St Mary, Walberton

Walberton is a prosperous village, mostly modern except for a leafy enclave around the church, and its wooded churchyard.

The Domesday Book records a priest and church, and the Nave of the current church may well date from the Saxon period. The nave arcades were cut through in the 12th century to link to the aisles. The chancel dates from the 13th, as does the substantial stone porch. The aisles were rebuilt in the 14th or 15th centuries and again in the 17th and 18th, when dormers were added and galleries inserted. There are a number of original lancets, but the rest of the windows date from more recent restorations.

The church is – slightly unfortunately – notorious for a severe restoration in 1903 by the architect Richard Creed. He rebuilt the aisles, roof and belfry (including the supporting frame), faced the walls in hard flint, scraped the interior and replaced the aisle windows in the 14th century  style and the west window in that of the 16th century. He removed a large amount of the archaeological detail, including some of the Saxon walling which incorporated red Roman bricks and tiles in the quoins. The protests led to the establishment of Diocesan Advisory Committees although, arguably, many Victorian restorations were just as drastic.

The setting is delightful and, like nearby Yapton, the roofs sweep low over the aisles. Inside, the most noticeable feature is the irregularity of the arcades: there are four bays to the south and three to the north, similar in style (very plain, round headed and unmoulded), but of varying widths and heights.
The chancel fared better under the restoration, and retains its lancets and 13th century feel.

Furnishings of note are limited to a tub font, from the late 11th century (restored in 1903 from a nearby farmyard), and the glass to Lord Woolton (d. 1964) in the south aisle, which lists his appointments rather like a CV.  The graveyard has a huge early 19th century vault for the Prime family, and a charmingly macabre one to Charles Cook (d. 1767), which graphically depicts his death by a falling tree.

 St Mary's Church, Church Lane, Walberton, Arundel, West Sussex BN18 0PQ

St Mary, Yapton

Yapton has a delightful church set in a quiet corner of the village. For once, the lovely exterior leads to an equally charming interior, only lightly restored by the Victorians.

Although there was a church on the site in the Saxon period, all that remains of this is the lower part of the tower – the north tower wall is the south wall of the Saxon nave. Most of the structure dates from 1180-1220; the nave and tower date from 1180-1200 and the chancel from 1200-1220. The pretty porch was added some time after 1400, along with the west window. The additional buttressing of the tower, to counter the clear effects of subsidence, may also have been added in this period.

Dormer windows were inserted in the ceiling in the 17th century, and the present East Window inserted in 1902. This replaced an 18th century one which itself replaced the original lancets (the remains of which are clearly visible).

From the outside the church is picture-postcard pretty, with the leaning and heavily-buttressed tower flanking the nave and porch. From the sides, the roofs sweep low over the aisles to barely 5ft above the ground.

Inside, the nave has four bays of plain, barely pointed arches, resting on square capitals. The capitals are decorated with foliage, though those on the south aisle look unfinished – local legend has it that the masons were called away to repair Chichester Cathedral after the fire of 1187 before they could finish. The fine king-post roof with its tie-beams is probably original.

The south aisle has an old round-headed window to the east, and two small round windows indicate an early attempt to let in more light. The chancel arch rests on two fluted corbels, and the spacious chancel beyond has pairs of tall lancets to the north and south

Of its furnishings, the church claims its font to be Saxon, but others point to an early Norman date. Either way, it pre-dates the present church. It is decorated with chevron banding and arcades of arches enclosing Maltese crosses, all executed in low relief. The north aisle has indecipherable traces of mediaeval wall painting.

Outside, the south wall has a number of scratch mass-dials, the two clearest of which are on the jamb of the Priest’s door to the south chancel. Its churchyard is exquisite - neatly mowed lawns around more recent graves give way to grassy paths and wild flowers in older sections, all shaded by mature trees.

