HIGHLIGHT: The churches at Withersfield and Great Wratting
There be dragons in Withersfield. A pair of them, coiled on the 13th century door handle at St Mary’s. They look a little tortoise-like with their oval bodies, but no matter, they make opening the door to this lovely church a pleasure in itself.
Inside is a remarkable selection of illustrated (meaning carved) pew ends. I see St Michael holding a scale, on one side of which sits a sinner, on the other – represented by an evil, Golum-like creature – his sins. The man holds a rosary: something that would have been frowned upon post-Reformation.
Elsewhere, a tiny St George slays a very large dragon, and two beasts, maybe bears, fight among what look like grape vines. On other benches are a swan, a mermaid, and a pelican. The pelican is a symbol of piety in Christian tradition because, according to legend, the mother will feed her young on her own blood, and stands as a symbol for Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection.
In Great Wratting, I find another St Mary’s, like its sister in Witherfield standing tall on a rise above the lane through the village. I climb the path through the handsome lychgate and read a quotation in the porch that seems to have pilgrims in mind. It begins:
‘Christ whose true temple is not made with hands
Guide questing feet that find this place of prayer’.
As you will see from the video above, we arrived at this church at the perfect moment.
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