Come Ye Blessed...
THORPE ARNOLD : CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN.
LEICESTERSHIRE
Church Post Code LE14 4RU
Church usually closed to visitors out of service times
.It was a warm and sunny Sunday in August 2026; a record breaking year in terms of temperatures in the UK. We were between fourth and fifth heatwaves; with the heat dropping temporarily for a few days before returning with a vengeance a few days later. Green grass was a distant memory and even the weeds had stopped growing!
It had been an early start to the day; with the plan being to attend two services on the outskirts of Melton Mowbray; starting at Thorpe Arnold and the church of St Mary the Virgin before heading off to Burton Lazars to the south east of Melton. The plan was then to head north east, to the Broughtons; Nether and Upper, before heading back to Ab Kettleby, where the church was kindly being opened up for me.
Thorpe Arnold can be found roughly a mile to the north east of Melton Mowbray itself; a small pleasant village with very much a rural feel considering that Melton is so close. It was quiet and peaceful on this Sunday morning; though that state might have altered as the day progressed and traffic increased, with the ‘Pork Pie Way’ which by passes Melton to the north and east running a short distance away across the fields.
Leicester can be found some 15 miles away to the south west with Nottingham a little further away to the north west. Those fancying a slightly more noisy day than I had planned might care to visit Twinlakes Amusement Park a short distance off to the north.
Thorpe Arnold is a very small village, with around 35 houses, a church and a cricket club; small enough that their census figures are included in with that of Waltham on the Wolds which neighbours the village to the north east. The figures for the two combined was 1166 at the time of the 2021 census with by far the bulk living in Waltham.
There is some history here with the village mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086; no church or priest being mentioned at that time in lands owned by Hugh of Grandmesnil. He was an interesting character who fought at the Battle of Hastings in 1086 and was gifted 100 Manors by William the Conqueror after in thanks for his service, with 65 of these being in Leicestershire.
The church of St Mary the Virgin stands on raised ground; with the structure that we see today consisting of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, south porch and chancel. As was mentioned earlier there was no mention of a church or priest at the time of the Domesday Survey; the first recorded mention of a church here being back in 1162.
That early structure was expanded and the core of the structure that we see today was built around 1200, with alterations during the 14th century. It is suggested that the north aisle was rebuilt during the 15th century, at which point the walls were heightened and the clerestory windows added.
There was considerable Victorian restoration here with the west tower, south aisle, south porch and chancel arch each being rebuilt at that time. A secondary phase of restoration in 1887 saw the chancel restored.
There are five bells in the ring here with the first of the ring being the oldest, case by John de Colsale who was a founder between 1409 and 1421. Interestingly, de Colsale was an itinerant founder who travelled to where he was to cast a bell, setting up a temporary foundry close to or sometimes in the grounds of the church itself.
The second of the ring is dated 1915 and was cast by Taylor of Loughborough. The third was cast by Watts of Leicester in 1597. My spell checker hates Watts’ inscriptions and this one reads ‘Cum Cum and Pra’.
The fourth was cast in 1685, by William Noone who operated out of Nottingham. This bell has the inscription ‘IHS NAZARENVS REX IVDEORUM FILI DEI MISERERE’ which translates as ‘Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews son of God have mercy on me’.
The fifth of the ring was cast by Thomas I Newcombe of Leicester in 1520. With regarding bells, it is worth noting that Thorpe Arnold was a storing place for the ‘Brentingby Bell’ which had been taken from the tower at Brentingby when this church fell in to disuse. This bell was cast by John of York in 1380 with this bell being the oldest dated church bell in England.
Taking a leisurely look at the exterior of the church before service started, what we see is an attractive but plain ironstone and limestone church with limestone dressing. The grass in the church grounds had been battered by the heat over the weeks and those looking at the photographs in future years might take an educated guess at the year due to the conditions!
The exterior is difficult to shoot in places due to the proximity of trees; the three stage tower is buttressed, with two light lancets at the belfry stages.The clerestory takes the form of three square headed two light windows. The chancel is long and plain with steeply pitched time roof, with priest’s door to the south. The east window is of three lights.
A series of carved heads look out from the label end of windows; of varying ages with some having features almost weathered away. Some look to be relatively modern and I daresay date from one of the periods of Victorian restoration. Others look far older including one weathered figure with eyes almost weather away to nothing; mouth open in an ‘O’ of surprise!