St Mary's has a regular morning Sunday service and a monthly contemporary-worship evening service

St Mary's Church, Church Lane, Yapton, Arundel, West Sussex BN18 0EE

St Mark's, Wimbledon, Greater London

St Mark’s is a friendly Anglican church in the liberal Catholic tradition, just a stone’s throw from Wimbledon rail and underground station.

The church itself is of modern design, built in brick around a concrete frame in 1968-9 to designs by Humphrys & Hurst in association with David Nye, replacing a late Victorian church. Very unusually for a church, it is pentagonal in layout, with five large concrete arches meeting at a central point to give a spacious tent-like interior, incorporating a roof-top lantern.

The walls are pierced by rectangular windows filled with vibrantly coloured modern glass, portraying elements of the creation: look carefully and there are planets, fish and whales. Although very much of its time, it works well as a worship space: worship is effectively in the round, with a large sanctuary (and the longest altar I’ve ever seen) surrounded by pews on three sides.

The church also has a small chapel, as well as a church hall and an attractive lawned area at the rear - a small green oasis (complete with a wooden play castle for children).

Worship is in a modern, liberal Catholic style (but no incense), and attracts a friendly mixed-age congregation. There is a creche and a Sunday School for children, and there is a youth group for those aged 13-18.

St Mark's Place, Wimbledon, London SW19 7ND

St Stephen's, Rochester Row, London

St Stephen's is a lovely church only a few minutes' walk from the bustle of Victoria Street, with an active and diverse congregation.

Built in 1847-49 by Benjamin Ferrey, a pupil of Pugin, it is an accomplished example of Victorian Neo-Gothic in the 13th century Decorated style. The ragstone exterior encloses a cool, largely whitewashed interior. There is an aisled nave of 5 bays, and a long chancel. A small south chapel, dedicated in 1904, was erected in memory of Angela Tennant, daughter of the first Vicar. This has an elaborate decorated scheme of mosaics in the vaguely pre-Raphaelite style.

Other elements of interest include a stained glass window of the Good Shepherd by Morris & Co, designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1890), and an original window of 1850 by Wailes in the south aisle.

The spire was damaged by lightning in the 19th century and again during World War II, and shortened in the 1960s because of the resulting safety concerns. It was restored to its original height by the addition of a lightweight extension in 1994.

Rochester Row, London SW1P 4NJ

St Augustine, Brookland, Kent

Set in the flat and bleak landscape of Romney Marsh, Brookland church looks weirdly out of place. The distinctive belfry, with its three conical tiers of wooden shingles, might look more at home in the Balkans than in the Garden of England. According to legend, the belfry was originally located on the roof, but leapt from the church in surprise when an aged batchelor married an equally elderly spinster.

The adjacent church is a little more orthodox, although still interesting. The porch, with its wooden half-gates is charmingly rustic, and adjacent is a narrow, low tower with a clock. Dating from around 1250, the gothic nave is wide and spacious, and it has equally generous aisles. The scarily odd angles of the walls and arcade arches betray serious signs of subsidence, all adding to the charm (and betraying the real reason for not building the belfry on the church roof). It still retains its original box pews, some pretty 14th-century stained-glass windows, and a well preserved pre-reformation wall painting of the murder of Thomas a Becket.

The most notable furnishing is a Norman font, made of lead: reputedly stolen by a local raiding party from a church in France, it features the signs of the zodiac and pictures of rural life. Close by are other artifacts of rural life, including a set of weights and measures, an unusual portable porch (supposedly intended to keep the priest dry at funerals), and the clock mechanism, set at ground level for all to see.

But most poignant for me is the memorial erected to John and Mary Munn and ten of their children, all of whom predeceased them. It was erected by the only survivor, Henry. You can almost feel his plight.

High Street, Brookland, Romney Marsh, Kent TN29 9QR

Cathedral Church of St Martin, Leicester

Leicester’s Cathedral was its parish church until the creation of the Diocese of Leicester in 1927. The church has mediaeval elements but was heavily restored in the 19th century.

