In late April, whilst out and about doing our usual mooching in the car, we came across a delightful village in Leicestershire called Eastwell. Travelling on Scalford Road a few miles north of Melton Mowbray, in middle England, in the late afternoon, looking for somewhere to eat. Suddenly a reddish stone church looms into view on our right. We love old churches – so after getting stuck down a country lane trying to circumnavigate the village, and a U-turn, we parked the Mysterious Times battle wagon, (Suzuki Swift!) and pulled our tired legs once more out to take a quick look. 

St Michael and all Angels church sits majestically amid its rambling grassy churchyard. The church yard is obviously old and has a number of headstones standing around in a very unordered manner. Not many though. This is not a massive urban cemetery.

The red walls of the church itself compliment through contrast, the very green grass that surrounds it. It is quite obviously a place which is loved and looked after, but it is not a church where every grass leaf is the same length, or each headstone faces the same way. There is a shambling beauty about St Michael and all Angels which reminds us that it is a working church, within a community that not only cares and uses it, but who also care about the visitors to their church. 

Many churches are kept locked nowadays when not in use, but Eastwell church has its door constantly open to visitors during the day, and what a delightful inside story it hides! 

Built in the late 1200s and added to over the centuries, as most of these buildings were, St Michael and all Angels has many interesting features to see, including an iron lectern, apparently gifted to the church around 1860. 

About a minute after we breached the church door, we were joined by a lady enquiring if we were ok, needed any information etc., or would we like a cup of tea!  The lovely Stella introduced herself as one of the wardens for the church. She beamed with pride for her ward and was quite delightful in her enthusiasm for the place. She told us a couple of great stories about clergymen from the past and explained some of the internal features of the church itself. She also thrust into our hands a copy of a very well put together pamphlet which tells the history of the church, along with some additional interesting facts and figures explaining the dates of items, what to look out for, and some of the characters who have carried out their religious trade there, including the “Spurting Bullen”, the famous “Hunting Parson”, who famously would wear his hunting boots and clothes under his vestments, and even had some of the gravestones moved to make keeping his horse’s grazing easier!

As we wandered around the outside, we found a real sense of village life; with gravestones showing the long-lived next to the very short-lived, tragedy next to long lasting marriage and hero next to villain.

This is a place well worth visiting for anyone interested in old churches, though please don’t all go at once – Eastwell has very little car parking space! The church does offer toilets in the yard though, open to visitors all the time. 

Eastwell Church is part of http://www.Ironstonechurches.org

All photos taken by Mysterious Times with permission.