AB KETTLEBY : CHURCH OF ST JAMES

Church Post Code LE14 3HT

Opened by arrangement

It was a Sunday afternoon, early August 2026; the long hot record breaking summer. We were between fourth and fifth heatwaves; the heat having dropped for a few days at the time of this visit but due to reappear with a vengeance by the middle of the following week.

It had been a good Leicestershire mini churchcrawl; which started off by attending a communion service at Thorpe Arnold to the north east outskirts of Melton Mowbray. We them headed south, along the new ‘Pork Pie Way’ to a similar service at Burton Lazars to the south of Melton. We then headed off to the Broughton’s Nether and Upper, with the latter just across the border in to Nottinghamshire. By early afternoon we had arrived at the church of St James at Ad Kettleby.

The village here can be found some three miles to the north of Melton Mowbray on the A606 which connects Melton to Nottingham. Fond memories of the long lost and much missed number 12 bus service run by Kimes and then Centre Bus, which went from Peterborough to Nottingham, with Ab Kettleby being on that route. That route is now no more; gone the same way as many other routes, as well as countless village schools, shops and my hair line!

This was my third visit to this church; having originally visited here back in April 2014, on what turned out to be an ill advised trip out, ignoring a severe weather warning for rain; spending a good amount of time in the Sugar Loaf public house in the village as the rain lashed down; finally emerging after a fine steak and ale pie to find flood water sweeping downhill through the village. A return visit at the time of the lifting of covid restrictions in 2020 was primarily concerned with the church grounds and the Belvoir Angels therein.

The church here is normally closed out of service times but was open on the day by arrangement, for which I was very grateful. The civil parish itself recorded a population of 504 at the time of the census of 2021, with these figure including that of the neighbouring hamlets of Wartnaby to the west and Holwell off to the north east.

There is some real history here with evidence of a Roman villa; a mosaic being unearthed in the church grounds. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086 with a priest but no church being recorded at that time. It is worth noting that this doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a physical church here; the survey was mainly a register for the purposes of taxation and churches were sometimes left out of the Domesday records as being not applicable on that basis.

The church of St James is set back from the main road to the south of the village; isolated a little with trees surrounding on all sides. Parking up, there was a short walk before entering the church grounds to the north east. The structure that we see today dates back to the 13th century and consists of west tower with spire, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, south porch and chancel.

The core of the medieval structure; west tower, nave with south aisle, south porch and chancel all date from the 13th to 14th centuries. Walls were raised and clerestory windows were added to let in more light at a later date; likely 15th century.

There were periods of Victorian restoration here. In 1852 to 1853 work was undertaken to repair structural damage and a new north aisle was built. At the same time the church had new seating installed, with this work being completed in a second phase a few years later.

The church has had a difficult recent history. The church here sits on a site of a former Roman villa and this, along with a ditch which runs underneath the church, had caused subsidence, falling masonry and leaks, to the extent that the church was closed from 2006 until 2013 at which point the structural issues were sorted out at a cost of more than £250,000.

When Thomas North saw his study of the church bells in Leicestershire published in 1876 there were three bells in the ring here, with details as follows. The first of the ring was a recasting of a previous bell cast by George I Oldfield of Nottingham in 1653; being inscribed ‘God Save His Chvrch’. The second was cast by the Oldfield foundry of Leicester in the very late 1500’s. The third was cast in Nottingham by Thomas Hedderly in 1765; with this having the name of the church warden of the day Thomas Cross inscribed on to it.

The recent history of the bells is interesting. The wooden bell frame was rotten and was replaced in 1950, with a new bell frame installed which was designed to hold a ring of six. Money ran out and this project was not completed at that time. The problems with the leaks and structural damage in the spire mentioned earlier saw this ‘new’ bell frame rotted in places with the bells being unable to be rung as a result.

They were rung again for the first time in 2013 and the ring of six was finally completed in 2015 with two bells added by Taylor of Loughborough along with one further bell added which is dated 1929 and came from a church in Cornwall.

