PASTON. CHURCH : ALL SAINTS
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A lovely warm Saturday afternoon in September 2008. The early morning fog had lifted and the Met Office were absolutely correct, a gorgeous afternoon! I had started off the day with a trip in to the Fens. I started off with a visit to March, before heading back to Peterborough by way of Whittlesey, where I photographed both of the Anglican Parish churches there.
Arrived back in Peterborough in mid afternoon and decided to re-shoot the churches at Paston and Werrington, both of which fell fould of some dreadful lighting conditions the last time that I was there.
According to a reference book of Northamptonshire villages that was produced in 1841, Paston consisted of "Four detatched farmhouses, and a scattering of cottages". How times have changed! Paston as a small village, along with several others in the area, have been swallowed up by the rapid growth of Peterborough. Today, the population of Paston is in the mid 8,000's, and it is a varied mix of race and religion. A walk in the shopping areas reflects this with shops catering for all different nationalities.
The approach to the West end All Saints church at Paston is exquisite. The church spire stands out above surrounding trees, with a lych gate of superb quality containing the names of those from the area who fell in both World Wars. Set in front of that is a large round about, well kept and fully in bloom. Lovely (if noisy) scene!
Imposing looking church this, built in the perpundicular style, and resembling the church at nearby Etton, with the church grounds containing some very finely carved gravestones. Several caught my eye. A deaths head stone with skull and crossed bones underneath was good to see. Quite rare in this area. Was also interested to see an Angel blowing a trumpet with four heads (the souls of the deceased?) to the right of the Angel. Sadly, this was very worn but a very fine piece of work in its day. Also worth noting was a finely carved grave with Dove of Peace in between two cherubs.
The entrance to the South porch is very attractive. A long path leads through the church grounds to the porch, with trees flanking both sides of the path. This looked lovely.
The church was locked, in fact it was padlocked!, and this proved to be the case with nearby Werrington a little while later as well. At least the church grounds were open...unlike St Mary at Whittlesey which I visited earlier in the day. The only reason that I could even get in to the church grounds there was because there was a wedding on later in the day!
Anyone out there reading this frightened of Spiders? For whatever reason there were dozens of them in the church grounds here. Nor particularly big but there were webs spun in between the gravestones all over the place. An arachnaphobe's worst nightmare!
An interesting place to visit and enjoyed my stay here, despite not being able to get in. Headed back to the bus route and hopped on a number 1 heading for neighbouring Werrington.
