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Unlike its sister church of the same name in Little Abington, St Mary's was locked, with no information about keyholders. That was rather annoying, since a peek through the chancel windows revealed a nicely jumbled set of windows in the chancel and a gentleman reclining on a big tomb. Nevertheless, we had a stomp around the outside.
The situation is lovely - right in the middle of fields and the water meadows of the upper Granta - and the entry to the churchyard is through an arch formed by two big yew trees.
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From the outside, the north wall was almost a primer of the development of medieval English architecture. I counted windows from almost the whole gamut of periods from Transitional through to late Perpendicular. There were also some nice Early English lancets on the west face of the tower.
Dowsing was here in 1643 when he and his zealots 'brake 40 superstitious pictures, 2 crucifixes, and [gave orders for] a cross on the steple to be taken down, and the steps to be levelled by Mr. Mihill Dalton of Wrat'. Nonetheless, if I get back and find a way of getting inside, I expect there'll be things left to write about - maybe Mr. Mihill Dalton of Wrat is buried here?
St Mary was locked when we visited, with no keyholder information