Wentworth, Cambridgeshire

St Peter, locked, keyholders listed [but they were both out], is a rather pretty building but I didn't feel it likely that I'd missed much by not gaining entry.

ST PETER. Norman S and N doorways. The S doorway has twisted colonnettes (cf. Ely), the N doorway plain colonnettes with scalloped capitals and a lintel on two cusps. E.E. chancel with lancet windows and plain Double Piscina. C14 W tower (see the tower arch) with diagonal buttresses, lancer windows and battlements. The nave was rebuilt in 1868, and the S porch added. - ROOD SCREEN. Tracery from a mid C14 screen with broad vesica motifs turning ogee at top and bottom. - SCULPTURE. Standing Norman figure of a priest with a book and an aspersorium(?). Relief under arch with twisted shafts and architectural motifs above - in imitation of book illustrations or ivories.

WENTWORTH. As we go from Sutton to Ely it is worth while turning aside to the small church of modest little Wentworth, for it has something to show of the four best building centuries in our history, from the 12th to the 15th. Its church has still the two doorways through which the Normans came, a fragment of Norman carving in an outer wall, and indoors a wonderfully preserved piece of sculpture which is a veritable treasure. It is set in the chancel and shows a monk in a simple robe holding a book in one hand and in the other something like a great key. He stands under a round arch on carved pillars, and in the background is a quaint castle with little windows and pointed roofs. He is evidently meant for St Peter. The chancel, except for its modern arch, is 13th century; in the arch is an oak screen with fragments of the medieval screen worked into it. We noticed that Richard Wakeling was rector here for 55 years to the end of the 18th century.

Flickr.