St George's Church, Little Thetford, is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in the village of

Little Thetford Little Thetford is a small village in the civil parishes in England, civil parish of Thetford, Cambridgeshire, Thetford, south of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. The village is built on a boul ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England.

History

St. George's Church is a 14th-century stone building with slate roof. In 1751 it was recorded as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

attached to

Stretham Stretham Locally, the is a glottal stop: or even is a village and civil parish south-south-west of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely in Cambridgeshire, England, about by road from London. Its main attraction is Stretham Old Engine, a steam engine, ...

served by the rector there. The roof was

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

until 1863, when the church was heavily restored. In 1886, it was struck by lightning and required extensive rebuilding. Today, the church consists of a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, north

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

, and south

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

. The 14th-century octagonal bowl

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

still has an original lead lining. St. George's Church, a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, is part of the Ely Team Ministry. The complete registers start in 1654 and are kept at the Cambridge Records Office.A transcript of the Little Thetford parish registers are maintained on-line on th
local village web site
/ref>

Architecture

Exterior

The previously thatched roof has been plain tiles since the extensive restorations of 1863. The east gable of the nave, rebuilt in 1665, is of narrow local brick. The 19th-century west gable end has a gabled double

bellcote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

with two-centred arches and one bell installed. The 19th-century west window has three

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture, Pagan and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with f ...

lights. The North and South walls of the nave have, in each wall, one window of three cinquefoil lights in ogee arches and square head. The clunch tracery and the mullion and architrave are of limestone, which may indicate they are part of an earlier restoration. The gabled, brick and rubblestone north porch is 19th century. The chancel has in the north wall two windows, each of two cinquefoil lights in four centred arch. The restored east window has three cinquefoil lights and has an original label with mask stops. The windows in the south wall were restored c. 1980.

Interior

In a survey recorded in 1751, two bells were noted in the west end and the nave and chancel were thatched. The present single bell, marked " chapel of Ely house, London", is dated 1769. The 19th-century roof is of collar rafter type. The two centred chancel arch, 19th century, have two moulded orders, the inner on engaged colonnettes. The 1980 vestry conversion included toilet, refreshment facilities and improved access for the disabled.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Little Thetford, Saint George Grade II* listed churches in Cambridgeshire 19th-century Church of England church buildings 14th-century church buildings in England English Gothic architecture in Cambridgeshire Church of England church buildings in Cambridgeshire