Mothers Union St Peter's Lowick
St Peter, Lowick, Northamptonshire
I left Islip church, high above the nine-arched medieval bridge over the Nene which connects the village to the town of Thrapston. But I was cycling in the other direction. If the road between Huntingdon and Alconbury twenty miles earlier had been a switchback, that between Islip and Lowick, my next port of call, was more like a wall of death, hurtling steeply down into the valley and then merging with the busy Wellingborough to Corby road before swooping up hill just as steeply. Fortunately, it was only a mile or so to the lovely hilltop village of Lowick, crowning its hill and surrounded by woods and copses. It was the first of several hilltop villages today, and the churches take full advantage of their settings. This church in particular was a gorgeous prospect from a distance, with a tower like Fotheringhay's only taller and more slender.
Close to it is enormous, and unusually for east Northants it is fully Perpendicular, like Fotheringhay. I'm not a huge fan of the Simon Jenkins book, or of his judgements, but this is one of only two churches in the county to which he gives four stars, and there are none with five stars, so I was looking forward to it.
The church was open, although in fact it is usually kept locked with a keyholder notice. However, someone had already got the key and was inside, and so I stepped in to the breathtaking interior. Tall arcades run eastwards, transepts and chancel aisle opening on both sides. The star of it all for me is the range of 14th Century glass, sixteen large figures which were obviously once part of a Tree of Jesse. They cannot have come from this church originally, as they predate it by a century and a half, and may have come from its predecessor. But it seems more likely that they came from a west or east window in a much bigger church than the previous Lowick church is likely to have been, perhaps even a cathedral. There is more 14th Century glass in Lowick church than there is in the whole of East Anglia, a startling thought.
But that's not all, for Lowick is also home to three outstanding memorials. The early 15th Century alabaster memorial to Ralph Green and his wife is generally considered one of the very best in England, and so it should be, for it was his bequest that bankrolled the building of the new church. Half a century later, his grandson the Earl of Wiltshire was brought to rest under another fine alabaster memorial, reminiscent of the Bardolph tomb at Dennington in Suffolk. And there is a third, most dramatic memorial to Lady Mordaunt and her children from the 18th Century in the north chancel chapel. All in all a wonderful church, the best church I have visited in a long time, and knocking Fotheringhay off the top spot to become my new favourite Northamptonshire church.
At last I headed back out onto the Corby road, heading further north-west and thankfully downhill this time, before turning off to climb up into another hilltop village, Sudborough. A lovely stone-built village, the old pub looking very inviting, and across the road from it was its church, looking very small and rather pretty, a glass of light fruit juice perhaps, after the grand champagne and fireworks of its Lowick neighbour.
Mothers Union St Peter's Lowick
St Peter, Lowick, Northamptonshire
I left Islip church, high above the nine-arched medieval bridge over the Nene which connects the village to the town of Thrapston. But I was cycling in the other direction. If the road between Huntingdon and Alconbury twenty miles earlier had been a switchback, that between Islip and Lowick, my next port of call, was more like a wall of death, hurtling steeply down into the valley and then merging with the busy Wellingborough to Corby road before swooping up hill just as steeply. Fortunately, it was only a mile or so to the lovely hilltop village of Lowick, crowning its hill and surrounded by woods and copses. It was the first of several hilltop villages today, and the churches take full advantage of their settings. This church in particular was a gorgeous prospect from a distance, with a tower like Fotheringhay's only taller and more slender.
Close to it is enormous, and unusually for east Northants it is fully Perpendicular, like Fotheringhay. I'm not a huge fan of the Simon Jenkins book, or of his judgements, but this is one of only two churches in the county to which he gives four stars, and there are none with five stars, so I was looking forward to it.
The church was open, although in fact it is usually kept locked with a keyholder notice. However, someone had already got the key and was inside, and so I stepped in to the breathtaking interior. Tall arcades run eastwards, transepts and chancel aisle opening on both sides. The star of it all for me is the range of 14th Century glass, sixteen large figures which were obviously once part of a Tree of Jesse. They cannot have come from this church originally, as they predate it by a century and a half, and may have come from its predecessor. But it seems more likely that they came from a west or east window in a much bigger church than the previous Lowick church is likely to have been, perhaps even a cathedral. There is more 14th Century glass in Lowick church than there is in the whole of East Anglia, a startling thought.
But that's not all, for Lowick is also home to three outstanding memorials. The early 15th Century alabaster memorial to Ralph Green and his wife is generally considered one of the very best in England, and so it should be, for it was his bequest that bankrolled the building of the new church. Half a century later, his grandson the Earl of Wiltshire was brought to rest under another fine alabaster memorial, reminiscent of the Bardolph tomb at Dennington in Suffolk. And there is a third, most dramatic memorial to Lady Mordaunt and her children from the 18th Century in the north chancel chapel. All in all a wonderful church, the best church I have visited in a long time, and knocking Fotheringhay off the top spot to become my new favourite Northamptonshire church.
At last I headed back out onto the Corby road, heading further north-west and thankfully downhill this time, before turning off to climb up into another hilltop village, Sudborough. A lovely stone-built village, the old pub looking very inviting, and across the road from it was its church, looking very small and rather pretty, a glass of light fruit juice perhaps, after the grand champagne and fireworks of its Lowick neighbour.