Taking a look at the exterior, the church here is not the easiest to photograph due to the surrounding trees and there was a frustrating few minutes pressed back against the church walls trying to get everything in. The west tower is of three stages, buttressed and battlemented. An octagonal broch spire rises up; which has no lucarne windows but has three tiers of regularly spaced quatrefoil designs cut in to the spire looking out to the four main compass points; with these decreasing in size as they progress upwards.

The outline of the pre clerestory roofline can be seen against the east wall of the tower. The south porch is medieval and is not used anymore; which probably means that the village itself might have relocated over the centuries.

The clerestory takes the form of three two light windows; a selection of lichen encrusted, weathered stone heads on the label stops of windows to the south look out across the church grounds. The east window is of four lights. Throughout the exterior the recent work of the restorers can be seen; crisp in nature against the medieval!

These last three photographs were taken on the April 2014 visit; not too long before the rain started. I have added these and in particular the exterior shot of the church from the south east, to show the difference between that and a church grounds in drought conditions.

Moving inside, it was good to get in to the cool; it was bright and welcoming with the lack of stained glass here helping in that respect. It is very much a case of the old and new with the work of the Victorian restorers evident throughout along with plenty of glimpses of the medieval church. Nave is separated from chancel by an oak screen, with one further at the west end under the tower arch.

There are three bay arcades to the north and south. The south arcade dates from the 13th century with the most eastern pier circular with the capital decorated with nailhead design. A variety of faces look out across the nave along with what look to be carvings of grapes. The north arcade in 19th century and is a duplicate to the south. Looking to the west the tower arch is finely decorated with nailhead and dogtooth designs with these dating from the original medieval structure.

Moving in to the chancel the east window is of four lights and clear glass. The high altar is plain and simple with just candle sticks and a stand on to which a Bible would be placed. In its traditional position at the east end of the south wall of the chancel we see a medieval piscina in which the holy vessels used during the Mass would be washed. Close by is an aumbry in which the holy vessels would be stored. There is no sedilia here; the seating for the priests during the Mass which may have been taken out during the restoration.

Flanking the altar on the east wall are memorials to the Dexter family; with each having a variation of the Belvoir Angel design; an angel wearing a ruff with wings unfurled.

To the south we have a wall plaque to Matthew Dexter the son of Christopher Dexter who died in December 1728 aged 29 years. His epitaph concerns his family that he has left behind. It reads ‘Victorious death did wound my tender heart/And force me from this wicked world to part/Leaving my children to a woman’s care/Hopeing (sic) to do her duty she’ll not spare/If ought but kindness from her doth ensue/So surely justice will her deeds pursue’.

To the north we have another wall plaque this to Christopher, the son of Matthew Dexter, who died aged two years in March 1725/6. The date here is interesting as it reads as two different years. This was due to the change over from Julian to Gregorian Calendars. The Julian calendar was slightly inaccurate; by 11 minutes a year and the calendar had fallen out of sync over the centuries accordingly, with the Gregorian calendar implemented in some countries from 1582. The start of the New Year under the Gregorian calendar was January 1st but was celebrated in Great Britain on March 25th until they adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

Therefore when two dates are shown ‘dual dating’ the first date is the old legal year and the second is that of the modern calendar; with the only dates affected being March 25th or before.

Most of the seating here dates from the time of the 1850’s restoration but there are a few interesting 15th century poppy head bench ends. A memorial to Everard Digby who died in 1628 should not be confused with the Everard Digby who was hung drawn and quartered in 1603 for his part in the Gunpowder Plot; but he was a member of the same extended family.

At the east end of the south aisle we see another medieval piscina, which shows that the Mass was given out from the chancel and this Lady Chapel. Seated in comfort against the east wall; in the cool away from the heat, we see a small armchair with cuddly panda and teddy bear seated. In the piscina itself we see a tiny cuddly chick with bright orange beak and matching feet!

