The Welney Website
St. Mary the Virgin, Welney
page created Feb 2005, amended/updated Monday, 04 February 2013
The Parish Church of Welney, officially St. Mary the Virgin but commonly called simply "St. Mary's" is situated on the south side of Main Street surrounded by an extensive churchyard/ graveyard.
It is within the Diocese of Ely and now part of a 'United Benefice' combined with Christchurch, Manea, Wimblington and Doddington.
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Satellite view by Google
| 1848-1862 | Rev Wm Gale Townley |
| 1862-1872 | Rev Wm Hilton Hutchinson |
| 1872-1899 | Rev Ed Russell Wilford |
| 1899-1938 | Rev Herb Hignett Wilford |
| 1938-1940 | Rev Canon Atkins Rev Rigg (Curate) |
| 1940-1957 | Rev A.B. Johnston |
| 1958-1969 | Rev H.J.W. Law |
| 1969-1974 | Rev Wm Tempest Hodgson |
| 1974-1978 | Father Jack Tofts |
| 1979-1981 | Rev Herbert Mountfield |
| 1982-1986 | Rev Anthony Bennett |
| 1986-1990 | Rev David Spencer |
| 1990-1993 | Rev Hugh Gamble Reid |
| 1993-1995 | Interregnum |
| 1995-2003 | Rev Sheila Tooke |
| 2003-2007 | Interregnum |
| 2007 | Rev Kevin Fitzgibbon |
White's Directory 1854
lists Rev Arthur Wellington Roper as curate
Church history
The following table is based largely on detailed notes made in 1998 by the late Ken Sorenson who spent many weeks of research and travelled extensively to various reference libraries.I have made a few additions and updates and noted the sources where known below the table. Knowing Ken, I have no doubt of the accuracy of his notes even when sources are not stated.
A similar table is included in the Church information leaflet.
| year | note | |
| c1100 | Norman church built, a small brick edifice near the current entrance gates | |
| 1440 | John Bayker, curate in charge of the "Chapel of St.Mary in Welney, died | 2 |
| 1534 | the Reformation and (first?) foundation of the Church of England | |
| c1550 | Chapel built to the SE of the present Church, where cremation memorials are now situated | |
| 1642 | Records started of Baptisms | |
| 1653 | Records started of Marriages and Burials. | |
| 1846 | Act of Parliament seperated Welney from Upwell St.Peters. The intention seems to have been to split Upwell into three livings (the other being Christchurch) on the death of the then incumbent, Rev.William Gale Townley. |
|
| 1862 | Rev Townley died | |
| 1864 | Welney Rectory built | |
| 1874 | Organ installed | |
| 1887 | Reredos installed to mark Queen Victori's Golden Jubilee | |
| 1907 | Churchyard extended. (consecrated 1908) | |
| 1932 | Transfer of advowson from Charles Evelyn Townley to Bishop of Ely. (Previously, Welney had been in the Diocese of Norwich) | |
| 1950 | Electricity installed | |
| 1951 | electric organ blower installed | |
| 1963 | central heating installed | |
| 1970 | 'Pluarlity' of Welney and Christchurch parishes | 5 |
| 1978 | Rectory sold, re-named Marifa Lodge | |
| 1985 | Church rewired and 8 new lamps fitted. | 5 |
| 1990 | nine pews removed from rear of church; font moved to SW corner of nave;SW vestry converted to a kitchen area; toilet installed under stairs | 5 |
| 1995 | 'United Benefice' formed joining Welney and Christchurch with Manea. | 5 |
| 1997 | sound system installed | 5 |
| 1999 | two choir pews removed from chancel | 5 |
| 2005 | Roof repairs completed. All slates removed; South side of nave re-covered with old slates, north side new slates. Chancel new slates both sides. New gutters and down pipes fitted, and roof insulated. Bell removed for repairs | 5 |
| 1 | The Victoria History of the Counties of England.A History of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely, Vol IV , Ed: R.B.Pugh, 1953 |
| 2 | Upwell - History of a Fenland Village by Richard Jeans, 1987 |
| 3 | An Historical Account of the Ancient Town and Port of Wisbech in the Isle of Ely, in the County of Cambridge and circumjacent Towns and Villages, by William Watson, 1827 |
| 4 | History of the Church in Upwell, G.S.Smith, 1986 |
| 5 | Pauline Aisthorpe (Churchwarden/Benefice Secretary?) |
top, east window and reredos
centre, choir pews seen here each side of chancel wre removed in 1999.
below, the Holditch organ
click photos for larger view.
