Little Eversden, Cambridgeshire

St Helen has some rather surprising choir stalls in the chancel, designed by GF Brodley for the chapel at Queen's College, Cambridge they have been reset in this small church. The item that really caught my eye, though, is a painted cross that looks inspired by Stanley Spencer. Although it's not mentioned in the guide book it is by Anthony Green RA and is one of eighteen works commissioned by the CofE for the millennium exhibition in cathedrals. It shows Green and his wife with their child who died and illustrates his faith and hope in the resurrection. (His wife holds the baby's birth certificate).

ST HELEN. Nicely neglected (at the time of writing) and with a good timber porch on the N side. The porch has some traceried side openings and original cusped barge boarding. The church is mostly Dec. Chancel with reticulated tracery in the E window.W tower Perp with genuine three-light window and tower arch. - CHANCEL STALLS. High Victorian and much too heavy, in a geometrical style. They are by Bodley from the old chapel of Queen’s College, Cambridge, and obviously an early design of his.

LITTLE EVERSDEN. It has a barn and a church that have seen the centuries go by, the barn with a thatched roof longer than the church itself. For 500 years two quaint little men have looked down from the west window of the church tower, and a serious old man is looking out from under its battlements. Inside the arch stands the ancient font. The fine timbered porch is 15th century, with a doorway a century older, and in the chancel the stone seats for the priest, the piscina, and the little aumbry are all 14th century. The big stalls and the lofty arcaded panelling at the back of them come from Queens’ College Chapel, Cambridge.

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