St Etheldreda

Moving to a new area means searching for a church with an 8 o'clock service. Luckily, a very conspicuous church at the top of the hill in Old Hatfield obliged. St Etheldreda was a 7th-century Saxon princess who founded an abbey in Ely. The bishops of Ely apparently owned the land when a church was established here in the 13th century, so it seems fitting that the church would share the abbey's patron saint.

The porch shown is the one we enter through to attend the service. Although the tractor, has since been removed, the interior shown in the 1960 photograph marking the harvest festival captures the essence of the nave, even today.

Although not visible from the nave, one distinctive feature of the church is the tomb of Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury. Cecil was given Hatfield House (more about that in another blog) by James I. The tomb has a remarkable full-sized memento mori parallel to and beneath the effigy above. The tomb was originally outside the church, but Cecil's son had the side chapel built around the tomb to bring it indoors. The chapel is much more ornate than the rest of the building.

Another distinctive feature, St Eltheldreda's bells regularly infuse themselves into our lives and into the lives of our neighbours. In addition to ringing in joyous celebration at weddings and at Sunday masses (10, not 8 …apparently we 8-o-clockers are a less joyous lot), the ringers practice their various peals most Thursday nights at 8. It is a wonderful vast timbre that blankets the hill and beyond.

Photo Credits

Tower from the yard: Wikimedia Commons
Porch: Vicky's Vibes
Tractor: Diomedia
Tomb: Svetlana and Olaf Lange