Whitlingham's Secret Church

THERE'S plenty of history on show these days for the thousands who flock to Whitlingham Country Park. From medieval times you can see the remains of Trowse Newton Hall; from the Victorian period there's the last of the lime kilns.

But as you head out on Whitlingham Lane and the start of the Wherryman's Way proper, there is a hidden gem which no-one will tell you about.

On the right hand side lie the ruins of a medieval church - St Andrew's Church, Whitlingham. The land rises steeply towards the roaring traffic of the nearby A47 and there on the top of the bank are the church's tumble-down remains.

The historians reckon it hadn’t been used since the 17th century. But its round tower survived until the mid-twentieth century. Man has put up barbed wire to keep you out; nature does the job more effectively with thousands of nettles. But look closely and you might just get a glint and a glimpse of a gothic window amid the flint and rubble.