Ramsey. CHURCH : ST THOMAS A BECKET

The church of St Thomas A Becket at Ramsey was pretty much totally obscured by fog when I first visited it on a late September morning in 2008. According to the Met Office the fog was due to lift pretty quickly, but in this part of the fens it hung around which meant that my first photograph taken in anger that day was some four hours after I left my house!

  I left Ramsey and headed for neighbouring Bury and Upwood, deciding to return later in the day, and when I did make it back to Ramsey the sun was shining brightly, and there was not a cloud in the sky! A gorgeous afternoon and a pleasure to be out and about!

   This church is in a very attractive setting. It stands proudly at the end of a lane. The ruins of the gatehouse of Ramsey Abbey stand close by to the South, with a well maintained green in between the two. On the North side of the church there is a tree lined green with the town sign on it. Really very attractive indeed. The photograph second from the bottom on the left shows the ruins of the Abbey gatehouse, with the church of St Thomas A Becket on the far left of the picture.

  The church was open and a couple of very friendly ladies were cleaning for the next days service. Very impressive inside. Apparantly, this church started off life as a hospital, or a guest house for pilgrims, with this being founded around 1180. At the faithful of Ramsey worshiping in the nearby Abbey. It is thought that the present day church was consecrated in 1237. Also, according to the informative church history booklet that was available, the tower is much younger than the rest of the church and was built from stone taken from the Abbey ruins.

  And talking of the tower, there is an inscription just above the porch on the West side of the tower which reads "Take heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is" Depressing but wise words!

  There is conjecture as to the age of the font. This font is hexagonal and one historian has said that it could be earlier in date than any part of the existing church. Pevsner, however, dates it as 13th Century. At one point the font was disused and was buried under the floor. It was restored in early Victorian times.

  I know absolutely nothing about church organe, just not ny thing at all. However, I was interested to see in the history booklet that the organ here was built in 1903 at a cost of £250. It was restored just under 100 years later at a cost of a mere £45,000!!

  On to the church grounds and I found these to be a delight. Earlier that morning I attempted to take some photographs in the fog, giving up shortly after! The grounds were wet through and the fog had highlighted some very large spiders webs that would have kept the arachnophobes in the area well away. On returning later in the day things were much different. The sun had brought out the local wildlife with butterflies and dragonflies all over the place. There was an almost continual drone of bees wherever I went. Delightful.

  Much of the church grounds were delightfully overgrown, with some gloriously carved 18th century gravestones. A few of these would go down as amongst the best that I have come across in any church that I have visited! Was glad that I wasn't wearing shorts here...got stung three or four times as it was! Oliver Cromwell, and several of his family, were laid to rest here but there is nothing with any inscription.

  I enjoyed my stay here very much. Not the most successful trip out due to the morning fog. Three very attractive churches visited and I headed back towards Peterborough in good heart.