GLINTON. CHURCH : ST BENEDICT
Oh what a beauty this is! Glinton church dominates the landscape for miles around, and local poet John Clare's poem "Glinton Spire" has been widely read over the years. I arrived on Glinton on foot, walking the short distance from neighbouring Northborough.This took about 20 minutes, and gave an ideal opportunity to take a look at distance at the superb 140 foot spire that rises above St Benedicts. Famous Northamptonshire poet John Clare wrote a poem called Glinton Spire, which has been widely read over the years. My own comment regarding Glinton Spire of “Wow…cool” is probably slightly less literate than John Clare’s and possibly explains why I work in a factory, and am not the finest wordsmith of my generation.
The church is situated in idyllic surrounding, note the old village pump in the foreground in the picture,top left.
This church has gained a certain notoriety in the locality due to it's "Mooning Gargoyle". Word was that a midieval stonemason was less than happy at the money paid for his endevours. As a personal comment, the stonemason in question passed a personal comment by carving a gargoyle which was exposing his backside in a line directly at Peterborough Cathederal. This gargoyle is pictured below, and a close inspection shows the gargoyles grinning face, upside down peering between the gargoyles legs!
This church was open when I attended, and there was enough there to keep me occupied for a fair while. Two badly weathered tomb tops can be found in the porch, a lady wearing a wimple and a man dressed as a forester.
Inside some nice stained glass and several ornate carved stone heads. Some good shots in the area as well. In 1951, the weathercock was taken down from the top of the 140 ft spire. It was found to be pitted with gunshot!
Glinton is considered to have the finest needle spire in the country. Such is its size, you might not be surprised to hear that it was struck by lightning. This was in 1843, with the resulting damage requiring the top ten feet to be rebuilt.
This church has a very fine and aged porch which, according to the informative booklet on sale in the church, dates from the 13th Century. The church apparantly suffered much in the time of the reformation, perhaps not surprisingly so as Cromwell was a regular visitor to Glinton to visit his daughter, the Lady Claypole, who lived in nearby Northborough Castle.
This church once had wall paintings to compare with neighbouring St Pega's church in Peakirk...where there is also a very fine second hand and collectors bookshop for those who like that sort of thing. Sadly, these were all limewashed over.
So, Glinton, home of the infamous mooning Gargoyle, where the handiwork of a disenchanted stonemason lives on hundreds of years later....oh yes, and the spire is also quite famous as well I imagine!
Well, here's a thing! The pictures left and right are from one gravestone, found near the porch in Glinton church. The inscription on the right, dated 1659, looks weathered. The inscription on the right, dated 1712, is carved in to the reverse side of the gravestone with the text looking as if it might have been carved yesterday! I find it hard to believe that this is anything other than a modern day carving.Has anyone ever seen a gravestone carved on both sides like this.
