The new church of St George is up in the centre of the village; but this ruin down on the bottom road is all that is left of a large medieval parish church. Ladbrooke's drawing (right) shows the great height of the tower, and a massive bell window to the east. This window may well have been the building's undoing, because at half past three on a warm, still afternoon that side of the tower came crashing down into the nave. Someone was inside at the time, apparently; he survived, but it must have set his pulse racing, and given him a story to tell his grandchildren.

The chancel survived, and was used until a temporary church was built up in the village. Soon after the new St George opened in 1932, the chancel here was demolished as dangerous, leaving only the incongruous 19th century vestry. It must have been an interesting church if Ladbrooke's drawing and the surviving fittings now reset at the new church are anything to go by.

The tower is entirely covered with ivy, and the two surviving corners protruding at the top make it reminscent of Jeff Koon's installation sculture Puppy - indeed, it is about the same height. Whether the ivy will eventually bring the whole structure down, or if it is actually what is holding it up, I do not know, but it is dramatic and pleasing. The graveyard is still in use.

Simon Knott, May 2006