St Mary's Church, Chesham facts for kids
St. Mary's Church is a very old and important church in Chesham, Buckinghamshire. It's so special that it's a Grade I listed building, meaning it's one of the most important historic buildings in England. The church was built on the site of an even older Bronze Age stone circle made of unique local stones called puddingstones. Some parts of the church building are from the 12th century, which is over 800 years ago! Over time, it was changed and updated in the 15th and 17th centuries, so it's a mix of different English Gothic styles.
For a long time, the church had problems with its structure because of new parts added to the tower and many burials around it. In the 1860s, a famous architect named George Gilbert Scott helped make it strong again. Later, in the 20th century, Robert Potter also worked on it. St. Mary's Church used to be part of a very large area called a parish and even had two vicars (church leaders) at one point! Today, it serves a large community in Chesham.
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Chesham's Story and St. Mary's
Chesham is a town in Buckinghamshire with about 20,000 people. It's located in the beautiful Chiltern Hills, not too far from London. People have lived in this area for a very long time. We know this from old tools and signs of farming found from the Mesolithic (around 8000 BC), Neolithic (around 2500 BC), and Bronze Age (around 1800 BC) periods. During the Bronze Age, a stone circle was built here using those special puddingstones. Later, the Romans lived nearby, and then the Anglo-Saxons settled here in the 7th century AD.
The first time Chesham was written about was in 970 AD. The Domesday Book in 1086, which was like a big survey of England, also mentioned Chesham.
Like many places in England, Chesham had religious disagreements in the 1500s and 1600s. In 1532, a man named Thomas Harding was sadly executed in the town for his beliefs. From the 1600s, Chesham became a place where people who didn't agree with the main Church of England, called dissenters, gathered. Different groups like Baptists and Quakers started their own chapels here.
The oldest part of Chesham is called Chesham Old Town. It was the main center until the late 1800s. In 1889, the Metropolitan Railway (a train line) reached Chesham, and a new train station opened. This led to a "new town" growing between the station and the Old Town. Because of this, the Old Town kept its old buildings and look, which is why it's still so historic today.
How St. Mary's Church Was Built
Since there was a stone circle here, people likely used this spot as a special place for worship even before the church. While we don't have proof of a wooden church before the Normans, it's very possible one existed. The first time a church in Chesham was mentioned in official records was in 1153. This suggests the church was already standing. In 1257, the church was likely dedicated to Mary, as a fair was allowed to be held on "the eve, the day and the morrow of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary."
The church is built on the ancient Bronze Age puddingstone circle. These stones were actually used in the church's foundations! The church is mostly made of knapped flint (a type of stone) with limestone details. It has a shape like a cross. Inside, it has a main area called a nave, side sections called aisles, and two arms called transepts. There's also a south porch with a fancy arched ceiling. The church has a square tower with a tall, thin wooden spire covered in lead. Even though most of the church looks Gothic, a 12th-century window shows that parts of it were built in the older Romanesque style.
The church is about 35 meters long and 16 meters wide. The main part of the church, the nave, is about 20 meters long. In the early 1200s, the side aisles and the arches inside the nave were added. These arches have a unique design that even experts find "baffling"! Over the years, more changes were made, like widening the tower arches and rebuilding the chancel (the area around the altar) in the 1370s.
Changes in the 1400s and 1600s
In the 1400s, the church got a new upper level of windows called a clerestory in the nave. A two-story south porch was also added. These changes meant moving a door and building a new western wall with a large window and door. Stained glass windows were put in, but only small pieces of the old ones remain today. The porch had a staircase leading to a room above, where local stories say Thomas Harding was held before his execution in 1532. The porch also has a very old holy water basin from the late 1300s that is still there.
The stone tower was finished in the 1400s, but we don't know exactly when the spire was added. The church had a set of five bells by the 1500s. One bell, made around 1450, is still used today and is very historically important!
After the Reformation in the 1500s, many churches, including St. Mary's, needed repairs. The main door of St. Mary's was even damaged during the Civil War, and you can still see bullet holes! In 1606, the church was renovated. Two bells were remade, new pews (church benches) were installed, and a new gallery (a balcony for seating) was built along the south side. In the 1700s, two more galleries were added: one for "maids and maidservants" and another for the church's musicians.
Big Changes in the 1800s
For a long time, the church tower was weak. Adding heavy bells and the spire made it worse. Also, many burials inside and around the church further weakened the ground. By the 1700s, parts of the church had to be blocked off to try and strengthen it. Even iron bands were wrapped around the tower, but they broke! By the 1800s, big cracks appeared, which were just filled with bricks and covered up.
