LUTTON. CHURCH : ST PETER
Over the first two and a half years of travelling around, taking photographs for this site I have developed a great love for East Northants. Some beautiful little villages to the West of Peterborough, and criminally overlooked by the tourists. Lutton is one of my favourites, and a convenient watering hole as I head towards home.
Lutton is a small farming village, and I have fond memories of many trips here when I was in my 20's, and used to have a racing cycle. There is a large hill a couple of miles from Lutton, and I used to be able to make it to the top, albeit with a lot of effort and some language that you woiuld not normally associate with someone who produces a web site devoted to local churches! These days I normally walk to the top, wondering what happened to my youth, or better still sort a route out so that I avoid it ompletely!
A gorgeous village, but possibly not the place to have a picnic. There are some large piles of foul smelling white stuff in some of the fields. I was told that these are mounds of chicken mess from a battery farm. Whatever they are, the stench is dreadful as you cycle past them.
The church of St Peter is always open and welcoming. A lady was cleaning the church on my previous visit there and she told me that there were plans at that time for the church to produce a website. This was during the Summer of 2008. A quick check on Google in the early Spring of 2009 found no church website still. Not sure if this is still going to happen.
St Peter's is situated at a junction, with Great Gidding four miles or so to the South, Polebrook and Oundle off to the West. There are some lovely old cottages to be found in Lutton, with a thatched cottage immediately to the west of the church catching the eye. Some nice long range shots are to be had looking from the South on the road leading from Great Gidding. This church commands the surrounding area.
Inside, it is deathly quiet. A quite beautiful place to spend some time. Most of the jewels to be found inside this church are in the chancel, and come in the shape of monuments to the Apreece family. Monuments to this family appear on North and South walls of the chancel, and I was particularly pleased to see a painted monument on the south wall with symbolism of Man's mortality in the shape of two human skulls, depicted at the bottom. Opposite that, three Apreece brothers have been lined up in silent prayer for more than 300 years!
Church grounds are very well kept and are glorious in the Summer, as the two photographs immediately below illustrate. Gargoyles surround the castellated tower, but are sadly very worn and nowhere near as good as those found at neighbouring Hemington and Luddington. One or two grotesques can be found inside the church, including the head pictured at the bottom right of the page, which I could only describe as having an "anguished" expression!
I like Lutton! Despite the unsavoury farming smells Lutton, and its lovely church, is a little jewel in a beautiful part of East Northants. Pay a visit if you are in the area.
Back in the saddle, and a very pleasant half an hour ride back home to Chesterton. The sun on my back, a bitterly cold winter (by recent standards) left behind..and all is good with the world!
