The forgotten church of Newton-in-the-isle Cambridgeshire.

This church was my father's village church and had a few of his family in the churchyard, and I used to play in the churchyard as a child. It hasn't changed much and has that left to rot feeling. I have never been inside the building and as one chap said who lives in the house next door; they couldn't care less if it fell and that came from someone who runs this church.

There's a mixed bag of dates for St James; nave arcade 13thc but mostly of 14thc with 15thc and 19th-century alterations. Its a rubblestone with brick construction with plaster rending. The west bell tower is the 14th century with embattlement and is three built in 3 stages.

The south porch is of excellent quality even looking the worse for wear. has an outer archway of two hollow and roll-moulded orders, with each, carried on an attached shaft with moulded capital and base.

When up close, the walls are showing signs of issues, and there has been a no go area around the west tower for years, I somehow dought it will ever be repaired and will be abandoned at some point.

The east window is windowless, and it has been boarded up for many years. There are an exciting tomb chest and an old wall plaque near to the east of the church. The chest is now on the path.

The church grounds is one of the longest in the area and with the trees lining both sides, it does look rather lovely and with a splash of old headstone that's still sought after is nice to see.

The war monument is nicely placed within the churchyard, and on one frosty morning I managed to photograph the rising sun, it felt if the world was frozen in time. Now I'm no war expert, but there are two ww1 commonwealth war graves which I have walked past in the past without knowing (still learning these kinds of things). To stand in front of these graves and see the age of these young soldiers makes you think why!

Newton is just 2 miles from my home village of Leverington so get the chance to see different weather conditions. The size of the grounds lends itself to some pleasant moods, be it frost, snow or fog. I do plan to try and get in this church to see its wall paintings, but this may be harder than breaking into a bank lol.