Sir Robert Shirley built this church in 1653, at the height of the Commonwealth, as a defiant Royalist gesture when almost no new churches were going up at all. He died in the Tower of London a few years later, aged 27. The Gothic building survives complete, with its original panelling and painted ceiling, and stands beside the hall and lake in parkland now cared for by the National Trust. Open to visitors; Willington station is about 12km to the north-west.
© Brian Deegan / Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
