Tuesday 30 August 2011

East Hatley, Cambridgeshire


St Denis [in the care of The Friends of Friendless Churches] is a redundant church, a nature reserve and in serious danger of falling down. It would be fantastic if it could receive the same loving care that St Bartholomew at Layston is receiving rather than be left to die a slow and lingering death.

ST DENYS. Nothing but nave and chancel, the chancel rebuilt in 1874. At the same time the nave was heavily restored and probably received its bell-cote. The nave is dated by its windows c. 1300. Ogee-headed, i.e. later, niches l. and r. of the chancel arch. Over the S doorway the date 1673 and a coat of arms. What do they represent? - BRASS to a Lady, c. 1520, nave floor, the figure 26 in.

St Denis (2)

Danger

St Denis (3)

EAST HATLEY. Its few farms and cottages and the little old church made new are in the meadows sheltered by the woodlands of Hatley Park. There is an altar tomb in the church to Mistress Constance Castell whose family owned the park in Shakespeare’s day, and the brass portrait of a lady a hundred years older, wearing a fur-lined gown and the kennel headdress fashionable before Queen Elizabeth was born.

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