Prior to 1874 the people of Wimblington
attended the 13th - 14th century St Mary's Church Doddington.
Until the middle of the 19th century Doddington Parish
included the whole of March together with the villages
of Benwick and Wimblington as well as Doddington itself,
the rector had with it an estate of 40,000 acres.
By an Act of Parliament in 1847 St Wendreda`s and Benwick
were to be separated from Doddington and a new church
was built in Benwick in 1850. A further Act in
1858 provided the framework for a complete dismantling
of Doddington Parish with the establishment of separate
parishes in Benwick, Doddington, Wimblington and four in
March.
The church at Wimblington was built at
a cost of around £4,000 by Messrs Holland and Hannen
of London, to the design of T. H. Wyatt, the architect.
The main body of the walls is brick, faced with Ancaster
rubble stone, having bands of a brown or rust-coloured
stone from Duston. The whole of the dressings and
tracery are of red-bed Farleigh Devon Stone. The
roof as originally covered with stone slating from Collyweston
quarries in Northamptonshire. The length of the
church is 95 feet and the height to the top of the steeple,
which surmounts the tower above the chancel, is rather
more than 100 feet.
The Act of Consecration and Dedication
was conducted by the Lord Bishop of Ely, The Rt. Revd. James
Russell Woodford on Friday 15 May 1874. Today the
rector is Rev. Val Fernandaz who came to this parish
in ????. Under Rev. Coggins guidance The
Friends of St Peters was formed and took on
the work of its formal predecessor The Building Fund
Committee. The Friends group is led by Mr Don Morris
as Chairman who extends a warm welcome to any one who
wishes to join the friends. In the immediate future
the group is raising funds to arrange for the church
organ to be overhauled and modernised at an estimate
cost of £4,000.00.
