WALTHAM ON THE WOLDS : CHURCH OF ST MARY MAGDALENE

Church Post Code LE14 4AH

Open to visitors

It was the summer of 2020 and the country was starting to find a little normality, for a time at least, as covid 19 was at its worst. The first national lockdown had ended and churches were allowed to be open for private prayer and then for worship itself; the church of St Mary Magdalene at Waltham On The Wolds was open but in reality very few were at that time.

The church here is part of the Ironstone group of churches benefice; a friendly and welcoming benefice of seven churches, six of whom are featured or will be featured on this site. The churches at Scalford, Goadby Marwood, Eaton, Stonesby and Eastwell all have Belvoir Angel gravestones and can be found in the ‘Leicestershire’ section of this site.

The church here at Waltham has no Belvoir Angel stones and therefore can be found in the ‘Other Churches’ section. The church at Chadwell is, at the time of typing this, closed to visitors and for worship due to structural issues.

Waltham on the Wolds is is a pleasant village which can be found in north east Leicestershire; with Melton Mowbray some five miles away to the south west. Grantham is around 11 miles off to the north east. Belvoir Castle can be seen across the fields to the north when heading towards Grantham. The village recorded a population of a little over 1,000 at the time of the census of 2021, with these figures incorporating that of nearby Thorpe Arnold, with whom it forms a civil parish.

.The village here was mentioned at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 but no church or priest was recorded here at that time. The church of St Mary Magdalene stands central, close to the main road, the A607 which runs through the centre of the village connection Melton to Grantham.

This was a third visit; with the first seeing the church covered in scaffolding following damage to the spire caused by an earthquake back in 2008. A return visit saw the church open to visitors but access restricted due to decorators being in. The third visit saw the church open and the photographs of the interior are an interesting look back to covid seating arrangements, with each of the chairs set out on the day having a card on them which was to be turned over after that chair had been sat on, so that it could be cleaned.

The church that we see today consists of central tower with broach spire, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, north and south transepts, north and south porches and chancel.

The church sits centrally on raised ground, close to the main road which runs through the village; an attractive setting with thatched cottages close to the church a telephone kiosk dated to 1935, which is now used as a defibrillator and a shelter which stands over a village pump each having their own Grade II Listing. Also having a similar Listing is the lychgate to the east, through which I entered the grounds.

The original structure here is Norman, with the main body of the church being built in the early 14th century, at which point aisles were added. The main body of the church was rebuild during the 14th century, at which point the transepts were added. The walls were heightened and clerestory was added during the 15th century; with the upper part of the central tower and the broach spite also dating from this time.

There was restoration here in the 1830’s and a more substantial restoration in 1850 with work completed by George Gilbert Scott, during which the nave was extended by two bays to the west, the north bay and north wall rebuilt and roofs repaired. Inside during that restoration a gallery was removed, the nave was re seated and biblical text was painted under the tower arch and nave arches.

Entering in through the lychgate to the east and taking a look at the exterior; this is a fine structure! The square central tower rises up, with crocketed pinnacles at each corner; with church clock facing out from three sides, nothing on the western wall. A frieze runs across the top of the tower, of a repeated alternating quatrefoil and cross design. Scaly grotesques, lichen encrusted and with bulging eyes, pull their mouths open in gesture of insult and express their general discontent to anyone who is prepared to look up!

The slender octagonal broach spire rises up to a height of 127 feet. As was mentioned earlier, this was rebuilt recently after damage incurred during the 2008 earthquake; the top 30 feet being taken down and rebuilt with existing materials. The top of the tower appears to have been patched up fairly recently as well.

The west end is perpendicular with the western end of the north and south aisles butting up level with the western end of the nave; the nave itself being dominated by a fine four light window with intricate tracery. Below this is a west door, with a stern faced king with impressive beard and his queen standing guard looking out to the west. The clerestories take the form of five substantial two light windows; the east window is of three lights with intricate tracery.

