CHATEAU EXCURSIONS Episode No. 9: In Search of Quietude: Discovering England’s Hushed Medieval Churches with Luke Sherlock, Writer and Bookshop Owner

To celebrate the launch of Chateau Orlando’s collaboration with National Churches Trust, Creative Director Luke Edward Hall asks Luke Sherlock to put together a list of his favourite churches. Sherlock, whose book Forgotten Churches: Exploring England’s Hidden Treasures Luke recently enjoyed enormously, can be found on Instagram @englishpilgrim, as can his Somerset bookshop @sherlockandpages.

Our island is home to some of the greatest wonders of medieval architecture – grandeur straining towards heaven. To the great cathedrals of Ely, Wells, Lincoln or York we may venture in search of these works of enormous might and genius. They are some of our most precious places, so central to our national story.

And yet that story is further elaborated, coloured and registered by other places. Quieter, out-of-the-way churches, sleeping in the corners of hushed parishes, awaiting discovery. It’s to these places that I’ve been increasingly drawn. I wrote my book Forgotten Churches to share this passion with like-minded individuals or to encourage others to journey out to the quiet churches which are the sleeping icons of our nation.

In light of Chateau Orlando’s collaboration with National Churches Trust, I thought I’d highlight some of these churches from across the country – buildings of calm and resonance. That said, there are just so many that rather than inspire you to map out visits to these churches alone, I hope this short piece may encourage you to get out and search for what awaits discovery nearby. Ours is a country of quiet wonders. Remember, we’re never far from somewhere of beauty and peace – even if just for a moment.

1. St Michael, Duntisbourne Rouse – Gloucestershire 

I always describe this as my favourite church. Tudor tower, Saxon nave, Norman chancel. A sloping poem to the ages falling down its gentle Cotswolds hillside. This isn’t a place of architectural fireworks. It’s a simple place. A humble place. For me, it is the England of the imagination. Here we experience continuity and the accretions of each passing generation. There is something ineffably comforting about the churchyard. More than a few times I’ve returned to commune with old St Michael’s.

A small sign marks the way to the church from the lane outside: “Saxon Church.” It’s so easily missed, pointing the way under a mossy, slated lychgate down a hedge-lined path. Beyond is sheer charm. A set only a community and its long history could have conjured. 

2. St John the Baptist, Sutterby – Lincolnshire

The Church of St John the Baptist has been in the care of the wonderfully named Friends of Friendless Churches since 1981. I was amazed to read it struggled on as a parish church until 1935. A more tucked-away place in the English countryside I can scarcely imagine. Up a nettle-guarded path I thwacked my way from the local farm. This was high summer, after all. And there it was – a low little church of Norman origins. A few flies buzzed away inside the still, cool interior. Two seats had been placed before the 19th-century screen, inviting the visitor to be still with themselves for a time in this place of solitude.

3. St Mary, Old Dilton – Wiltshire

This is a 14th-century church with a Georgian interior. Whenever I visit such Georgian interiors, I can’t help but feel as if I’m in a period drama and the cast has just disappeared off for a break. The key at Old Dilton is collected from a nearby house. What a privilege it is to be able to open up buildings of such elegance and historic value. A three-decker pulpit with canopy dominates the south wall. This central arrangement speaks of the emphasis on sermons in the 18th century. The word of God needed to be heard and understood. So whilst there is a gentility to Georgian furnishings, we shouldn’t forget that this was a time of often intense faith, nurtured in a renewed fashion.

4. St Cuthbert, Bewcastle – Cumbria

A sign nearby the church tells us that Rome is 1,141 miles away from Bewcastle. I thought it would be further. Once, of course, Rome would’ve been a lot closer – at least in a way. There was a Roman fort at Bewcastle, a scouting outpost in use from the mid-2nd century until the frontier watch was disbanded in the decades before the Roman withdrawal from Britain. It’s impossible not to think of those men who would’ve stared into open country from this, the edge of the Roman Empire.

I’d come to Bewcastle for its famous churchyard cross thought to date from the 8th century. Undoubtedly, it is one of the finest surviving Anglo-Saxon artworks in the country. Defying the elements for some 1,300 years or more, Runic inscriptions can still be made out. So far, they seem to have evaded full interpretation. Figurative interlacing, a figure of Jesus, and scrollwork referencing the Tree of Life are also to be found.

There is contentment to be found in visiting places like Bewcastle. Places that centre us in the narrative of our shared humanity, from one small vantage point.

5. St Peter, Southease – East Sussex

With its round tower, this looks like a church in East Anglia. However, the church of St Peter is one of only a handful of such buildings located elsewhere – in this case, East Sussex.

I caught the train down to Southease. This must be one of the smallest stations still in use in the south of England. What a deep romance there is to exiting a train surrounded by countryside, barely a building visible. It’s a little walk up to the village.

The round tower was added to the pre-Conquest building, but its modest proportions have been maintained. In its lush churchyard with the South Downs in the distance, the setting is a perfect slice of England. Or at least a certain idea of England. Gentle, undisturbed, restful.

Luke Sherlock is an author and bookshop owner based in Frome, Somerset. His first book Forgotten Churches: Exploring England’s Hidden Treasures was published by Frances Lincoln in March 2025. He is Chair Judge of the Wainwright Prize for Nature Writing and a Patron of the British Pilgrimage Trust.

Long Live the Hedgerows