Black 35mm pot
The church can be seen just a hundred yards to the north.
Doddington is now something of a backwater, bypassed to the east by the busy A141 from Chatteris to March. Once upon a time, though, this was one of the principal centres of population in the Isle of Ely, sitting as it does on one of the few ridges in this part of the fens.
In 970, when the abbey at Ely was restored after having been destroyed by the Vikings a century earlier, Doddington was one of the manors with which the new foundation was endowed. It is mentioned at Domesday, and the bishops of Ely even had a palace here. (For the inhabitants, incidentally, this was more of a nuisance than anything else, since they were under an obligation, if ordered, to ferry the bishop to one of his neighbouring manors. Not too much of a bother if he wanted to go to Downham, which is about five miles to the south-east, but really rather awkward if he wants to be taken the twelve or so miles down to Willingham).
The combination of a decent population and extreme isolation meant that the medieval parish of Doddington was one of the largest in England, covering nearly thirty-eight thousand acres. This included other little settlements on the same ridge, such as Benwick and March, and these were eventually separated off as distinct parishes in 1847, leaving Doddington itself with a much shrunken territory.
All of this implies that there must have been a Saxon church in Doddington, once upon a time. What we see now though is rather younger. The oldest parts of the church were started in the middle of the 13th century: part of the north aisle dates from then, as does the basic structure of the chancel. About a hundred years later there was a big reconstruction in which the nave arcades, the tower, the south aisle and the western end of the north aisle were built. The fifteenth century added a south porch, and fitted out the chancel with some very nice tall three-light Perpendicular windows.
From the outside, this pleasing spread of periods makes St Mary look rather promising. The tower has a sweet little stumpy spire, and is clasped by the aisles on its north and south faces. The windows are all a bit uniform (though the chancel windows did look quite exciting), but there is an interest canopy over the priest’s door: a small steeply pitched stone gable, held up by corbels carved into interesting shapes, including a fine monkey.
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