Newark upon Trent Off The Beaten Path Tips by leics

Church door.

It would be easy to miss this.

The only reason I spotted it was because I tried to get into the church through the street-facing door (access is actually at the side).

An ancient wooden door, the western entrance to st Mary Magdalene (the unmissable church in the centre of Newark).....and look how someone in the far-distant past has, very inexpertly, just sawn through it to make a smaller entrance!

I bet he didn't get any more carpentry jobs around the church! :-)

Half-and-half font

The font in St Mary Magdalene is very odd.

It dates originally from the 15th century (1400s) but was damaged during the English Civil War (1642-1649). In 1660 a local tailor, Nicholas Ridley, paid for it to be repaired.

This resulted in the figures having their original 15th century clothing on their lower halves, and typical mid-1600s clothing on their top halves.

A very strange combination!