I celebrated St Margaret’s Day at St Margaret’s, Newton today, in the Granta Deanery south of Cambridge. Five adults (Kenneth, Janet, Huw, James and Alison) were confirmed and it’s a small church so it was well full, and a very happy occasion.
The church looks older than it is, I discover, as I do my homework. It was built in 1922 by Ambrose Poynter, whose namesake grandfather designed Christchurch, St Paul and St Andrew the Great in Cambridge. (The Poynter in between – Edward – was president of the RA and Director of the NG: talented family.) This small church was in effect an estate church for the local Pemberton family, whose memorials it contains, and it manages to feel full of history despite its youth.
Well: that’s what I first wrote. But now I find out that I confused the church itself with the Pemberton Mausoleum in its grounds (see picture copyright Keith Edkins and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons). It’s the mausoleum that was built in 1922 by Ambrose Poynter. The church is as old as it seems to be. I must admit that that’s how it looked – I talked in my sermon about how each generation had added its mark – and was nonplussed when my ‘homework’ suggested otherwise.Moral: trust your intuition!
Then on to Hauxton, which really is an old place, though in recent times it had some of the stuffing taken out of it when Fisons shut their big operation down there and moved it to Germany.
There is some lovely early Norman work here and we celebrated it’s 900th birthday as well as that of the Diocese – as well as the 100th of Vera Stevens who had worshipped in the church girl and woman, and still was as spry as a spring morning. May she stay as fresh as the remarkable and early wall-painting of St Thomas a Becket which stands to the right of the chancel arch, preserved from the iconoclasts because by their time it was hidden behind the panelling of a rood screen.
A barbeque back at Newton with the local Am Dram group in mediaeval costume rounded off a long but perfect morning. Many blessings be upon Peter the Priest in Charge, Patricia his wife, and all the lovely lay people there.
Filed under: Church of England , Cambridgeshire churches, Diocese of Ely, Hauxton, Newton
