Empingham. CHURCH : ST PETER
Early April 2007 and a day out of the rat race. First day of a two week holiday, and a day out on Rutland. This was to become a glorious April day, sadly not setting the scene for what was to become one of the most miserable and depressing Summers in recent memory! I am normally on my own when photographing churches, but neighbour Jeff had a new camera to play with, and his wife Judy came along too, albeit with an emergency stash of magazines in the car should she get bored.
First stop, in what turned out to be a nine church crawl, was St Peter at Empingham. This church is set on high ground and the fine 14th Century tower dominates the landscape for miles around.
The church was open, setting the tone for the rest of the day, and there was an information leaflet available. Interestingly, this mentions the fact that some houses, built for estate workers in the 19th Century, were built with no first floor windows facing the road. This was because Lady Ancaster did not want the tenants to see her as she drove past in her carriage!
There are a couple of wall paintings to be seen in this church. On the South side of the church there are some fragments of five petalled flowers to be seen. These, to me, resembled similar seen at nearby Great Casterton a few weeks previously. There is also a fragment remaining of a painting of the Virgin Mary.
Under an arch in the north transept there is a tomb with a carved cross on it. It is thought that this might be the final resting place of Stephen Of Sutton who ordered that he be buried in the church in 1280. Photograph included of this below.
The church clock is relatively modern, dating from 1895, replaced during extensive Victorian restoration. The previous clock was made by famous Stamford clock maker John Watts in 1686, and this is now in Stamford museum.
A real find on the North side of the exterior of this church. There is a small carving of a woman, photograph included third down on the left, and a little internet research has seen this carving listed as a Sheela Na Gig. These are very old, usually Norman, carvings which usually feature old women holding open their Vulva. These are seen as fertility symbols. Some have suggested that they are the female equivialent of the Green Man. They are pretty rare and this is one of just two that I have seen in the churches covered by this site. The other is at Etton, on the outskirts of Peterborough.
Made a return trip in mid August 2008. Armed with a better camera I managed to do a better job of photographing the gargoyles on the tower. Also snapped one or two elaborate 18th Century gravestones. As with most of Rutland though, the gravestones at Empingham were very badly weathered!
Enjoyed my stay here, lovely church and a very nice place to spend some time. After my visit here in 2007 we headed off to nearby Edith Weston. In October 2008 I headed for Oakham where I was stunned by the variety of gargoyles and grotesques on display.
