Holy Trinity Church, Orton Longueville, Peterborough

There was a church mentioned here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. Nothing remains of that early structure, and a general re-building seems to have been started towards the end of the 13th century. The chancel, chancel arch and north chapel date from around 1280, with the nave, aisles and west tower dating from 1300.   Some fairly weathered and quite basic gargoyles can be seen on each side of the tower. Was interested to see two very large and empty niches on the south wall of the large chancel, which at one point would have contained effegies.   There was a church at nearby Botolph Bridge, and this had fallen in to disrepair by the 17th century. The south aisle of Holy Trinity was doubled in size, and the porch was rebuilt using stone from this disused church. The porch has a date marker of 1675 on it. Two very ancient looking stone heads are positioned on either side of the porch. I would be pretty certain that these pre date 1675 and would have stood as part of the church at Botolph Bridge.   Two bells hang at Holy Trinity, one of these being extremely old. This was cast by John Walgrave around 1440. Bells by Walgrave are scarce, but there is another one by him hanging three miles west at Chesterton.  See Peterborough Churchcrawler for more information.

Orton Longueville Cambridgeshire