Little Raveley / Parva Ravele / Raefflea / Rafflea / Raffley / Raffleya / Rauesle / Ravele Minor / Reflea / Roflea / Rorflea

Image copyright © Jonathan Billinger, 2008

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Results: 1 records

view of church exterior - south view

Scene Description: the former church; a private dwelling since 1975 [cf. FontNotes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Jonathan Billinger, 2008

Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 July 2008 by Jonathan Billinger [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/892240] [accessed 23 April 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

INFORMATION

FontID: 18005RAV
Museum and Inventory Number: In the Peterborough Museum since ca. 1975
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. James [deconsecrated -- now a private residence]
Church Patron Saints: St. James
Church Location: Wood Lane, Upwood, Cambridgeshire PE28 2NF
Country Name: England
Location: Cambridgeshire, East
Directions to Site: Located 6 km SW of Ramsey, 11 km NNE of Huntingdon
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Ely [formerly in the Diocese of Lincoln]
Historical Region: formerly in Huntingdonshire -- Hundred of Hurstingstone
Font Location in Church: In a museum since 1975 [cf. FontNotes]
Century and Period: 15th century, Perpendicular
Church Notes: this church was deconsecrated and turned into a private residence ca. 1975. The former church was again 'for sale': "The church was deconsecrated in 1975, but it wasn't until ten years later that work started to transform it into a home. Even then, the conversion stalled, and only when the current owner took it on in 1994, was justice done to this beautiful building. I was immediately captivated by its powerful ambience and walking in for the first time I could envisage a layout which would create a stunning home, says the owner. The church is so old it was built before stain glass windows were widely used and the belfry is simple too, being constructed at a time ahead of towers and steeples. The large leaded glass windows throw a huge amount of light into the church in addition to the new windows installed in the belfry. The lounge with its magnificent vaulted ceiling is in the original chancel. The rooms in the nave are over three floors. The kitchen/dining room and one bedroom are downstairs and three other bedrooms are on the first and second floors. All the bedrooms are en-suite. When I bought the church it had been totally stripped of its religious artefacts, including the font, which is now in Peterborough Museum, explains the owner." The posted sale price was £395,000 [www.localpropertyindex.com/UK/10453716/] [accessed 23 April 2012]
The Victoria County History (Huntingdon, vol. 2, 1932) notes: "Little Raveley was a chapelry subordinate to Wistow [...] until Wistow obtained parochial rights in 1351 [...] The chapel is first mentioned in the bull of Pope Alexander in 1178. [...] It is uncertain when it first acquired the parochial rights of baptism, marriage and burial, but the font is of the 15th century and the parish registers go back to 1576. [...] The chancel was probably built c. 1230 [...] The 15th-century font has an octagonal bowl with carved figures on the splayed under-edge, plain octagonal stem and base. The date 1377 is scratched upon the bowl." [NB: the church was de-consecrated in 1975 and turned into a private reseidence; the font is said to have been moved to the Peterborough Museum ***TO BE CONFIRMED***]. The VCH entry for Great Raveley (ibid.) notes: "There is a tradition of a church at Great Raveley, but the only evidence of it is an entry in the King's Books of Henry VIII that a church had here been destroyed. Nothing has been found in support of this statement, and Great Raveley appears to have been always served by the chapelry of Upwood".

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.403158, -0.155358
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 24′ 11.37″ N, 0° 9′ 19.29″ W
UTM: 30U 693507 5809688

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2012-04-23 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2012-04-23 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.