HISTORY
The church being largely constructed of pebble and
rubble with dressing of barnack stone has required
constant attention and was extensively restored in
1870-71 when the north aisle was completely
rebuilt, much window tracery renewed, the south
porch partly rebuilt and a new font provided.
There are several features of interest, the tower and
spire being the most important and of unusual
design, only those at Grafham and Old Weston
being similar. It is of three stages, the two lowest
being square but the third, which includes the
belfry turns octagonal in its upper half. At the
angles where the change takes place arc four
pinnacles minus their tops which traditionally are
said to have blown down in the great storm of 1741
when much damage was done to buildings all over
the district, windmills being overturned and spires
destroyed. In each cardinal face is a two-light
window above which is a battlemented parapet.
The tall spire, which has a noticeable entasis, has
two sets of spire-lights and seems too big for the
tower.
In the chancel is a remarkable and beautiful double
piscina of the mid-13th century which retains two
round drains and the original wooden shelf for
holding the napkins and cruets used during the
communion service. Opposite is a curious stone
seat with shaped arms, reputed to be also of the
13th century. Its precise use is unknown and until
recently, it stood at the west end of the aisle. A
modern double screen was removed from the
chancel arch to the great improvement of the
interior and part used to form a vestry at the west
end of the north aisle. The original rood screen
disappeared long ago; its loft may have been
reached by a stair on the south side of the chancel
arch where is a tall recess. The inner order of the
arch is rebated for a wooden tympanum which
formed the background for the great Crucifix and
its attendant figures of St. Mary and §t. John, a rare
example of this kind of fitting in Huntingdonshire.
All the stained glass and furnishings are modern
but the plate includes an Elizabethan communion
cup.
Close by the south porch is the restored headstone
of Thomas Garner, the village blacksmith who died
in 1826.
THE CHURCH OF ST. MARGARETS
(ALL SAINTS) AT WYTON
All Saints' is a typical post-Reformation dedication
but there is evidence that the original dedication
was to St. Margaret. As at Houghton, there is no
trace of a Saxon church but something remains of
its Norman successor. Built into the nave walls
may be seen various stones carved with chevron
ornament and the western half of the south wall of
the chancel and much of the south wall of the nave
are thicker than elsewhere pointing to 12th century
origin. From such scant evidence as exists it would
appear the Norman church had a small chancel and
an aisleless nave extending only as far as the third
arch of the north arcade.
About the beginning of the 13th century the nave
was extended westward to its present length and a
north aisle of four bays added. There may have
been a bell turret over the western gable. A little
later the chancel appears to have been doubled in
length, the new walls being thinner than the
Norman and on the south at the junction with the
extension a priest's door was inserted. Late in the
same century a two-light window was placed in the
north wall but it seems to have been re-set in its
present position at some later date.
Towards the end of the 14th century the chancel
underwent further extensive restoration. A new
window of three-lights took the place of an earlier
one in the east wall and another smaller one was
introduced on the south side east of the priest’s
door. The chancel arch was widened and a new
south doorway to the nave inserted. The roofs were
reconstructed and a series of carved corbels which
supported that of the chancel remain.
The only later improvements before the
Reformation were the large three-light window in
the south wall of the nave about 1450 and another
west of the priest's door made at the beginning of
the 16th century.
There was apparently a chapel east of the north
aisle which opened to the chancel by an archway. It
was destroyed at some period and the archway built
up. The addition of the vestry and organ chamber
on its site in the 19th century caused the
destruction of the archway and the 14th century
window, shorn of its head, now rebuilt in the north
wall may have been part of the chapel as it was in
the infilling of the arch.
At some further unknown date a wooden tower and
spire were added at the west end of the nave and a
water colour of it hangs on the north wall of the
chancel of St. Mary’s which incidentally also
shows the nave partly unroofed and the whole
building in a sad condition. This tower was
replaced in 1846 by a brick one which had large
two-light belfry windows and a striking cross
saddle-back roof, shown in a photograph at the
County Record Office. Some 20 years later, in
1866, it was removed possibly because it was
unsafe, and the present tower and spire about which
the less said the better, were built in its place. At
this time a comprehensive restoration of the whole
building was undertaken when the north aisle was
completely rebuilt, the vestry and south porch
added, and a large four-light window inserted in the
west wall to give more light to the nave. The roofs
were reconstructed to a steep pitch and some large
and fearsome gargoyles, previously adorning the
former brick lower, were inserted in the new aisle
wall.