The History of St. Andrew’s Church, Kimbolton

Introduction

Welcome to St. Andrew’s Church!

Although the earliest reference to a church and priest at Kimbolton appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, there can be little doubt that there was a church on this site long before that time. The original building was probably a simple wooden nave and chancel/sanctuary, rebuilt in stone soon after the Norman Conquest.

In 1200 King John granted a charter for a market and annual fair at Kimbolton to Geoffrey Fitzpiers, Earl of Essex, who built a new castle and is thought to have laid out the present High Street as his market place.  From then on, the town grew in prosperity, and the church, too, was extended to accommodate the increasing population, all of whom were expected to attend services.  Aisles were added, and the 13^th century nave arcades, the oldest parts of the church, date from that time.

During the 14^th century the church’s growth continued, with the construction of the tower and spire, and the addition of the clerestory to give increased light to the nave.

Changes in architectural fashions in the 15^th century saw the rebuilding of the aisles in the Perpendicular Gothic style and the addition of the north and south chapels and the south porch.  From around 1500 the main structure of the church was effectively complete.

Although since about 1500 there have been no major alterations to the exterior, inside the church the 16^th and 17^th centuries were times of significant change, with the Reformation, Civil War and Commonwealth and Protectorate bringing about the defacing of stoups and paintings, and the loss of the central rood screen.

Early in the 17^th century, the Castle and its estate were bought by Sir Henry Montagu, ancestor of the Dukes of Manchester, whose monument dominates the south chapel.  From then on, until the sale of the Castle to Kimbolton School in 1950, many memorials, hatchments and windows commemorating the Montagu family were added to the church’s interior.

Later centuries brought minor changes and extensive restoration work.  In the 18^th century the chancel’s south wall was rebuilt, inappropriately, in red brick; and in the following century the vestry and an imposing new entrance to the Montagu vault were added.

Since then, significant restoration work has been carried out, especially to the spire.  The church’s millennium project was the creation of a raised ringing chamber, with a lavatory and much-needed storage space below, and a few years later an unobtrusive kitchen area was also added.

Outside the Church

Churchyard

Entry to the churchyard is through a lychgate. This is not a mediaeval feature, but was erected about a century ago, in memory of the Welstead family.

Until the widening of the road in 1876, the west side of the churchyard was lined with buildings, including the original Kimbolton School and an almshouse nearby.

The churchyard was closed for burials in the 1850s, when a new cemetery was opened.  The most imposing tombs are on the south side, with few gravestones visible elsewhere. More than a century ago, the stones were laid flat and have gradually sunk, making the north side of the churchyard a pleasant, grassy space.

Tower

The tower and spire were built in the early 14^th century. The spire, which reaches a height of 150 feet (46 metres), is a fine octagonal broach spire. At the top of the tower is a frieze with carved heads, animals, birds and an unusual fertility carving.  The imposing, but rarely used, west doorway is decorated with ballflowers, typical of the early 14^th century.

Inside the tower are six bells, with the following inscriptions:

1. [Believed to have been made by Penn Foundry, 1703-29. Installed in 1997]
2. Henricus Bagley me fecit 1702.
3. His tribus hanc formam Grenus dedit arte Joanes 1571.
4. Henry Penn fusore 1713.
5. William Eldridge made mee 1660.
6. Hugh Watt II His nasarenus rex Judeorum fili Dei miserere mei 1634.

Montagu Vault

The most striking feature of the north side of the church is the elaborate, Gothic-style entrance to the Montagu vault, surmounted by heraldic beasts.  When the churchyard was closed for burials, an exception was made for the Duke of Manchester and his family, who were allowed to continue burials in the family vault, using a new entrance from outside the church, rather than via the north chapel.

South Porch

The main entrance to the church is through the south porch, which was added in Perpendicular style in the late 15^th century, when the south aisle was rebuilt.

In the south-west corner is an interesting example of 17^th century graffiti, with the letters and date ‘IM 1649 DE’, scratched into the wall.

The door itself dates from the late 14^th century and still retains a few fragments of its original tracery.  Even more interesting are the bullet-holes, some still containing musket-shot, perhaps a relic of the Civil War, when a fugitive was seeking sanctuary in the church.

To the right of the door is a badly damaged late 15^th century holy water stoup.

Inside the Church

Nave

The oldest parts of the present church are the nave arcades (arches and columns), which date from the rebuilding of the aisles in the 13^th century.  Experts disagree on which arcade is the older, but they are certainly different in style, with nailhead ornament and alternating round and octagonal columns to the north contrasting with a simpler style to the south.

The roof dates from the 15^th century, but marks of earlier roofs, including the steeply pitched roof pre-dating the clerestory, still survive under the plaster on the west wall.

One distinctive feature is the diamond-shaped hatchments on the clerestory walls, which were carried in the funeral processions of Dukes and Duchesses of Manchester.

The pulpit is a rather ponderous Victorian replacement.

Before the Reformation the nave was separated from the chancel by a rood screen, with a rood loft and crucifix above. The doorway to the rood loft can still be seen above the pulpit.

To the north of the chancel arch is a niche, which, at the time of Katherine of Aragon’s death at Kimbolton Castle, housed a statuette of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The organ, built in 1823, originally stood on a large gallery at the western end of the nave, where the church choir also sat.

Chancel

Little remains of the church’s mediaeval chancel.  A blocked window from around 1300 is still visible in the north wall; the south wall was completely rebuilt in the 18^th century; and the window over the altar was destroyed by a gale and replaced about 1882.

