VILLAGE CHURCHES AROUND THE PETERBOROUGH AREA
TOTAL PHOTOGRAPHS ON SITE 1,229
Thanks very much for looking at my web site, which is devoted to village churches within a 20 miles radius of Peterborough.
This web site was inspired by following my football team, Stamford AFC, around the country. We travelled to some beautiful places, and always looked out for the quaint villages churches that we saw on the day. Sometimes, looking out for the churches proved to be better than the football we saw, and a gradual interest was formed.
During September 2006, after a visit to Cirencester, we stopped off at a couple of Cotswold villages, and took some photos of some beautiful churches.
On the way home I got to thinking that perhaps it might be an idea to get together a collection of images from churches in and around the Peterborough area. There are some very lovely small villages in this area, and this site will be a photographic record of my travels. Photographs will also be included from fellow Peterborough Churchcrawler, Chris Stafford. My sincere thanks goes to Chris for providing these.
When I started off this site I thought that it would be easy to draw a circle around Peterborough and take in all of the churches within that circle. However, as my interest grew and the number of places that I wanted to visit increased, the circle at times more resembled an onctagon!! A full list of churches to be covered by this site can be found by scrolling down to the Churches to visit page under the Welcome tab.
Pictured top left,close up detail from Beville Monument at St Michaels Chesterton. Below that, still on the left, St Andrews, West Deeping looks gorgeous at the side of the river Welland. . Not so gorgeous top right and a gargoyle from the church of St Andrew ar Cotterstock, East Northants. Sandwiched in between the two and a nice gargoyle from the magnificent St Kyneburghas church Castor. Immediately below left and Saxon graves at Elton's All Saints church.To the right of that, Peterborough Churchcrawler and friend take breakfast together on a beautiful Spring morning in front of St Andrews church Cotterstock.
Below the photographs of the Saxon graves at Elton is an exterior shot of St Peter, at Lutton, East Northants, with the West tower next to a picturesque thatched cottage.
PHOTOGRAPH OF THE WEEK...
HOW THIS SITE WORKS.......
As mentioned earlier, this site is mainly concerned with village churches within a 20 miles radius of Peterborough. I have taken a few liberties with this and have included one or two larger places, such as Crowland, Whittlesey and Empingham but for the most part this site is not overly concerned with churches in larger built up areas.
Several small villages, which have been "swallowed" up by the growth of Peterborough are included. These include Woodston, Fletton, Stanground, Werrington, Paston, Longthorpe and Dogsthorpe.
Churches are grouped alphabetically by county. To view a particular church just go to the appropriate county and then scroll down until you reach the place that you wish to see. In general, a church will be given a page each with exterior photographs and interior where possible. Some churches will, however, share a page with its neighbouring village.Counties included are Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, East Northants and Rutland.
A list of churches included can be found by clicking on the page entitled, amazingly enough, "Churches Included" which can be found by scrolling down under the Welcome tab.
Most recent site updates can be found by Scrolling down to the Recent Site Updates page under the Welcome tab. Any comments...then please leave a message on the message board, which can also be found by scrolling down under the Welcome tab.
Regular visitors to this site will probably know that a Photograph Of The Week is posted up every Thursday evening.
These are mostly photographs from churches local to Peterborough, but occasionally these will feature churches from out of the area.
In past weeks this has been posted up on the site home page. From early August though, the Photograph of the week will have a page on its own. This will allow me to have a little more space for text, and also the space to make the photograph bigger.
To find this weeks picture, scroll down to the page entitled "Photograph Of The Week" which can be found below the Welcome tab.
Or you could click on the photograph of a snowbound St Andrews church, Alwalton to be directed straight there.
Best wishes,
Robin Peel (site owner).
COMING SOON......A WEBSITE DEVOTED TO THE TOBIAS NORRIS BELLFOUNDRY.
Over the last two and a half years, I have very much enjoyed travelling around the countryside around Peterborough taking photographs of our ancient, and not so ancient, Parish churches. This was always going to be a project that was going to last three years or so. Much as it pains me to say, but the end of this project is in sight!
I estimate that Robs churches will be completed by the end of 2009. This site will then be left as a reminder of the beauty of our churches. I need to keep myself busy though and when Robs Churches is finished I will be starting another church related project.
Basically, I am going to start some research on a few church related topics. The first of these will be a small website produced looking at the Stamford Bellfoundry, that was set up by one Tobias Norris in 1617.
This bellfoundry produced hundreds of bells for the areas churches and I hope to list all of the bells that remain in existence, along with as much information as I can get hold of regarding the men who owned the foundry.
This website is liable to go online either very late this year or early next year. I hope that you will visit the site once it is up and running. All best wishes, Robin.
THE SMALL PRINT AT THE BOTTOM....
This site, and my gargoyles and grotesques site, which is mentioned above, is basically just a snapshot album of my travels. You will not find any searing insight on church architecture...as I do not have any searing insights to give! Nearly everyone who travels around the countryside taking photographs of churches will doubtless have a better working knowledge of the sibject than myself! I enjoy getting out, enjoy taking photographs, and find a great interest in churches and churchyards. Where historical details from a church are included these have either been researched from the internet or gleaned from history booklets that are sometimes available in the churches.
This Site Has Had....
If you have enjoyed looking at the site please let me know...and if you haven't enjoyed it please let me know again and say why so that I can try and make it better.
A thank you is in order for those who have already contacted me and those who I have met on my travels and who have taken time out to show me things that I would otherwise have missed and made me welcome.
