St John’s Church, Waberthwaite: a tiny church and a remote Cumbrian village you have probably never heard of!
St John’s lies on the banks of the River Esk on the West Cumbrian coast and has a story to tell. It is one of Betjeman’s churches “worth bicycling twelve miles against the wind to see.”
This small, rural community is committed to preserving a building which has been described as a “hidden gem”, uncovering its history and sharing both with more people.…………
In John Betjeman’s Guide to English Parish Churches (Harper Collins’ edition), St John’s is described in this way. ”Some 15th century windows, Norman font, pulpit of 1630, and Saxon crosses. There is a beautiful view of Lake mountains and Scafell from the churchyard, which thrusts out into the very sands of the Esk estuary – the strangest, most remote little church.” One of the special things about St John’s is its sense of peace – it is one of the world’s “thin places” where the temporal and spiritual seem very close. A recent visitor described it as “heart-stoppingly relevant in a noisy world”. We know there was worship on the site long before the present stone church was built, as evidenced by both Anglian and Viking cross fragments.
The church was re-ordered in 1807, but has had little alteration since. The Georgian Society describes it as follows: “the overall impression gained when entering the church today is of a remarkably complete c1800 interior. It must be regarded as being of considerable regional, if not national significance”. A recent report by a visiting expert recognised the importance of the pulpit (originally a triple-decker). “It is of great significance from a furniture history point of view and is the only surviving example of a carved vernacular pulpit in Cumberland known to me”.
Sadly, the church is now on the At Risk register because of the deterioration of the fabric due to damp.
To safeguard our heritage we need to:
- remove the cement render and modern plaster, and return to traditional building techniques
- repair and restore the wall panelling and box pews
- discover more about the wall painting under the plaster
- display the ninth century Anglian Cross piece
We know that just sorting out the damp will cost over £120000. There are organisations who will give us grant-funding, but the stumbling block is that most require us to have matched funding of up to 50% , As a village of 200 people in such an isolated and remote area, this is a real challenge. What we are working towards now is creating a “war-chest” to enable us to apply for those grants and start the work.
If you would like to find out more, would like to visit the church or would like to support this project please use the following links: (search for St John’s Church Waberthwaite or St John’s Waberthwaite Heritage Project)
You can also contact Catherine Winzor at Old School, Waberthwaite LA19 5YJ or email cmwinzor@btinternet.com to find out more about us or to ask for regular updates on our progress.
Thank you so much
Catherine (churchwarden and chair of the Heritage Group).