St Mary & All Saints
Willingham, Cambridgeshire
The Fenland village of Willingham owes its exceptionally interesting church partly to its location on a medieval processional route.
Dating back to 1254, the church was under the patronage of Ramsey Abbey, and no expense was spared in its construction of the finest Barnack stone.
The exterior is a gallery of wonderful carving, from the Perpendicular west doorway, with its figure of the Virgin Mary, to the many extravagant gargoyles and other heads. The spacious south porch, with its twin pinnacles, and four windows at the sides, makes a spectacular prelude to the mainly 14th century interior, where there is much to enjoy, from the grand, well proportioned structure to the detail of yet more fine detailed carving, in both stone and wood.
There are wonderful misericords in the choir stalls, and a Jacobean pulpit with its lofty onion domed tester.