Bury (Nr Ramsey). church : holy cross
A visit to the Holy Cross church at Bury, near to Ramsey, at the end of September 2008. I left Peterborough in dense fog and this was very slow to clear. A proposed five church crawl was therefore reduced to three, with not a single photograph taken in anger before 12-30PM!
This was my second visit to Bury that day. Passed by on foot earlier in the morning with the fog still heavy and decided to keep on going in the hope that by the time I had photographed
neighbouring Upwell and made my way back to Bury, the fog would have lifted. This it certainly did, and by the time that I got back to Bury the Sun was blazing down and there was hardly a cloud in the sky!
Set on high ground, this is one of the more commanding churches that is to be found in the catchment area of this site. The photograph above right, taken by the side of the road that goes past the church, shows how high up the church is. Impressive and magnificent!
Today, Bury, or to give it its full name, Bury Cum Hepmangrove, is a very busy and bustling place. According to a little internet research, Hepmangrove used to have a church of its own. This was a little further along the road towards Ramsey. Sadly, no trace remains of this church above ground at all.
A church has stood on this high ground at Bury since the early 12th Century. The chancel arch dates from the early 12th Century, with the North arcade of three bays dating from the century later.
You may notice from the photograph above right that there is some ruins at the west side of the tower. This is the remains of a 15th century lady chapel. Only the East wall remains intact. The tower at Holy Cross is majestic. Perpundicular in construction with a castelated top and just look at those lancet windows! On each side of the archway in to the tower are two very large 15th Century niches.
On to the church grounds and these were very well kept. Interestingly, the deceased from neighbouring Upwood, Wiston and Little Raveley were once interred here at Holy Cross. Apparantly, as recently as the late 1870's, a hedge fenced off an area of the church grounds that was used to bury the deceased from Little Raveley.
Some finely carved gravestones here. My eye was particularly taken by a very unusual round stone. The text on this was very worn but I suspect that it dates from the late 17th century. There is unmistakenly an hourglass on top of the garve, but several other symbols on the grave are too worn for me to make out. I have only seen a round grave like this once before, that being at Kings Cliffe in East Northamptonshire. Would have been a very nice piece of work in its day!
Lovers of gargoyles will be well catered for here. Gargoyles surround the top, and they appear to be the place for the local starlings to be seen on a Saturday afternoon. Almost impossible to get a shot of the tower gargoyles without a selection
of the local feathered wildlife in evidence.
Half an hour well spent here. A genuinely lovely building. To my mind there are few things more impressive than a majestic perpundicular tower and this is a beauty!
Back on foot heading back towards Ramsey, where I started the day in thick fog and low spirits. By this time, the sun was blindingly bright and by the time that I reached Ramsey a few minutes later the local insect life had come out in force and I spent as much time trying to photograph dragonflies than the other delights that the church of St Thomas A Becket had to offer.
