The notice board says that it is often open in the summer and lists a keyholder for when it isn't.
ST MICHAEL. Little of interest externally, except for the bellcote, which, with the tall lancet window below, is, it seems, of the C13. Inside fine Norman chancel arch with strong shafts, capitals with beaded interlace, arches with fat rolls. The date probably c.1130. S arcade of c.1200. Two bays, circular pier, simple moulded capital, square abacus, double-chamfered round arches. A little later the S chapel. One bay, semi-octagonal responds, pointed double-chamfered arch. - SCULPTURE. Recumbent Lion, Norman. The back shows that this carried a shaft originally. It was thus probably connected with a portal of the type of the Prior’s Door at Ely. Columns on recumbent lions are a North Italian Romanesque motif. - PLATE. Beaker, c.1650 (imitation of the foreign beaker at Upton).
SUTTON. It is a small village between the road to Peterborough and the River Nene, and has a little Norman church with tall lime trees lining a narrow lane on one side, and the low walls and dark stone roofs of a farm bordering the churchyard on the other. Two terrifying gargoyles on the church wall have been looking northwards for centuries, and many heads keep them company on the ancient mouldings of the windows.
The solid Norman masonry remains in both nave and chancel, and two round arches on massive columns separate the nave from a very narrow south aisle with two tiny 15th century windows. There is Norman carving of great beauty on the capitals of the chancel arch, interlacing bands winding about with freedom and grace, two of them emerging from the mouth of a staring face. Another Norman arch leads from the chancel into the south chapel, which has been rebuilt. Eight medieval stone heads support the wallposts of the refashioned roof of the nave, which is still lit by six 14th century windows of the clerestory, all with deep splays indicating that they replaced Norman windows 600 years ago. From the same age comes the font.
Near the south doorway we found a lion carved on a pedestal lying with its wavy tail raised along its back; three feet high, the stone appears to have been the sidepost of a flight of steps. On the wall above it hangs a banner of which the village must be proud, for it is a banner used by the Cameron Highlanders for 60 years, and given by the regiment to Sutton in memory of Colonel Graeme who fell at Loos in 1916. The banner is blue, with the Union Jack in the corner a silver wreath round a crown and thistle in the centre. With it on the wall hangs a wooden cross from the colonel’s grave in France.
The solid Norman masonry remains in both nave and chancel, and two round arches on massive columns separate the nave from a very narrow south aisle with two tiny 15th century windows. There is Norman carving of great beauty on the capitals of the chancel arch, interlacing bands winding about with freedom and grace, two of them emerging from the mouth of a staring face. Another Norman arch leads from the chancel into the south chapel, which has been rebuilt. Eight medieval stone heads support the wallposts of the refashioned roof of the nave, which is still lit by six 14th century windows of the clerestory, all with deep splays indicating that they replaced Norman windows 600 years ago. From the same age comes the font.
Near the south doorway we found a lion carved on a pedestal lying with its wavy tail raised along its back; three feet high, the stone appears to have been the sidepost of a flight of steps. On the wall above it hangs a banner of which the village must be proud, for it is a banner used by the Cameron Highlanders for 60 years, and given by the regiment to Sutton in memory of Colonel Graeme who fell at Loos in 1916. The banner is blue, with the Union Jack in the corner a silver wreath round a crown and thistle in the centre. With it on the wall hangs a wooden cross from the colonel’s grave in France.
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