from early Victorian red bricks. The range, the heart of the house, was in daily use for cooking and heating until the mid-1990s. The only access to the bedrooms is by a ladder. Electricity was installed in the 1930s, and the only other visible modern innovations are the coldwater tap – installed to prevent the local council condemning the cottage in the late 1970s – and an inside toilet. The original outside privy and washhouse can still be viewed. The cottage is named after its last resident, Mrs Hilda Smith, who lived there until 1995, when she was 102 years old. When she died, villagers mounted a campaign to ensure the cottage was kept as "something special" for Navenby. Today the cottage is run as a museum, granted permission for use as such in March 2000. It is open for much of the year and staffed by volunteers. The old pig sty and storage shed, deemed beyond repair, were demolished and the bricks used to build a purpose-built visitor centre, used for exhibitions about Navenby and the locality. St Peter's Church The Grade I listed Church of England parish church in Navenby is dedicated to Saint Peter. Its parish registers survive from 1681 and Bishop's transcripts from 1562. It is difficult to date the building as it has a mishmash of styles, although its origins are probably 13th century. St Peter's is made up of three parts, including a mid-19th-century west tower, which replaced the original in 1859–60 after it fell down. The perpendicular clerestory is decorated with shields in quatrefoils and is lit with closely set three-light windows. The tall, decorated chancel has very large windows. The side windows have reticulated tracery. The large east window was partly rebuilt 1875–76, and is of six lights with two large mouchettes nodding to each other, as well as a very large reticulation unit. The sedilia and piscina are thought to date back to William de Herleston, who was rector from 1325–29. He was Edward I's chancellor and later became Canon of Llandaff. A founder's tomb, which is in a slightly different style, is probably that of his successor, John de Fenton, rector until 1332. The font is a lavish Victorian affair by Charles Kirk junior, which was shown at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. The Pulpit is Jacobean and the Rood screen by Temple Moore dates from 1910. The Royal