Visitors to St Mary and All Saints’ Church in Hampton Lovett this weekend will be able to see a specially created miniature railway in the church, complete with a scale model of the church and other landmarks which would have been seen in the local area in the 1940s.
The railway line runs right past the back of the church, so the PCC decided to make this a key focus to fit with the Heritage Open Days theme of ‘routes, networks and connections’. Alongside the model railway, visitors can learn more about the history of the church, see the repairs recently make to the tower and view some maps of the local area in the nearby parish rooms.
Churchwarden Rachel Wyatt said: “We always enjoy getting involved with the Heritage Open Day weekends. We’re on the Salt Way and the Monarch’s Way as well as having the railway at the back of church so this year’s theme worked well for us. We’ve also got quite a lot of connections to different important people for a small parish church, so we’re celebrating those too!”
The church has a memorial to Henry Hammond, Chaplain to Charles I as well as an impressive memorial to local family the Packingtons, which was sculpted by Joshua Marshall, Master Mason to King Charles II and who worked with Sir Christopher Wren.
Jerry Hartley, PCC Treasurer, said: “We’ve managed to get hold of an edition of the ‘Whole Duty of Man’, a book of guidance aimed at families which was written in secret after Charles I died. The book is mentioned in the memorial to Lady Packington who we believe had a key role in writing the text, which was hugely influential over 200 years. This will be on display over the weekend.”
The miniature railway was made completely from scratch by Martin Wyatt and Pete Lawrenson. They began back in January when the theme was announced and built it in sections so it could be transported easily.
Martin said: “As we were building the railway, we started looking at the history of the line which was built in 1851. Cutnall Green Halt station was opened in 1928 pre-empting the war when it was used by RAF Hartlebury – an RAF equipment store which employed over 1,300 people. Local people also used the station to go to school in Droitwich and one church member remembers her Dad meeting the train with a box of fresh eggs from their farm to give to the driver and guard!”
The railway model also includes Operation Starfish which was built as a decoy site during World War 2 and Martin and Pete used plans of the church to ensure that they built it exactly right. There is both a wedding and a funeral taking place!
Rachel continued: “The Lottery funding we received to repair our tower meant that we needed to tell the story of our church and engage with our community. We launched a two-year project, ‘If these walls could talk’, and the Heritage Open Days are always an important part of that. Our community work has been a lot of fun and opening our doors in this way has also meant that other people from the community have got involved to help!”
Over the weekend there will be the opportunity to have a guided tour of the tower and priest room, which has undergone significant repairs thanks to funding from the National Lottery. There is also a virtual tour set up on a screen for those who are not able to climb the steep spiral steps!
St Mary and All Saints' Church will be open 10am to 4pm on Saturday 7 September and 10am to 2pm on Sunday 8 September.