Thomas North compiled a list of the church bells in Leicestershire, which was published in 1876. At that time he recorded a ring of five bells with details as follows. The first of the ring was cast by Peterborough Henry Penn in 1726; being inscribed ‘SURGE AGE’ which translates to ‘Arise, come on’

The second and third were each cast by Thomas Eayre of Kettering in 1744 and have the inscription ‘OMNIA FIANT AD GLORIAM DEI’ let all things be done for the glory of God. The fourth is courtesy of Henry II Oldfield of Nottingham; and being inscribed ‘God save the church our queene and realme and send vs peace in Christ’ As always my spell checked does not care fort Oldfield’s work!

The fifth in North’s day was another from Eayre in 1744. This one has the inscription ‘OMNIA FIANT AD GLORIAM DEI GLORIA PATRI FILIO ET SPIRITUI SANCTO ANNO DOM 1744’. The additional line here to that on the first two bells translates as ‘Glory to the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit’.

Today there is a ring of six with a new first of the ring added in 1879; this cast by Warner of Cripplegate in London’ with the second of the ring in North’s study also being recast at the same time.

With regards the bells here; these were silenced by the earthquake damage to the spire in February 2008. Repairs took place during that year and the bells rang again for the first time on New Year’s Eve 2008, ringing in the New Year.

The visitor enters in through the south porch. The ‘Church Open’ sign was out and we were good to go. Moving inside the visitors’ attention would immediately have been taken by the arrangement of chairs. As mentioned earlier these were set out in accordance with covid social distancing regulations. Some chairs were set together, for those arriving together as a family with others being the requited two meters apart.

How strange it seemed in those early days to see chairs set out like this. I cast my mind back to my own church services; masked up and not allowed to sing, leaving the service one at a time and not allowed to congregate after to chat. After a while it ceased to be strange and when it all went back to how things used to be however many months before that seemed strange as well!

There is a real community feel to the interior here; a bright welcoming space with the Victorian pews removed to give flexibility to whatever event is due to take place, whether this be a Sunday or midweek service or an event for the community such as the mums and toddlers group or community café, each of which is held regularly.

There are five bay arcades to north and south with these consisting of octagonal piers with moulded capitals. The three most easterly bays are original, with the church having extended westwards since then. The Ten Commandment are painted on to the wall over the chancel arch where perhaps at one point back in time a Doom Painting might have stood; ‘Praise God in His Holiness’ is written below.

Moving in to the chancel, this very much shows the hand of the Victorian restorers. The reredos depicts the Last Supper; Jesus standing central holding a chalice with hand raised in blessing. The 12 are gathered around; with Judas shortly to leave and betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. I am always interested in seeing how Judas is depicted; here he looks down, not at Jesus and holds a bag of money. Sometimes he is shown with a halo; sometimes not. Occasionally he is shown with a black halo. Here he is shown with a halo, which is styled in the same way as the others.

This reredos if flanked by tiling which shows the four symbols of the Gospel writers and symbols of the crucifixion.

There is stained glass here of high quality throughout. The east window is of three lights and has the crucifixion central; with Mary Magdalene, after who the church is dedicated, in distress at the foot of the cross. This is flanked by Mary the Mother of Jesus and John in their traditional places alongside the cross. Mary will always be on the left hand side as we look at it (On Jesus’ right hand) with the right hand side being the place of honour in Jewish custom.

Other stained glass here includes the Baby Jesus being presented to Simeon in the Temple when he was 40 days old. Mary hands Jesus over to Simeon and is accompanied by Anna with Joseph not to be seen. Part of the Nunc Dimitis, the Song of Simeon are included below ‘Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace’

Mary is dressed simply but elegantly and carries the Temple Sacrifice for those of limited means, in this case two doves. On my travels little annoys me more than to see Mary and Joseph (if included!) presenting Jesus to Simeon with their sacrifice for those of limited means whilst wearing expensive and luxurious clothing!

We also see a three light window showing three scenes from the life of John. We first see Jesus choosing John from his father’s fishing boat, central is John leaning against Jesus at the Last Supper, with an angel holding a crown above this central light and finally we see depicted the scene immediately after the crucifixion with John leading Mary away from the cross and in to his own care.