History

Leicester was established as a diocese in 680AD by the Saxons, but after 200 years was abandoned as a diocese as the Danes invaded the East Midlands, and was ministered instead from Lincoln and then Peterborough.

The Normans built a church here to replace the Saxon one in the late 11th and early 12th centuries, which was progressively enlarged throughout the mediaeval period: the present nave and aisles date from the mid 13th century, and a large second south aisle (the “Great South Aisle”) was added in the 13th and 14th centuries. The nave was lengthened in the 15th century.

The building was heavily restored 1861-67 by Raphael Brandon, who replaced the original tower and spire with the present version, which rises 220ft. Further restorations were carried out by Street and Pearson, and the south porch added by Bodley in 1897.

The church was elevated to cathedral status in 1927 but, unlike many former parish churches, was not enlarged or rebuilt for the purpose.

The church

Most of the exterior dates from the Victorian rebuilding, but inside the church retains more of a mediaeval feel: the South Aisle in particular, with its large corbel statues depicting people’s ails and discontents, is well preserved. The only remains of the original Norman church of 1086 is a string of billet moulding in the north aisle.

Although not especially well endowed with notable furnishings, the church has a good collection of memorials, the oldest in the main church being that of John Whatton and his two wives, dating from 1656, in the north aisle. A defaced 14th century tombstone – said to be the oldest in Leicestershire – is hidden away in a corridor behind St Dunstan’s chapel. A modern memorial to Richard III lies in the chancel - and there are plans to reinter his recently discovered remains there. St Katherine’s Chapel, beyond the north aisle, has a large collection of memorials to the Herrick family.

The church has a cycle of daily services (details on the website), regular concerts and recitals, and is open daily for prayer and visitors. Guided tours can be arranged on request (advanced notice required).

Peacock Lane, Leicester, Leicestershire LE1 5PZ

Blackburn Cathedral

Blackburn has been a Christian site since the 5th century, yet it is home to one of England’s newest and smallest Cathedrals. This remarkable building is a mixture of Victorian and late 20th century architecture, and possesses an impressive array of modern religious art.

History

A church was recorded in Blackburn, possibly on the same site as the Cathedral, as early as 596AD. The parish church of St Mary the Virgin was erected in Norman times and enlarged throughout the mediaeval period, but the expansion of Blackburn in the 19th century resulted in a completely new church being erected on the site in 1820-26, designed by John Palmer.

In 1926 the Diocese of Blackburn was formed and the church became elevated to Cathedral status. Plans were put in place to enlarge it so that it could perform its new duties, and work began in 1938, but was not completed until the 1970s. The distinctive lantern tower, in the shape of a crown, was designed by Laurence King after the death of the original architect W A Forsyth.

The Church

The tower and nave survive from Palmer’s original church, and are in the Decorated Gothic style. For its date, these are remarkably faithful to the mediaeval form. The transepts, chapels and chancel are in a more spare 20th Century Gothic, but the lantern, with its slender aluminium spire, is unashamedly modernist.

Inside the church, the immediate impression is one of space and light: all the glass in the nave is clear, and the interior is whitewashed throughout. The rib vaults of Palmer’s elegant nave and aisles are picked out in gold and red, to stunning effect.

Furnishings are mostly modern: the high altar is situated beneath the lantern, surmounted by a corona (hanging crown) and on the west wall is the huge sculpture of Christ the Worker; both are by John Hayward, who also designed the striking stained glass of the lantern and south transept window. The only old furnishings are a set of 15th century misericords in the north transept, thought to have come from Whalley Abbey. The west window in the south transept also has some fragments of mediaeval glass. The church has a number of other modern religious sculptures and paintings.

Beneath the church is a crypt with a very popular café. The church is open to visitors every day, and has a cycle of daily services (see website).

Cathedral Close, Blackburn BB1 5AA