But St Mary obviously paled in comparison with St Margaret, one of Cautley's favourite churches. And then, in 1949, St Mary paid for the lack of 19th century attention. An early jet plane broke the sound barrier while flying low above this parish, and the sonic boom sent a tremor through the tower of St Mary, causing it to collapse into the nave.

The graveyard is still maintained, the grass is cut within the ruin walls. The village war memorial sits beside the former south porch, and the wreaths on it included one from the village primary school children, which was lovely. The skeletal trees that surrounded it on the raw February day we came here will be full in leaf for summertime, and this will be a verdant, beautiful place. And, as the years pass, the ruin of St Mary will continue to soften and fade, the rugged flint going back to earth, a plot of ground that will still be a touchstone, and proper to grow wise in.