AS part of the Festival of British Archaeology, a rarely used church will be transformed into a Tudor showpiece open to the public.

The Churches Conservation Trust is opening Grade 1 Listed St Werburgh’s Old Church, Warburton, this Saturday and Sunday, between noon and 5pm.

The Linton Ensemble will play period instruments in costume and visitors can hear about the fascinating history of the church, of Wiigsey Lane, with guided tours.

St Werburgh’s is one of just 27 surviving timber-framed churches in the UK, and dates back around a thousand years.

“Inside there are roughly shaped timber uprights divide the aisles and support the roof beams, still looking very much like the tree-trunks they once were,” said CCT spokeswoman Helen Swift.

“While the interior is entirely of timber, the exterior walls have been rebuilt at various times, in stone in 1645, then some in brick in 1711, when the tower and the little hearse house were added.

“The pulpit and communion rails are fine Jacobean woodwork, and the pews date from 1813, though they look earlier. In fact an 18th century plan shows them arranged very much as they are today. The 12th century stone coffins in the church may have been for the priors of a nearby monastery.”