By 1867, the church was in serious trouble. George Gilbert Scott, a very famous architect who designed important buildings like the Foreign Office and St. Pancras Station in London, was chosen to fix it. Scott loved the Gothic Revival style and wanted to make St. Mary's look more like its original Gothic design.
Scott removed the galleries, the old high pews, and the three-level pulpit. He made the tower strong again and fixed the outside of the church. The chancel was restored to its original shape and got a beautiful new east window with stained glass showing Faith, Hope, and Charity. New wooden pews and a Gothic-style pulpit were installed.
The north transept, which used to be a storage room, was used for the church's organ. The south transept, which was a private burial place for the Cavendish family and walled off, was opened up to the rest of the church. In 1890, Cambridge Chimes were added to the tower clock to celebrate Queen Victoria's 60 years on the throne.
Modern Updates in the 1900s
Scott's work made the church stable for over 130 years. Some smaller changes happened, like new stained glass windows in memory of a soldier and a large mural painted over the chancel arch showing scenes from Holy Week set in the local Chilterns area. In 1951, the church was officially given its Grade A listed status.
By the 1990s, the church's inside layout was not practical for modern needs. So, in 1999, the interior was redesigned by Robert Potter. The organ was moved back to the west gallery, and a kitchen and toilet were added. The north transept became a new storage room with a room above it. Underfloor heating was installed under a new marble floor, and Scott's pews were replaced with wooden chairs.
How the Church Was Organized
In the 1100s and 1200s, two local families shared the right to choose the vicar (church leader) for St. Mary's. This right is called an advowson. Because Chesham was a very large parish (church area), having two vicars worked well. Later, these rights were given to two different monasteries: Woburn Abbey and Leicester Abbey. So, for a long time, St. Mary's had two vicars, one appointed by each abbey.
After the monasteries were closed in the 1500s, the right to choose one vicar went to the Earls of Bedford. The right to choose the other vicar was sold many times. Eventually, in 1769, the Duke of Bedford bought the other half of the advowson, bringing both parts together. From then on, St. Mary's had just one vicar.
In 1845, Chesham became part of the Diocese of Oxford. The new bishop, Samuel Wilberforce, made changes. The huge parish of Chesham was divided into smaller, independent parishes. But in 1980, it was decided to bring them back together. So, over the 1980s and 1990s, three of the parishes were reunited into one big parish called Great Chesham, with one main Rector who is also the Vicar of St. Mary's.
Buildings and Important People
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Right next to the church is The Bury, a manor house rebuilt in 1712. It's still standing today and is used as an office building. Because the church used to have two vicars, it also had two vicarages (houses for the vicars). The Upper Parsonage was a large mansion north of the church, but it was bought and knocked down in the early 1800s.
The Lower Parsonage was east of the church. It was demolished around 1769 and replaced with a new vicarage for the unified parish. This house is still used by the church today and is called the Rectory.
Church Organ
The church has had an organ since at least 1852. It was moved around during the renovations in the 1800s and 1900s. In 1999, the organ pipes were moved to the new west gallery and made louder with electronics.
Special Graves and Memorials
The south transept used to be a private burial place for the Cavendish family. Today, only one Cavendish tomb remains, that of John Cavendish, who died in 1617 when he was only 11. It's a very fancy tomb with detailed carvings. The south transept also holds a pyramid-shaped tomb from 1726 for Lady Mary Whichcote.
On the north side of the chancel, there's a black marble monument for Richard Bowle, who helped with the church's restoration in 1606. Nearby, there's a large memorial to Richard Woodcock, who was a vicar from 1607 to 1623. It has a painted bust of him holding a book and a long inscription.
During the 1860s renovations, all burials inside the church were removed. However, in 1999, a hidden vault was found near the center of the church. It belonged to the family of Robert Ward and contained the coffins of his wife and young son. The vault was sealed up again and remains there.
Adolphus Aylward, a vicar from 1847 to 1872, is remembered with a brass plaque and a stained glass window. His daughter Julia died at 15 and is buried in the churchyard. Her grave is planted with snowdrops that still bloom every spring.
A memorial to Thomas Harding, who was executed for his beliefs, stands in the churchyard. It's a stone cross put up in 1907. The cross has words about him giving his life for his faith in 1532. Near this memorial is an old gravestone showing a teacher and children, believed to be the grave of Daniel King, who taught in Chesham's first Sunday School.
