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27th March 2018

2018: The Year of Northamptonshire Churches
The Earl Spencer and Revd Richard Coles launch celebration of
Northamptonshire’s rich collection of historic churches

Embargoed until 27th March 2018

A year of celebration of Northamptonshire’s historic churches will be launched on 27th March at St Mary’s, Great Brington by The Earl Spencer, The Reverend Richard Coles, Simon Jenkins, James Lowther and James Miller, Deputy Lieutenants of Northamptonshire.

2018: The Year of Northamptonshire Churches is organised by The Northamptonshire Britain’s Best Surprise campaign, an initiative launched in 2017 to promote the county’s significant tourism offering and to strengthen the local visitor economy and communities. Its Year of Churches builds on last year’s hugely successful focus on historic houses, which attracted increased visitor numbers to historic houses countywide against a backdrop of declining numbers elsewhere in the country.

From Brixworth, the largest remaining 9th century church of its type in Europe, to Ninian Comper’s 20th century masterpiece of St Mary’s Wellingborough, Northamptonshire boasts some of the most glorious churches in England in every architectural style: gothic, baroque, renaissance and Victorian. Its churches are also rich in history. Royal Fotheringhay is associated with Richard lll and Mary, Queen of Scots. Great Brington is linked to George Washington and the Spencer family, and Ashby St Ledgers with the Gunpowder Plot.

2018: The Year of Northamptonshire Churches will put the county’s churches firmly on the map and inspire both local people and visitors to discover their beauty and diversity. It will also create a lasting legacy in the form of a website www.northamptonshiresurprise.com containing an online treasury of beautifully written descriptions for 100 churches, visitor information, details of worship and services, and it is hoped that more volunteers will be recruited to help care for the county’s churches over the longer term.

Allchurches Trust, one of the UK’s largest grant-making trusts, is a principal funder of 2018: The Year of Northamptonshire Churches. Allchurches’ Chairman, Sir Philip Mawer, said: “We salute this project for bringing so many different sectors of Northamptonshire life together to promote the county’s churches. Civic and religious leaders, art historians, tourism experts and local communities: all these people know how special these churches are. We’re glad to be helping them open their doors to the wider world.”

James Miller, Deputy Lieutenant of Northamptonshire and the author of the 100 detailed descriptions on the website, said: “If such churches were in Tuscany, tourists would beat a track to their doors. Do Dan Brown fans know that there’s a Templar church in Northamptonshire? Britain is the only country in the world that has churches filled with wonderfully sculpted memorials and monuments and Northamptonshire’s churches contain a particularly rich sculptural legacy. These range from Roubiliac masterpieces at Warkton to Henry Moore’s work at St Matthew’s in Northampton. Lowick is a prime example with gothic, renaissance and baroque tombs. Even Coco the Clown is commemorated at Wood Newton!”

The Revd Richard Coles, Vicar of Finedon and BBC Radio presenter, said: “Northamptonshire, traditionally the county of squires and spires, may be low on squires nowadays (though there are a few), but its spires endure, the finest in England, from the showpieces of Kings Sutton and Higham Ferrers to the solid broaches of Ringstead and Broughton. The towers aren't bad either, think of Earls Barton's Saxon strapwork and Titchmarsh's perpendicular splendour. And the churches they dignify are stuffed with treasures, from the Greene tombs at Lowick to the soaring neo Gothic of Comper at Wellingborough. As the temporary custodian of one of the county's finest churches I commend them all, in their variety and loveliness.”

Simon Jenkins, author of the best-selling England’s Thousand Best Churches and a Trustee of the Churches Conservation Trust, said: “Northamptonshire's churches are among the finest in the land. They are its greatest public gallery of art and architecture. They embody its history down the ages. Churches are the visual focus of every settlement and the social focus of every community. They are infinitely precious, and infinitely lovely. We should all enjoy them, and we should protect and save them.”

The Earl Spencer, author, print journalist, and broadcaster, said: “Northamptonshire is a gem of a county, with a rich heritage that, frankly, demands to be celebrated. The array of great houses has long been a thing of wonder, one 19th century traveller noting that ‘country seats and villas are to be seen at every step’. Similarly, the glorious churches scattered through Northamptonshire are a match for anywhere in England. As a man who is so proud of this underappreciated county I think it’s fantastic that all these amazing buildings are now being enthusiastically presented to the outside world as ’must see’ destinations. It’s a genuinely exciting development, and it is one that has my full support.”

Rev. Stephen Trott, Rural Dean of Brixworth, said: “The more these extraordinary places are visited, the more visitors discover a place ‘where prayer has been valid’ - a place where it is still right to pray, to worship, and to experience the presence of God, either alone or in company with a congregation celebrating God’s goodness. The building itself provides a bridge between the secular outside and the sacred within”.

James Lowther, former Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi and Chairman of M&C Saatchi, said: “Last year we showed that our Historic Houses are the finest in the country. This year, we demonstrate, beyond contradiction, that our Churches are equally extraordinary and exceptional.  And we’ve only just begun. We will continue to reveal our hidden treasures, until no-one is in any doubt that Northamptonshire is a jewel in the country’s crown that cannot be missed. Truly Britain’s Best Surprise!”

ENDS

For further information please contact Kate Dent at [email protected]

Notes to Editors

1.    Easy to reach one hour north of London, Northamptonshire welcomes 20 million visitors each year.

2.    These visitors spend around £1 billion in the local economy and support almost 14,000 jobs. 

3.    This past year, since launching the Northamptonshire Surprise campaign, Northamptonshire has seen an increase in the numbers of visitors to its historic houses; this is against a backdrop of declining numbers elsewhere in the country. Northamptonshire is back on the map.

4.    New for 2018: The Northamptonshire Surprise site www.northamptonshiresurprise.com now enables visitors to quickly find out where the county’s 100 best churches are; what they have to offer in terms of history, architecture and art; when they are open; how to find them; and what else there is to visit nearby. Visitors will also find a range of trails such as best sculpture, best views, best organs, best stained glass. They will discover where you can encounter George Washington’s great-great-great grandfather or where Charles I knelt to pray. Surprisingly only a couple of miles apart.

5.    Logo, Images & film link attached

Why is Northamptonshire Britain’s Best Surprise?

Of course, there’s the stunning countryside, with its country parks, world class gardens, the Nene and Welland rivers and Grand Union canal. In this countryside sit the most magnificent historic houses in the country as well as some of the best Anglo Saxon, Norman & Gothic churches anywhere. It contains the birth place of Richard III, was the scene of Mary Queen of Scot’s execution, the cradle of The Gunpowder Plot, the place of Charles I’s imprisonment, as well as the Civil war battle that put him there, Naseby…arguably Britain’s most important battle. 

But most surprising is that amongst all this beauty and history sits a very 21st century county. The place where 80% of the world’s F1 cars are built and the Grand Prix is held, where some of the country’s best artisan food and drink is made, and where the award winning Royal & Derngate produces some of the country’s best theatre.  The place that makes the most prestigious shoes is also the inspiration for the international hit film and musical, Kinky Boots, returning to the county in September.

To enjoy all this you can stay in luxurious 16th century hotels or enchanting B&Bs and also enjoy a series of established food and literary festivals at Althorp, The Nene Valley Festival and Oundle Music Festival as well enjoy great sport at Silverstone, Rockingham Speedway, Adrenaline Alley, The Saints, Steelbacks and The Cobblers.

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