To be fair the exterior is quite plain; but attractive still’ It was half an hour before service started and it was time to take a look at the interior before the congregation started to arrive. The church was open; the welcome was as warm as the day promised to be, and this set the tone for the rest of the day in this most hospitable and friendly parts of Leicestershire.
On entering I was immediately pointed towards the font, which can be found at the east end of the south aisle rather than its normal position at the west end of the nave. I don’t normally start with the font but will here due to its age and importance.
The font here must go down as being one of the most interesting in this area. Thought to date from around 1170 this tub font stands on an octagonal stem. On two sides we see a foliate cross with a depiction of a human face at the centre of each. The other two sides features a warrior in armour holding a sword aloft and a shield upon which is a cross. The warrior is surrounded by dragons. He is facing a large dragon which breaths out fire; with two smaller and less threatening looking dragons below. Two further dragons are approaching on the warriors’ blind side.
So what are we seeing here? Normally when we see dragons it will be St George or St Michael; but neither fit here! St George killed a single dragon and St Michael fought a seven headed dragon in Revelation; with the dragon being symbolic of the devil. Perhaps we are simply seeing a depiction of a Christian man’s fight against evil.
By the way, while I was photographing the font there was an Asian lady doing the same who was also starting a day’s churchcrawling. We said hello and chatted for a couple of minutes and I was impressed on signing the visitor’s book to see that she came from Tokyo! If you do happen to see this, I hope that you had an enjoyable churchcrawl!
There are three bay arcades to north and south, with each having octagonal bases piers and capitals, with pointed arches. The easternmost pier on the south arcade is of particular interest as it is finely carved with two human figures and two lion line animals with manes. A close look shows some damage to these figures; perhaps damaged during the reformation.
The work of the Victorian restorers is very much in evidence throughout. Nave is separated from chancel with an oak screen which I think dates from this period; with the chancel arch also being rebuilt during the restoration.
The church organ can be found at the east end of the north aisle; as already mentioned the font stands at the east end of the south aisle. A medieval piscina is set in to the east end of the south wall, indicating that the Mass would have been given out from here; an altar standing where the font is now. There is also a piscina at the east end of the north aisle
A glance upwards shows some finely carved corbels; with modern heaters set close by to each. We see a figure exposing its rear end at those in the nave; its face peering upside down between its legs. Close by we have a Green Man and a rather anxious looking figure crouched on its haunches. We see also a lion like figure pulling open its mouth in gesture of insult and a ram. At the eastern end of the nave to the south we see two thirds of a human head; the left two thirds to be exact, with the eastern wall of the nave blocking the rest.
We have stained glass in the south aisle, this coming during the Victorian restoration and being the work of Heaton Butler and Bayne. We see a scene from Matthew Chapter 20 verse 20 when the mother of James and John, the ‘Sons of Thunder’ arrives with her sons, attempting to petition Jesus that her sons sit at Jesus’ right and left hand side in his Kingdom. Script below reads in the old King James ‘Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons worshiping him and desiring a certain thing of him’. The request is denied and the other disciples are angered at the request.
The message for the onlooker is that true greatness is achieved by being a servant to others rather than by seeking authority; I can’t recall this scene being depicted in glass before.
We also have a depiction of John the Baptist preaching ‘Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord’. As always it is interesting to see the reactions on the faces of those being preached to. Here we see a mixture; with some taking things in and a pair of men discussing what they are hearing. A woman cuddles a small child; downcast and carrying the weight of the world. The child looks directly at us!
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Moving in to the chancel this was restored in the second phase of Victorian restoration with some of the history taken away with sedilia and piscina both absent.
The east window is of three lights and has stained glass with Christ in majesty central. This central image is flanked by two scenes showing Jesus healing. To the left as we look at it Jesus heals a crippled man, urging him to take up his mat and walk. To the right we see Jesus healing a blind man; putting his fingers on his eyes; urging him to complete the healing by washing in the Pool of Siloam. The small altar was set out with cross and candlesticks; the sun was streaming in through the east window, a clear shot of the glass being difficult as a result.
There is nothing of any great rarity or interest in the church grounds here but a group of thee late 17th century headstones close to the east end of the south aisles had its own Grade II Listing, as does the base of a medieval churchyard cross which can be seen close to the west tower.
It was time to move on; leaving the church of St Mary the Virgin with some pleasant memories. The welcome here was first rate; occasionally I attend a service somewhere and my initial reaction is that this is somewhere that I could worship; that was definitely the case here! We headed south, along the Pork Pie Way, which was still quiet on this Sunday morning, with Burton Lazars the destination, in plenty of time for their 11.15 Communion.