The Uplands Group of Parishes consists of Guilsborough, Hollowell, Thornby, Cold Ashby, Ravensthorpe, Cottesbrooke, Creaton and Spratton                       

Message from Reverend Caroline Burnett, the Uplands Group of Churches

Uplands Group of Parishes Office (Answerphone): 01604 743444                                

Email: uplandsgroup@btinternet.com

Message for Village Link from the Uplands Group of Churches

Many people will be aware that in the last few months we have bid farewell to Revd Allison as she moves to pastures new, to Revd Caroline as she retires from active ministry, and to both of our curates Revd Jo and Revd Cecily as they complete their training posts. It has been a real gift to us all to have such a rich variety of ministry amongst us and we wish them all well.

We are now entering a period of ‘Vacancy’ as we seek to find new ministers to come to the Uplands.

Volunteers will be beavering away to keep as much as possible going whilst we wait for a new leader. The Uplands Group of Churches website https://www.uplandsgroupchurches.org.uk has information of who to contact if there is anything you need through the church, e.g. Christenings, Weddings, Funerals or Pastoral Care etc.

We look forward to a new Rector being available to contribute to Village Link in due course.

Spires and Towers Uplands Churches in the Village Link area

St Michael & All Angels, Creaton

The church of St Michael & All Angels was once referred to as “a small and unpretending edifice” which may have been intended as a slight upon its character but it does make one want to look a bit closer, to find out that even such a church has much worth seeing and celebrating. We hope you will find the time to call in and have a look to make up your own mind.

This year is a special year as the building is celebrating 800 years of being part of the community. It is always difficult to pin an actual date on the start of a church but the first Rector, William of Creaton was appointed in 1226.

Since then, the church has seen the ups and downs of religious life in the village and in the country. As with all churches in England, prior to the Reformation, St Michael’s was Catholic. Little memory of that period remains besides a water stoup in the porch, a recess for accessing the rood screen, and two piscina for the cleaning of communion ware.

There is also little documentary evidence from this period but we do know that in addition to St Michael and the Virgin Mary, there were statues to St Christopher, St George and St John that received gifts and bequests.

Post Reformation and the Civil War saw most of the old Catholic religion swept away to be replaced with a simple interior, probably white-washed walls and no screen between the nave and the chancel. After the Restoration of the Monarchy, embellishments crept back in and large boards called tables, with the Lords Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Creed were placed upon the walls along with the royal coat-of-arms.

However, the main issues with the building was its upkeep. From the early 16th through to the 19th century records crop up about the dire state of either the floor, or the roof, or both. By the 1630s, the south porch was ruinous and consequently fell into disuse.

Inside the nave, a gallery was added, no doubt to contain a group of musicians to accompany the hymns, but also for the schoolchildren to sit, kept in check by the headteacher sitting underneath with a twelve-foot cane! Later the galleries and the old box pews were removed, as fashion and church decreed. In 1857 the South Aisle was added and the nave roof repaired (again). Despite all the additions since the Restoration, out they all went and the Victorians brought out the whitewash and laid slabs on the ground, covering, in some instances, graves.

Towards the end of the 19th century an extension was added to house the organ and the chancel was given a major makeover with the East window, altar, decor and lamps. Most of this remains to this day though the original painted walls and ceiling have gone following the chancel roof being replaced in the 1960s.

Old buildings need constant care and attention but they also need to find a home in the hearts and lives of the community. In recent years the church has received a new screen to the tower to help reduce heating costs, and a

toilet. Both are important additions to allow it to widen its appeal, to create opportunities to take it forward, as a building, and to enable it to retain its place in the history of the village.

To find out more about the history of St Michael & All Angels, a guide is available to buy in Creaton Village Shop for £3.00.