St Margaret’s in Saxlingham hosts On A Wing and A Prayer

A touring multimedia art project, celebrating the long-standing connection between bats and churches, is being displayed at St Margaret’s in Saxlingham, near Holt. 

Entitled On A Wing and A Prayer, the project has been created to celebrate the relationship. 

Inside the church (Image: Bats In Churches)

The north Norfolk church is already home to a large colony of Natterer’s and has created its own bat loft to house the mammals.  

The aim is to help church communities find ways of coexisting in harmony with their resident bats. 

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Created by a professional artist and Bats in Churches volunteer Ilene Sterns, On A Wing and A Prayer is an immersive and multi-layered artwork set to recordings of bats inside churches, slowed down to be audible to the human ear.  

Ms Sterns said: “As an artist I have always found inspiration in nature and history. And as a Bats in Churches volunteer I have spent many hours marvelling at the remarkable winged mammals that make these ancient buildings their homes." 

Natterer's bat in a gloved hand (Image: Submitted)

The artwork was unveiled at the church of St Michael the Archangel in Compton Martin, Somerset, in October 2022.  

It has also been on display in Norfolk previously at St Peter in Walpole St Peter, near King’s Lynn. 

The art installation has been commissioned by Bats in Churches - a £5m five-year partnership between Natural England, Bat Conservation Trust, the Church of England, Churches Conservation Trust and Historic England - funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The artwork will commemorate the project after it concludes in 2023 and will be on display at St Margaret’s till Wednesday, May 17.