New book charts history of 900-year-old St Mary’s Church in Whaplode

A book charting the magnificent 900-year history of an eyecatching church has gone on sale.

St Mary’s Church in Whaplode will be celebrating its landmark birthday next year, with celebrations including the installation of a 360-degree interactive virtual tour.

And to help mark the occasion, two local historians have published a book examining the incredible highs and lows of the past nine centuries.

St Mary’s Church, Whaplode - 900 Years of Noble History, by Cyril Hearn and Leslie Dingley, looks back at the history of the Norman church.

From its Saxon beginnings to the magnificence of its historical monuments and artefacts, the book will travel through the centuries post the Conquest from the early Noble French families that helped to establish it, and the many families thereafter that subsequently supported it.

The colourful, often turbulent relationships of the various clergy with successive Catholic Abbots, and the villagers of Whaplode are also remembered, as well as the despair brought on by the destruction caused to the fabric during the English Reformation, and beyond with years of regrettable neglect.

But, as everybody loves a happy ending, the preservation and restoration projects that took place to ensure its heritage was secure for the future benefit of generations to come is also not forgotten.

St Mary’s Church, Whaplode - 900 Years of Noble History, with a foreword by MP Sir John Hayes, includes more than 200 photographs.

Published by Book Vault, it is on sale priced a3 £20 hardback and £16 softback, with collection from church.

Postal copies come with additional P&P charges and can be ordered by contacting stmaryschurchwhaplode@gmail.com.

The book will also be available at the Whaplode Flower Festival this weekend.

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the St Mary’s Church Restoration Fund.