock

Hadstock can claim to be one of the oldest parish churches in continuous use in England. This late Anglo-Saxon church is regarded by many as the Minster built by King Cnut (Canute) in 1020, to commemorate his victory over Edmund Ironside at the battle of Assandun in 1016.

Its history may date even further back, as it was built on the site of an even earlier Anglo-Saxon church. It is possible that this was the site of the monastery founded in 654 by St Botolph at Icanho (the other contender is Iken, also in Essex) but destroyed by the Danes in 870. The claim rests both on archeology (a dig unearthed a limited quantity of early Anglo-Saxon pottery) and a reference in the Book of Ely, which links Hadstock (then called Cadenho) to Botolph. 

Whether or not all this is the case, the impressively tall and long nave and the north transept of the present building are certainly late Anglo-Saxon. The nave retains four double-splayed windows from this period, as well as the famous door, dated through dendrochronology to 1034-42. The doorway is an impressive piece of Romanesque architecture in its own right, with imposts and outer mouldings decorated with a "honeysuckle" or palmette decoration. This form also survives in the opening to the south transept.

The original church may have had a wooden central crossing tower, but the present west tower dates from the 15th Century, the south transept having already been rebuilt in the 14th Century. All this would be wonderfully harmonious, were it not for the less fortunate history of the chancel: the Anglo-Saxon apse was replaced by a large, square-ended chancel in mediaeval times, itself replaced in 1790 by a small apse, and replaced again by the present chancel in 1884, by William Butterfield. I confess that, in my view, it is not his best work: it all feels ill at ease with the rest if the church (the dark red tiles on the east nave wall are particularly unfortunate). 

Happier are the fittings: a 14th Century font on a Saxon base, with a late 17th or early 18th century cover; a 15th century screen with carvings of a fox preaching to geese; and some lovely late-mediaeval oak benches.

Now part of the Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry, the church has services on the first and third Sundays a month and Morning Prayer on Tuesdays.

St Botolph's, Church Path, Hadstock, CB21 4PH

All Saints, Horseheath

Horseheath is a small village to the west of Haverhill, now thankfully bypassed by the busy A1307 road to Cambridge. The church sits on a small rise at the north of the village, and has an interesting interior.

The tower and chancel are both Decorated, sitting either end of a spacious but unaisled Perpendicular nave, which is lit by spectacularly large, three-light transomed windows. Most of the fabric dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, though chevron patterning on the exterior hints at a Norman, if not Saxon, foundation. The brick battlements above the nave were added in the 18th century, and the church was restored in 1829 and again in 1883. The porch gable has a 16th century sun-dial.

The main interest lies in the chancel: this is entered through a delicate 15th Century screen, which contains traces of the original paint. It contains two impressive monuments: that on the right has two tiers, an effigy on each tier, commemorating Sir Giles Alington (d. 1522) and (below) his son, also Sir Giles (d. 1586). The upper tier rests on bulbous piers, and once had an impressive superstructure, remnants of which now sit adjacent to the monument. 

On the left hand side is the monument to a later Sir Giles Alington (d. 1613) and his wife; this is a striking piece, executed in red alabaster. Their finely detailed effigies sit above a tomb chest, with their six children kneeling in the panel below. The back piece is has an arch containing a strapwork cartouche, flanked by columns - overall, a fine piece of Jacobean work. On the floor is a good brass to the earlier Lord of the Manor, William Audley (d. 1366), resplendent in 14th century plate armour. Adjacent is a later civilian brass, sadly now headless.

The church is now part of the Linton team, and generally has services on the third Sunday of the month at 10am, and the first Sunday of the month at 4pm, and a 10am Sunday club on the First Sunday of the month, with worship  and activities for Children and Families.

West Wickham Road, Horseheath, Cambridge, CB21 4QA

St Stephen Walbrook, City of London