Little Wymondley

St Mary the Virgin, even though being practically on the East Coast Mainline, is really rather lovely despite the expected Victorian makeover. A peculiarly truncated tower with its Herts spike - or perhaps an unusually tall nave, it's hard to tell because this is a small church - adds to the charm.

Even though it has been scrubbed almost bare I really liked this bijou church; Pevsner, however, is dismissive:

ST MARY. Chancel, nave, and only slightly higher W tower of the C15. The rest 1875.

Little Wymondley. It has two old neighbours of the centuries, the big barn and the little church. The church, set on a knoll, has an Elizabethan bell still ringing in the 15th-century tower. The nave and chancel are 15th century, and the north aisle, vestry, and south porch were added in 1875. The Hall is an early 17th-century timber-framed house with a fine group of chimneys. The barn is a grand sight, 100 feet long and 40 wide, divided into nave and aisles by rows of posts, while an elaborate framework of medieval timbers supports the tiled roof. The barn, with some 13th-century arches left in the moated farmhouse beside it, comes from the priory Cardinal Wolsey used to visit from Delamere House at Great Wymondley. Close by is the conduit head of the monks’ water supply, its medieval rubble patched with 16th-century brick. The monks were driven out and James Needham, the Clerk and Surveyor of Works, whose name is on a brass in the church, took possession and put in a few doorways that are still here, his successors adding good panelling. To the south of the church is 16th-century Wymondley Bury, with a gabled brick dovecot in its grounds. The rest of the village gathers round a 17th-century inn.

Flickr.