13. ROOF CRISIS – A REMARKABLE SOLUTION

By 1600 the original Church roof was some 400 years old. Whether it was badly rotten, leaked badly, or actually fell in we do not know.  The complete nave roof was replaced by the present magnificent double hammer beam oak roof we still see today.  A set of initials with the date 1613 carved on it suggest that this was the date it was fitted. It is believed that the roof had been made around 1450 for Barnwell Priory in Cambridge, and transported to Willingham after the Priory was destroyed some 150 years later.  It would be fascinating to know what part the Rector, Dr William Smith played in this, as it roughly coincides with the period when he was also Vice-Chancellor of the University and Provost of King’s College.

The new second hand roof was clearly difficult to fit. You can see now how some of the stemposts hang in empty space over the clerestory windows. The sheer weight of many tons of solid oak must have presented major problems in hoisting it into position. There were no cranes, no hydraulic jacks, and no lightweight scaffolding then; it would have required a great deal of ingenuity, and not a little blood and sweat.  An indication of the enormous weight of the new roof is the outward ‘spread’ of the nave walls which followed. This too can be seen today, and only the insertion of steel rods during the 1894 restoration programme prevented the spread worsening. It is not clear whether any of the original wooden angels came with the roof in 1613.  We know that none remained by the 1890s, when most of the present angels were carved. In 1998, a detailed roof survey could come up with nothing worse than some limited deathwatch beetle infestation in parts of it, and a very small amount of wood rot.  Quite a tribute to its medieval builders.

Since becoming Lord of the Manor of Willingham in 1601, Sir Miles Sandys had been steadily enclosing more land, which had led to riots and lawsuits in the village. In 1615 he turned his attention to reclaiming the highly fertile land from under the large flooded meres. These covered a large area and supported a significant fishing industry of 10 boats. Willingham Mere, fed by Willingham Lode, was to the north west of what is now Earith Road, and covered no less than 380 acres in the winter, and even 80 acres in the summer. Auxmere, to the east, was smaller, only wet in the winter, and covered the area around what is now Queenholme Farm. Lower parts of the Parish were  frequently inundated  in the winters, but by 1650, as part of the large scale project to drain the Fens, the Bedford Level Corporation’s sluice at Earith had diverted the entire flow of the Ouse from the Old West into the New Bedford river. This stopped  the main cause of floods in Willingham. It also of course greatly increased the area of valuable fertile land for Sir Miles Sandys.

 Next time:  The Overthrow of the Monarchy