About Us

The grade 1 listed Parish Church dates to the 12th century but there has been a place of worship on the site from 654 when St Withburga founded a community here. In the churchyard is St Withburga’s Well, the traditional site of her burial. According to tradition the well sprung up after her body was stolen. The present building took its final in around 1500. Work then began on the detached bell tower.

It contains one of the largest fonts in the county, an early screen from Oxborough church, and Tudor painted ceilings in the transepts. It is the burial place of the poet William Cowper who collaborated with John Newton in writing hymns and campaigning against the slave trade. In the churchyard is the grave of Jean de Narde, a French PoW, who was shot on escaping from the Bell Tower in 1799.

The church is open daily for peace, prayer and sanctuary and is well worth a visit.