Further glass shows the three times that Jesus brought some one back from the dead. We see Jesus raising the daughter of Jairus the Synagogue leader, then raising back to life the son of the Widow of Nain and then calling Lazarus back from his tomb; he emerging from the tomb in prayer, still wearing his shroud; both of his sisters, Mary and Martha present,

We also see a three light window showing scenes from the Woman at the Well and a beautiful depiction of Peter James and John. Peter is central, holding the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. He is flanked by James and John, the ‘Sons of Thunder’ James holds a pilgrims staff and scallop shell whilst John holds a chalice out of which rises a serpent. Christian legend states that John was given poisoned wine whilst at Ephesus. He prayed over the wine and the poison came out in the form of a serpent.

Also here is a two light window showing Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, with the former wielding a censer. There is also one piece of modern stained glass which dates from 2003 and was made by Derek Hunt. This celebrates hunting and in particular St Hubert who is the Patron Saint of hunters. This is the first time that I have seen this patron saint depicted in glass and, to be fair, it wouldn’t bother me greatly if it was the last time as well!

Just a few other things to note before moving outside! Looking upwards we see several medieval carving lining the roof of the nave; monastic figures which hold shields, scrolls and books. Carved heads, some of which look to be in anguish, look out from the arches in the nave, with Biblical script which was added during the Victorian restoration cab be seen on the arches themselves.

The font is ancient and dates from the 13th century; and is octagonal with interlaced arcading; my goodness what historical events this has been witness to! In times of pandemic we note that the font here stood through the Black Death of the late 1340’s where a third to a half of the population of Europe perished. It stood through the Bubonic Plague which swept through England in 1665/66 in which around 100,000 died at a time when the population of the country was only around 5,000,000 and the Spanish flu which killed an estimated 228,000 people at a time when the country was recovering from the devastating effect of the First World War.

Finally the pulpit, which dates from the time of the Victorian restoration, has a lectern which is in the form of a beautiful female angel with long flowing hair and serene expression; wings fully unfurled with hands crossed over her chest. Exquisite!

Moving outside, the church grounds are of interest with the base of a churchyard cross and parts of the churchyard wall having their own Grade II Listing, as does the Lychgate as mentioned earlier. Two angels; weathered and covered in lichen stand over the epitaphs of a couple on a gravestone, script now illegible but looking in style to date from the late 1600’s.

An interesting carving in slate shows the hand of God reaching down from a cloud’ touching the Holy Bible, with script below reading ‘in which are contained the words for eternal life’.

Mention should be made of one finely carved slate gravestone which would date from the 18th century. This contains several memento mori symbols, designed to remind the onlooker that Man is mortal and will die.

Central is Old Father Time, who carries his scythe along with a banner which reads ‘Time flies our glory fades and death’s at hand’. This is part of a Latin verse, which is often used with memento mori artwork or symbolism. The full verse reads “What's humane life, where nothing long can stand? Time flies, our glory fades, and death's at hand" Father Time looks over at death in the form of a skeleton that carries a shovel, one of the gravedigger’s tools, and an arrow which was used to symbolise sudden death. The message to the onlooker is clear; Man is mortal and will die, be prepared as you will go the same way as the deceased and in times of low life expectancy it might be later than you think.

A similar carving in slate at Teigh in Rutland shows a person going about their daily life ready to go to bed. Death in the form of a skeleton emerges from behind a curtain, arrow in hand, ready to strike.

It was time to hit the road again; and I enjoyed my time here very much. I like this church; open and welcoming in attitude with a real community feel. Sometimes; well quite often actually! I visit a church and fear for its future. At the time of typing this in early August 2026 I attended a service this morning in a village church to the west of Peterborough which had a congregation of five’ all of who were in their 70’s or 80’s. Where will this church be in ten years? To be fair, where will it be there in five years? I have no fears of this kind for the church of St Mary Magdalene at Waltham on the Wolds which gives every impression of being a focal point of the village; well used and much loved!