St Mary Magdalene's Church, Boveney facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Mary Magdalene's Church, Boveney
St Mary Magdalene's Church, Boveney, from the southeast
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OS grid reference	SU 940 776
Location	Boveney, Buckinghamshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	Friends of Friendless Churches
History
Dedication	Mary Magdalene
Architecture
Functional status	Redundant
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	23 September 1955
Architectural type	Church
Groundbreaking	12th century
Completed	15th century
Specifications
Materials	Flint and chalk rubble, with ashlar dressings

St Mary Magdalene's Church is an old Anglican church near the village of Boveney, Buckinghamshire, in England. It stands on the north bank of the Thames, about 3 kilometres west of the famous Eton College. The church is named after Mary Magdalene, a companion of Jesus.

Today, the church is "redundant," which means it is no longer used for regular weekly services. However, it is a very important historic building. It is listed as a Grade I building, which is the highest rating for historic buildings in England. A charity called the Friends of Friendless Churches now takes care of it. You can even take a 360° Google Street View Tour of the church online.

History of the Church

A Church for River Workers

A church has stood on this spot for over a thousand years, even before the Normans conquered England in 1066. The building you see today was mostly built in the 1100s. More windows and the tower were added in the 1400s.

The church was built for the bargemen who worked on the River Thames. These workers transported goods on flat-bottomed boats called barges. There used to be a dock right next to the church, but nothing of it remains today.

For a long time, it was a "chapel of ease," meaning it was a smaller church connected to the main church in the nearby town of Burnham. In 1737, there was a plan to make it its own parish church, but the plan failed because they couldn't raise enough money.

Architecture and Design

What is the Church Made Of?

St Mary's is built from a mix of flint and chalk rubble. The builders used a special technique called "galletting," where they pushed tiny pieces of flint into the mortar (the cement that holds the stones together). This made the walls stronger and also created a decorative pattern.

The tower is covered in wooden planks, a style known as weatherboarding. This wooden tower is built on a timber frame that stands directly on the ground.

Inside the Church

When you go inside, you can see some of the original wooden benches, called pews, from the 1400s. Other furniture and fittings were added in the 1700s and 1800s.

On the north wall, there is a glass box containing broken pieces of alabaster sculptures. These sculptures, which might be from the 1400s, are painted and covered in a thin layer of gold, a process called gilding. They show scenes from the Bible.

The church also has three bells. The oldest and largest bell was made around 1536. The other two were made in 1631 and 1636.

The Church in Modern Times

Saving St Mary's

In 1975, the church was declared redundant. There were plans to either tear it down or turn it into a house. But local people campaigned to save it. In 1983, the charity Friends of Friendless Churches took over the care of the building.

The church is still consecrated, which means it is considered a holy place. Occasional services have been held there since 1983.

Major Repairs

A few years later, the church had to be closed because its tower was in danger of falling down. When workers removed plaster from the base of the tower, they found that the wooden supports were almost completely rotten.

Repairing the tower was a huge job and cost £200,000. A large part of the money came from a government group called English Heritage. The rest was donated by people and groups, including Sir John Smith, the Francis Coales Charitable Foundation, and Eton College.

The repair work on the tower was so good that it won an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2005. More repairs were done in 2010 and 2011 to fix the windows and other parts of the church.

Gallery

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  The church as viewed from the River Thames

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  Exterior, from the southwest

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  Interior, looking east

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  Interior, looking west towards base of tower