Elsworth Cambridgeshire - a photo on Flickriver

Church of the Holy Trinity Elsworth Cambridgeshire www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/QSb84T
it was part of the Elsworth estate which thegn Athelstan Mannessune inherited from his father, and which he left to the abbot and convent of Ramsey when he died in 986. His widow however laid claim to the land and the manor with the church did not become abbey property until after the death of their daughter Aelfwarn in 1007. It was then held by the abbot until the Dissolution of his monastery in 1550
There were chantries here until they were suppressed at the 16c Reformation. - In 1376 the Bishop of Ely granted a licence to Thomas Baker, chaplain of St Mary's chantry to celebrate daily mass for a year on condition that all the money obtained was used for repairing the house and buildings of his chantry which had recently been blown down in a great storm.
The present church built of field stone and local limestone rubble, is almost entirely early 14c with some stonework from an earlier 12c / 13c building being reused. It consisted firstly of nave & chancel followed by north and south aisles.
The early 14c sedilia & piscina in the chancel were boarded up following the 16c Reformation and found again in 1850 when the wainscoting was removed during repairs to the chancel.
Under the altar is a vault built in the 1720s by the Holworthy lords of the manor, where lie Matthew d 1728 & wife Elizabeth d1749 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/3GWV5x Elizabeth was a generous benefactress who left £80 for the altarpiece and communion rails which she had designed before her death. Fashions change and a writer in Kelly's Director of 1883 described the chancel east end as "disfigured by a hideous quasi-ionic reredos, for which an east window has been destroyed" The altarpiece / reredos with Creed and Commandment boards, www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/47s8o0 was moved to the north vestry wall during the 1892 restoration and a new east window inserted in memory of Rev Andrew Cheer of Papworth Hall who contributed £300 to the restoration fund. A restoration fund was set up by the lord of the manor Captain Walter Duncombe of Waresley Park, Rev Edward Cheere of Papworth Hall & the patron the Duke of Portland, although it fell to the rector Rev H K Hutchinson to collect the money. Sunday services were held in the school during the rebuilding of the north aisle designed by J L Pearson & built by W M Fawcett . Unfortunately the north aisle encroached on an old roadway and suffered from subsidence, and had to be rebuilt in the 1892 restoration.
The reopening was described as a "gala day" and
"afterwards all the village children were entertained free of cost" The vestry was also built, the former being demolished) in 16c.
14c Tower with original west door. In the south east corner is a projecting part-octagonal stair turret which leads to the bell chamber. There are 4 bells which hang in an old cross braced frame. The treble is inscribed "Christopher Gray made me 1675", the ten has "cum moveo ad moneo" (when moved I warn) with the initials of the churchwardens and the date 1616, the 4th is by Thomas Norris inscribed "non vox sed votum, non musica cordeala sed cor 1628" The tower clock was given by the Lodge family in 1869 I memory of Oliver Lodger, rector 1887-1945

www.elsworthchronicle.org.uk/Elsworth Chronology.html
Picture with thanks - copyright John Salmon CCL www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5208320

Taken on: September 28, 2017

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