Two pieces of land for the new Church and almshouses were donated, one by by Peter Huddleston & his wife Elizabeth, the other by William Lee. The building costs were funded largely by the charity of William Marshall, Welney's generous benefactor.
According to a report in the Wisbech Advertiser in September 1848, the church was "fitted with open seats and capable of holding 400 persons, with a gallery at the west end for 120 children." (I believe that was also the number of pupils the school was designed for.)
People, particularly children, were much smaller in those days!
An organ by the London firm of G.M. Holdich was installed in 1874 with money donated by parishioners, and the tiled reredos below the east window was added in 1887 funded by friends of the Rector, to mark Queen Victoria's 50th anniversary of her reign.
In 1907 more land to the west was aquired (paid for by Marshall's Charity) to extend the Churchyard (consencrated June 1908). Electricity was installed in 1950 (and a year later an electric organ blower) and (oil-fired) radiator central heating in 1963.
In 1990 a kitchen was built into what had been the south west vestry, and a toilet installed under the stairs in the north west corner. The rearmost nine pews were removed to make room for a meeting area with tables and chairs.
During 2004-2005, the roof was exensively repaired and insulated. Old slates re-used on south roof; new slates fitted on north side, and both sides of chancel roof. New guttering and downpipeswere fitted, and bell removed for repair.
circa 1950. Note row of cottages at left, later demolished to build Taymor Place; also trees behind and to the right of the church, later removed.click photos for larger view.
June 2005. Note scaffolding during roof repairs
December 2009. Whatever the season or weather, the church is a glorious site.
"It sits in a long graveyard, surreally close to a water tower, and is the very perfection of west Norfolk coursed carstone, the most ambitious of all 19th century Norfolk churches in this medium. It has recently been reroofed, giving the exterior a crispness in the well-maintained graveyard. The inside is curious, because the church is sinking into the soft Fen soil, more on the south side than the north. As a consequence, the middle of the nave is a good 12 inches higher than the outer walls. The view east is of a delicious Victorian gothic extravaganza, Thomas Wilmhurst's enamel painting of Joshua Reynold's Charity in the east window, a rich, tiled 1880s sanctuary below. Also painted are the imposing decalogue boards either side of the chancel arch that build to a pleasing if meaningless blind window surmounting the east end of the nave. Looking west, there is a fine gallery, which must be contemporary with the proto-ecclesiological east end, placing this building on the very cusp of the revival of medievalism in the 19th century."
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Acknowledgments. Text based largely on research by the late Ken Sorensen, 1997-1998. Old photos from our archives. New ones by Peter Cox, 2008-2010. And special thanks of course to Simon Knott. |
The nave, chancel arch and east window in September 2008. The church had been decorated for a wedding the following day.
Note the pews arching up towards the centre as described above; the central heating pipes each side of the aisle; and the tablets inset into the side walls commemorating those who died on active service during the two world wars. (There is no war memoral outside).
Click the photo to see more clearly the 'blind window' above the arch referred to by Simon Knott.
The lower painted boards each side of the arch are inscribed with the Lords Prayer (on left) and the Creed (on right); the upper ones with the ten commandments.
The Wisbech Advertiser described the east window: "the centre compartment representing Faith, Hope and Charity; the Queen's arms and the arms of East Anglia, with the rose and portcullis .... introduced ... into the two sidelights"
Other reports state that the side panels show the Tudor rose for England, the Royal coat of arms, and the portculis symbolising parliament.
The design of the window was by the Rector at the time, Rev'd W.G. Townley, to symbolise the relationship between Church and State.
Reynolds's "Faith, Hope and Charity" is also seen at New College Oxford.
The Tiled reredos added in 1887 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's reign show Moses lifting up the serpent to bring healing and striking the rock to find water.
| Related pages on this website |
| William Marshall and his Charity |
| Roll of Honour, WW1 |
| Roll of Honour, WW2 |
| Almshouses |
| Related pages on other websites |
| United Benefice (site dead) |
| Norfolk Churches |
| Holditch Organs |