Marholm and Castor I

     Saturday and a friend popped over.  It was a glorious day and we headed south of the border to Cambridgeshire to look at two remarkable churches: St Mary, Marholm and St Kyneburga, Castor.

     Marholm sits of the southern edge of the Welland valley. Its situation is very beautiful, on the southern edge of the village and over looking a wide pasture that dips down to a small stream lined with willows. The church is small and low, and there cedar trees in the churchyard.  It really is idyllic.  The tower is late Norman, short, blunt and austere.  The chancel, grand and very fine late Perp commissioned by Sir William Fitzwilliam and completed by 1534; the nave between has a Perp clerestory and Victorian aisles.  However, lovely though the architecture is, what makes the church is the connection to the Fitzwilliams at nearby Milton Hall, for this is an estate church and is, as one would expect, immaculately cared for.  It also explains why the church is usually locked - to protect the Fitzwilliam tombs.  Another visit is in order, when there is time to spare to get the key.