St Peter's - Papworth Everard
Papworth Everard is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. It lies ten miles west of Cambridge and six miles south of Huntingdon, having along its centre Ermine Street, the old North Road, the Roman highway that for centuries served as a major artery from London to York, which is now the A1198. A bypass now means that most traffic can avoid Ermine Street, and it is comprehensively traffic-calmed. It is a large village with a thriving community, home to substantial light industry and local business. It was also the centre for the Papworth Trust, a charity which offers housing and training to the disabled, and Papworth Hospital, renowned in the field of cardiothoracic surgery and cardiology. It was home to the first successful heart transplant and the first total artificial heart implantation in the United Kingdom.
St Peter's church
There has almost certainly been a church on this site since Saxon times. However, little remains of the church re-built in 1352 in the later Decorated period, apart from the chancel arch with triple responds, and the north and south inner doorways. The west window served as the east window in the medieval church, and the plain octagonal font, probably painted, also belongs to the 1352 period. There is no moulding or decoration on any of these remains. A visit from the iconoclast William Dowsing in the seventeenth century saw paintings defaced in the chancel and nave. 1742 found the building in disrepair. A great wind in 1741 felled the tower, which in turn destroyed the south side of the building. St Peter was almost completely rebuilt in the 1850s by one Mr Charles Cheere. The Cheere family are commemorated throughout the church (the rector was a member of the clan for most of the 19th century) but Charles has the best spot: his chest tomb, surrounded by iron railings, sits outside the west end of the church, gazing down into the woody depths. In 1870 a new tower was also built, to replace the old west tower which fell in a hurricane in 1741. Perhaps to avoid disturbing Charles Cheere (or perhaps because the edge of the precipice is ominously close to the west end) it was built on the north side, and doubles up as a porch for the church. Families resident at Papworth Hall donated the present tower, a large bell, a clock, a spire, an organ and a lych gate. Re-roofing and re-tiling and additional church plate were given later. The church remains a very quiet lovely place till nowadays.
About the cache: it is a small lock and lock box, located out of the churchyard, easily accessible from public pathway. There is convenient parking nearby.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
To view the church micro stats page, please click here