Ivy and bramble have taken over the old Rectory at Rampton; fatal cracks run down walls that are falling apart. It was built in yellow brick under a Welsh Slate roof sometime between 1855 and 1862 – a rambling pile suited to a Rector with a large family and a bevy of servants. The Church sold it in 1982 and it opened as the Old Rectory Care Home in 1983. The Home closed in 2000 and it has been left to rot ever since. The drive alongside leads to All Saints, sitting quietly amid graves and trees. Its history goes back to around 1090, with changes and additions up to the 18th Century – it’s the only thatched church in Cambridgeshire still in ‘regular’ use. Light leaks in through a hole in the roof. There is no Rector now: Kylie Hodgins, the Priest-in-Charge, shared with Cottenham, ministers here at infrequent services. All Saints tells the story of the CoE over the past 160 years.
