The Stilton Group of Churches

History

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There was a church mentioned at Haddon in the Domesday Survey of 1086. It is thought that the Eastern wall of the Nave belongs to that period. The church inside is bright and welcoming, especially when sunlight streams in through the south windows. The chancel arch is a very fine piece of work, with some nice carvings on the capitals.  Arcades on the North and South sides were added in the early 13th Century.  Over the chancel there are the fragments of a 15th Century wall painting that shows a figure seated on a rainbow.

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Close to the church on the south side of the grounds are several graves from the very early 18th century, with a date of 1700 being clearly visible on two of them. Carved in a very rustic fashion, these are far removed from an elaborately carved double grave from the 1720's, which has a fabulously carved cherub above each of the deceased. Other graves date from the late 17th century, but are very worn.

 

Two ancient looking gargoyles can be seen on the south wall, with a much larger, and sadly broken, gargoyle on the north east corner.  

 

Set just off the busy A1 a few miles from Peterborough, Haddon is a small farming village.  If you enter the village from the west, down a narrow country lane, the church of St Mary gradually comes in to view, surrounded by trees and cottages. This truly is a lovely sight.

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