The Duke’s pew, where the Duke and his family sat, occupies the north side of the chancel; and on the opposite wall is the Duke’s door, originally a private entrance to the church. Facing the Duke’s pew is a low-relief marble memorial to Consuelo, 8^th Duchess, by Rene de Saint Marceaux, which shows the Duchess’s twin daughters, welcoming her into heaven.

A door in the north wall leads to the vestry. Registers from 1653 to the 20^th century have been deposited at Huntingdonshire Archives.

North Aisle

The north aisle, rebuilt in Perpendicular Gothic style around 1500, contains many features of interest, spanning over 500 years of the church’s history. Carved figures of saints, resting on stone corbels in the form of angels, support the 15^th century roof, restored in 1930.

Above the north door hang the royal arms of Queen Anne, with the date 1712. At the Reformation orders were given that the royal arms should be hung in all churches, as a sign that the monarch, rather than the Pope, was now the head of the Church.

To the right of the door is a memorial to Edward Maria Wingfield, first President at Jamestown, Virginia, installed in the church in 2006.  Wingfield, whose grandfather owned Kimbolton Castle in the 1520s, died at Stonely Priory and was buried at St. Andrew’s Church.

Below the Wingfield memorial is another defaced holy water stoup.

The oldest feature of the church is the font, which dates from no later than 1200 and possibly earlier.  It was discovered on a farm at Little Stukeley, in use as a cattle trough, and was erected in 1918 on a new base in memory of Dr. Hallett.

Further eastwards an early 20^th century window by Morris & Sons, commemorates members of the Carter family.

Near the north chapel screen is the parish chest, still with the remains of its obligatory three locks, which was formerly used to store all important documents relating to the parish.

On the wall below the north chapel screen is a memorial to six members of Kimbolton’s Moravian community who died in World War I.  Kimbolton’s Moravian church is now a private house, but its legacy survives in the annual Christingle service at St. Andrew’s.

Nearby are reminders of Kimbolton Airfield’s wartime role as a USAF base.

North Chapel

The north chapel was added around 1500, when the adjoining aisle was rebuilt, and may have been the Chapel of St. Katherine, mentioned in a will of 1501. The floor was raised by about 3 feet (1 metre) in the early 18^th century, in order to increase the size of the Montagu vault below. Although the vault entrance is now from the churchyard, there are signs that the earlier entrance was through a floor slab in the north-west corner of the chapel.

The chapel formerly contained pews facing south, used by castle servants and estate workers.  It was refurbished as a chapel in 1963, in memory of Phyllis Vernon Kilby.

The north-west window is of poor quality heraldic glass, with the date 1853, which appears to refer to the creation of the new entrance to the Montagu vault, directly outside. Attached to the adjacent window is a 17^th century crest of the Montagu family with acanthus foliage.

The chapel also contains reminders of the local Moravian community, who held services here after the closure of their own church: a small reading stand; a framed photograph of the Moravian church interior; and a wooden cross, made from the roof beams.

South Aisle

Although the south aisle was originally built in the 13^th century, it was rebuilt at the end of the 15^th century, in Perpendicular style. The restored 15^th century roof has figures of apostles and angels, and a fine set of carved bosses. Stone corbels supporting the roof are carved with angels and an amusing grotesque figure in the south-west corner.

The 15^th century oak screen is one of the church’s great treasures. Until about a century ago it was covered in heavy brown paint, which was removed to reveal a fine set of late 15^th century paintings: St. Ann teaching her daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to read; the Archangel Michael conquering the Devil in the form of a dragon; St. Edmund, martyr King of East Anglia, resplendent in mediaeval armour; and St. Edward the Confessor, holding the ring which he gave to a beggar who asked for alms.

Two 19^th century windows, commemorating Reverend Thomas Ainsworth and Dr. Joseph Hughes Hemming, depict the Resurrection and the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

South Chapel

The south chapel was added when the south aisle was rebuilt in the late 15^th century. The double piscina in the south wall suggests that this may have been the ‘Chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary’, mentioned in a will of 1485.

During the ownership of Kimbolton Castle by the Montagu family, subsequently Earls and Dukes of Manchester, from the early 17^thcentury until 1950, the chapel was traditionally known as ‘the Montagu Chapel’, and it is here that some of the church’s most noteworthy features are to be found.

The chapel is dominated by a recently restored monument to Sir Henry Montagu, a Northamptonshire lawyer, who bought the castle in 1615 and became the 1^st Earl of Manchester. On either side are monuments to two wives of Edward Montagu, 2^nd Earl and Commander of the Parliamentarian Eastern Army in the Civil War: the monument to Essex Cheeke, in the south-east corner, has an unusual inscription.

Only one significant fragment of mediaeval stained glass survives in the church, in the head of the south-west window: a man in ermine robes with the name Symon.

William Drogo Montagu, 7^th Duke of Manchester, who died in 1890, is commemorated by Clayton and Bell’s east window.

The church’s most famous treasure is the south-east window, the only example in an English church of a Tiffany window. Made in the Tiffany studios in New York and installed in the church in 1902, it commemorates the twin daughters of Consuelo Yznaga, 8^thDuchess of Manchester. The window, designed by Frederick Wilson, shows the girls, who died young, kneeling before Jesus.  Tiffany’s glassmaking techniques, using layered and opalescent glass, create a striking contrast with the church’s English windows.

For additional information, please see the Church Guide, on sale in the church.