The bells of St Wendreda’s church have not rung for almost two years after a piece of metal fell to the spire floor in 2023. Now, its vicar fears that the church, famous for its ‘heavenly host’ ceiling, could be put on an at-risk list unless £250,000 is raised to pay for its repairs.
Rev Ruth Clay discovered that metal bars in the spire of St Wendreda’s, Cambridgeshire, were corroding. Engineers estimate the damages and scaffolding needed will cost £250,000.
The church is unique – firstly in its stunning ceiling of carved angels, dating over 500 years. It is also the only church to be named after St Wendreda, an Anglo-Saxon nun. Thought to be the daughter of King Anna of the East Angles, Wendreda used her knowledge of herbs to help heal sick people and animals.
Today I fulfilled a 20-yr-long wish & went to see the double-hammer-beam roof of St Wendreda’s Church in March.
— Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) April 16, 2023
118 oak angels soar aloft in it, carved in the early 1500s, their wing feathers modelled on those of the Marsh Harriers that wd have been abundant there 500 yrs ago… pic.twitter.com/MDThOOQy55
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