St Mary Magdalene Church, Ickleton

St Mary Magdalene Church

St Mary Magdalene Church is the Church of England parish church in the village of Ickleton in Cambridgeshire. The church is a Grade I listed building.^[1] Its parish is part of a combined benefice with those of St Peter's, Duxford and SS Mary and John, Hinxton.^[2]

History[]

Dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, it is early Norman in date, built of rubble and flint with Barnack limestone dressings.^[1] It was originally dedicated to St Mary the Virgin but was later rededicated to Ickleton Priory's patron saint.^[3] Nicholas Pevsner wrote that the church's Norman interior "has few equals" in England and "is far too little known".^[4]

Looking west inside the nave, showing the 11th-century Norman north arcade and aisle (right), 12th-century frescoes (above right) and Perpendicular Gothic west window (left)

The church was built in the late 11th^[1] or early 12th^[3] century with a nave, chancel and central tower over the crossing between the two. The nave was built with a clerestory, round-arched west door, north and south aisles and a round-arched four-bay arcade between the nave and each aisle.^[4] Some of the columns are re-used Roman ones, each carved from a single stone.^[4] The others are Norman copies of the Roman work.^[4] Most of the original Norman features have survived the church's later enlargement and embellishment.^[4]

Late in the 12th century a set of frescoes was painted in the nave, arranged in two tiers above the arcades.^[1] There are four scenes of Christ's Passion, and three paintings showing the martyrdoms of St Peter, St Andrew and St Lawrence.^[1]

In the 13th century the crossing was given pointed Early English Gothic east and west arches, but their Norman responds were retained.^[4]^[1] The church has a south transept, the date of which is unknown.^[4] There used to be a north transept, making the church cruciform, but at some date it was demolished.^[4] The blocked north arch of the crossing remains as evidence. The north and south arches are late 13th or early 14th century.^[1]

Much Decorated Gothic work was done to the church early in the 14th century. The height of the tower was increased: English Heritage says this was in about 1340^[1] but Nikolaus Pevsner dates the bell-openings to about 1300.^[4] The south aisle was rebuilt,^[4] widened^[1] and a rib vaulted^[4] south porch was added.^[1] New windows were inserted in the south transept and the arch between the transept and the south aisle was rebuilt.^[4] The octagonal font may also be 14th-century.^[1] The nave clerestory was increased in height and given a new roof, and the lead-covered broach spire was added.^[3] Some 14th-century glass survives in the windows of the south aisle.^[1] Also 14th-century is the wall painting of the Doom with Christ and the Virgin Mary over the chancel arch.^[1] The church was rededicated in 1351,^[5] so this may be the date when this phase of building was completed.

In the middle of the 15th century the chancel was rebuilt and a Perpendicular Gothic north chapel and vestry were added.^[1] Also Perpendicular Gothic are the west windows of the nave and north aisle.^[5] The church was refurnished with a Perpendicular wooden rood screen, new pews and stalls.^[3] The poppyhead ends of two of the pews are original.^[3] The church was rededicated again in 1452.^[3]^[5]

In the 18th century there was some rebuilding work,^[1] and by 1791 the north chapel, vestry and transept had been demolished.^[3] By 1877 St Mary Magdalene's churchyard was no longer sufficient for parish burials, so in 1883 a new cemetery and funeral chapel were opened beside Brookhampton Street just north of the village.^[3] The chapel is a Gothic Revival building in an Early English style with lancet windows.^[6]

In 1882–85 the chancel was rebuilt, retaining the 15th-century piscina^[1] but adding Gothic Revival sedilia.^[5] The roof of the south transept was destroyed by fire in 1979 and has been replaced.^[1] It was cleaning work after the fire that discovered the 12th-century frescoes in the nave.^[1] These had been painted over for centuries, presumably since the Reformation in the 16th century.

The Tudor Sanctus bell near the top of the spire

Bells[]

After the Dissolution of Ickleton Priory it was recorded that the church tower had three bells.^[3] In 1552 during the Edwardine Reformation the church was recorded as having four bells and a Sanctus bell.^[3] By 1742 the tower had a ring of six bells and there were two Sanctus bells unusually positioned on the outside of the spire.^[3]

Much work was done to the bells in the 18th century. Thomas Newman, who had bell-foundries at Norwich and Cambridge,^[7] cast what are now the fourth and seventh bells in 1729.^[3] Thomas Lester of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the tenor bell in 1751.^[3] William Chapman, also of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, cast what is now the fifth bell in 1781.^[3]

By the late 19th century there was only one Sanctus bell on the outside of the spire.^[3] It had been cast in about 1500 by an unknown bellfounder.^[8] It was used as a curfew bell or a fire bell, and later was linked to the church clock to sound the hours.^[3]

The six bells were restored in 1907 but within 20 years their frame had collapsed and the tenor bell had fallen and broken.^[3] In 1927 Gillett & Johnston of Croydon, Surrey recast all six bells and added a new treble and second bell, increasing the ring to eight.^[3]^[8]