Against the east wall of the south aisle we see a beautiful board detailing the 12 Commandments in the old Kings James style. Alongside this we have small memorial brasses to the Neal family, who were wealthy landowner in the area. A charming epitaph reads ‘Here lyes the body of my love/Elizabeth that was her name/Her father Alexander Smyth/ From Sutton Upon Trent she came/She was the wife of Wm Neale/Eyght childeren she left I saye/And she departed this same life/In December the fourth daye(1604)/And this I hope her soule in bliss/Praysing God Amen’. A lovely memorial but my spell checker had a few concerns about it!

The font is square and plain with four corner and one central support. It is suggested that this would date back to the 12th century which would make it the oldest feature of the church and would pre date the original church structure itself.

Moving back outside the church grounds here are of great interest, with many slate gravestones, a few of which I will note here. I was primarily interested in the Belvoir Angel stones but there is much else of interest. A wall plaque commemorates three of the children of Thomas and Jane Bracebridge; and is a reminder of how hard the times were for many. Lives were often short and hard and it is worth noting to start with that the family here would have been comparatively well off and of some social standing to have a wall plaque such as this, mounted on to the exterior chancel wall.

Thomas Bracebridge was the vicar at Ab Kettleby between 1671 and 1698, passing away at the age of 52 years. He married Jane Fulford and they had ten children, five boys and five girls. The plaque here commemorates Jane, named after her mother, who died in 1686 John who died in 1688 and James who died in 1994. There was no more space of this plaque and a Belvoir Angel gravestone close by to Elizabeth, who passed away in 1697, the year before her father, aged 15 years.

It was still possible to live a long life and a stone to Alexander Spell records that he died in 1702 at the age of 89 years. What things this man would have lived through! He would have been in his late 20’s when the English Civil War started, with the Commonwealth period when the country was run as a republic between 1649 and 1660.He would have lived through the Bubonic Plague and would I daresay heard reports of the Great Fire of London. His epitaph reads ‘You readers all both old and young/Your time on earth will not be long/For death will come and die you must/And like to me return to dust’.

A stone to husband and wife Thomas and Lucy Keal is of interest. Thomas died aged 65 years in May 1787 and his epitaph contains spiritual insight that we would not expect to see on a gravestone today; it reads ‘Go home dear friend and shed no tears/I must lie here till Christ appears/And at his coming hope to have/A joyful raising from the grave’.

His wife Lucy died in 1772 aged 40 years and has a smaller epitaph, which comes from Psalm 102. This reads ‘My days are gone as a shadow and I am withered like grass’. Curiously this is not the wording that we would expect to find in the Old King James version with the word ‘declineth’ replaced with the word ‘Gone’.

There are symbols at the top of this stone with the human skull and hourglass each being memento mori symbols, reminding the onlooker that Man is mortal and will die. Alongside these is a candle with flame flickering upright. When a flame is upright is symbolises eternal life, when downturned or extinguished it is another symbol of mortality. Latin text across the top reads ‘MORS JANUA VITAE’ which translates as ‘Death is the gate to life’.

Also worth noting is a serpent with its tail in its mouth which is wrapped around an hourglass. The serpent is an ouroboros which was used to symbolise eternity.

There are a number of Belvoir Angel gravestones in the grounds here and these are covered in a little depth on a separate page on this site. With regards the photographs of the gravestones on this page, I have used photographs taken on the April 2014 visit; the cloudy conditions suiting the photography of the stones more than the glare of the sun.

To be taken to my page for the Belvoir Angels here click on the photograph of the angel above right to be taken there, the page will open in another window.

I enjoyed my brief visit here very much. After all of the recent structural problems it is good to see that the church here is still functioning and all credit to them for keeping going! That was it for the day; five churches visited; two services attended, several cups of tea drank, several biscuits eaten and some friendly and welcoming people encountered during the day! What’s not to like!