Facilities and features
Accessibility
There is limited car parking in the lay-by next to the church in Church End. The access to the church is up a steep path from the highway and into the churchyard where there is now a handrail to assist people up the path. There are steps down into the church as well as steps within the church. During hours of darkness and dusk there is an automatic light triggered by movement censors to light the porch and the path. Service times that occur during the dark have additional lights on the path.
There are no toilets in this church, nor piped water. Large format common worship service books are available for services.
guide dogs for all disabilities are always welcome
Our Building
The church remains open for Private Prayer seven days a week during our normal opening hours of 9 - 4 in winter and 9 to 6 in summer (but often later). There is a prayer stand and candles can be lit from a living flame on the stand.
The building is Listed as Grade 1 (Historic England List Entry Number: 1128196) dating from the C13 although there is evidence of an earlier church. It has a complete Nave and Chancel with Priest's door, large double piscina of the C13 and a Low window from the C14. It has fragments of a C13 wallpainting in the Nave at its west end. The side aisles were demolished in the C17 and blocked in red brick. The tower is also C13 with the belfry rebuilt in the C17. The East end has a 19th Century stained glass of the 'Good Shepherd'.
The church has had a pro-active stand for ecological management since before 2000. Our paper based products we produce are all from Acid free sources and so fully recyclable. Any plastic is recycled but we try to avoid it and with rigour avoid all non recyclable plastics. Flowers used to decorate the church are from local or European sources rather than use sources that air freight them. The church uses sustainable products for its repair and maintenance and its electrical supply is 'deep green' from sustainable sources. The churchyard does not use biocides and is managed so that we can encourage wild plants that are at their best during the spring. We monitor the Swift population that nest in the church and again the churchyard is a source of a variety of birds including barn owls, green woodpecker as well as badgers, foxes, roe deer and monk jack that have all been seen along with the occasional snake and perhaps the less welcome rabbit or two!
Music and Worship
A single bell remains from a set of three and this is by John Dyer of Hitchin (1583). the Bell frame although altered is believed to be medieval with scissor bracing. The Bell-frame and the Bell are protected conservation assets. The Bell is still rung and had a new headstock fitted in 2013.
A small chamber organ possibly from the end of the C19 with painted false pipes and veneered timber case although it is dedicated to a previous organist in 1911. The maker has not yet been found although the bellows have M/M or W?W on them It is recorded on the International register of Organs
Groups, Courses and Activities
Bible study is part of the Benefice wide programme normally held during Lent at the Rectory in Orwell.
Occasional Coffee mornings occur in the Clifden Close Community Rooms. See also the Fair-trade tag below.
We engage with churches Count on Nature in the churchyard and now engage with other local groups to support greater interaction amongst the whole Arrington Community. Our churchyard working parties welcome volunteer help especially after a cut of the churchyard grassland
occurs only as a benefice facility based in Barrington church
There is a midweek Eucharist at Clifden Close once a month. This was originally aimed at those who find it difficult to reach the church but now includes a wider spectrum of ages and can accommodate various accessibility issues. The service is very informal and there are refreshments afterwards. The Clifden close community rooms are heated with comfortable chairs, toilets, good lighting and an audio system although no loop.
Help for Visitors
Free leaflets are available that describe a brief history of the Church, the Bell, the East Window, the churchyard, what the symbolism means that is used in the church and a leaflet on the wall painting is in preparation.
The church is open every day throughout the year from 9am until 4pm during the winter and 6pm and often later in the summer months. The churchyard is open at all reasonable times
Other Features
Our tea and coffee refreshments after services and at Coffee mornings are Fair-trade products, and other items such as home made biscuits and cakes are made with either Fair trade ingredients and/or organic sources. Milk is organic.
We now keep a very small stock of emergency food for this who need it and who find it difficult to get to a Foodbank (6 miles away with limited public transport) or who fall outside the requirements needed to obtain Foodbank support (eg zero hours contract workers etc). The supply is checked daily. There is no charge for the provisions. We try and avoid plastic packaging on these products and where its is used we source recyclable plastic.