ESSENDINE. church : ST MARY MAGDALENE
Having just visited the less than memorable Carlby In Lincolnshire, I had the choice of waiting nearly two hours for the next bus or walking to the next church. I decided on the latter, and I set out on foot to cover the mile or so to Essendine.
Half way through the walk I crossed over the county line in to Rutland. My favourite county to visit, and the scene of some very happy churchcrawlling over the previous few weeks.
I had seen a photograph of Essendine church on the internet prior to setting out, and it did not look memorable, I had also thought that it might well be locked. True, on reaching it, it was not the most majestic of buildings, but it was open and there was much to find of interest. I had a much more enjoyable time here than I had thought.
This building used to be the chapel to Essendine Castle, long since demolished, and a measure of the history attached to this church can be seen by the carved South door has been described as being the oldest in the county of Rutland (see two photographs below).
Some nice stained glass inside, and a very nice carved arch separating the chancel from the rest of the church. Glad to see that the church is used fully now, following severe flooding in the late 1990's which led to it being closed for a while
