Stilton. Church : St Mary

I made a return trip to Stilton in April 2008, on a Sunday afternoon that was fairly bright but very cold. Have to count our blessing though with snow falling heavily 50 miles away. Stilton is a fair size village, with the population topping the 2,000 mark in the early 1990's, this being more than double than that of twenty years previously. The reason for the return trip was to re-shoot a spectacular and ornate tomb, that fell foul of poor light, poor camera…and poor photographer on my previous visit!

  Stilton is probably most famed for its Cheese, which had been made in the village since before 1720.

  The area around Stilton and Folksworth was also the site of a major Prisoner of War Camp from Napoleonic times. This camp, called the Yaxley Barracks by some, held several thousand prisoners of war over a number of years.

  The church of St Mary is a mixture of old and new. At the front of the church, several modern features have been built which indicates that this church is a focal point of what appears to be a thriving community.

  A rather plain, square, tower stands out amongst the trees prettily as you come in to the village from Folksworth. High up there is evidence of there being some high quality gargoyles at one time.

  The highlights of this church for me were to be found at the back of the church. As mentioned earlier, I wanted to re-shoot one tomb in particular. This is probably the finest piece of work that I have seen since photographing churches. Old Father Time holds a broken hour glass, from which he has poured an image of the deceased. Man’s mortality is also symbolized by two human skulls at Father Time’s feet whilst a plant springs to life at the back of one of the skulls. The whole scene surrounded by ornate pillars. A remarkable piece of work. Sadly, the text on the grave is virtually illegible but I would have thought that this was probably Georgian.

  Was also taken by the tomb of William Randolf of Stilton. Despite being broken in to three, this tomb, pictured at the foot of the page, is still legible, being protected from the weather due to its close proximity to the South wall of the church. I did have trouble picking the date out though, but I thought that it was 1630's.