Radio: the joys of St Wendreda’s
The roof of St Wendreda’s Church near March in Cambridgeshire features 118 carved angels.
ALAMY, DEREK ADAMS
Harrier Angels offers a kind of cultural Venn diagram connecting nature, theology and centuries of East Anglian social history up into a single point of focus.
SIR JOHN BETJEMAN, nearly always a reference point in endeavours of this sort, once said he would cycle 40 miles into a headwind for the privilege of visiting St Wendreda’s Church near March in Cambridgeshire. Robert Macfarlane, nervous of the rush of agricultural lorries on the back country roads, ends up making the trip by car, but the effect is the same – not least the sight of a 140-foot spire looming up over the surrounding fens with a peregrine falcon perched athwart a gargoyle. Harrier Angels offers a kind of cultural Venn diagram connecting nature, theology and centuries of East Anglian social history up into a single point of focus. Macfarlane has come to view the church’s extraordinary roof, with its 118 carved angels.
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