Talk:St Mary's Church, Haddenham

Semi-protected edit request on 31 January 2016
There is a for the Church on the British History website:"The church of OUR LADY consists of a chancel 16 ft. 10 in. by 35 ft., with north chapel 17 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 2 in., and small south vestry; a nave 20 ft. by 58 ft.; north and south aisles 10 ft. 6 in. wide; north porch, and west tower 12 ft. 6 in. square within the walls. There is some evidence of an aisleless nave earlier than the end of the 12th century, but the general character of the church is of later date, and apparently due to a complete rebuilding begun in the opening years of the 13th century, and carried on slowly, the tower being the latest part of the work, and belonging to the latter part of the century. The chancel arch has half-round responds with capitals of very late Romanesque detail, that on the south having small scallops, c. 1200, and the other being perhaps a clumsy later copy of it. Its bell sets back from the face of the respond, and the carving on it may be of very much later date. The responds have been thrust outwards, but the pointed arch, of two chamfered orders, shows no signs of dislocation, and is either a rebuilding or a successor of the original arch.

The aisles were probably rebuilt and widened in the 14th century; and the north porch is of the same date. In the 15th century the north chapel and the western bays of both aisles were rebuilt, and the rood-stair at the east end of the north aisle is also of this time. The original south chapel has disappeared, but parts of its east wall exist in that of the vestry now on its site.

The proportions of the church are very good, both nave and chancel being fine and lofty; the latter has no buttresses, and its eastern angles, quoined with large stones, give a great effect of height.

The walls of the chancel have been lately repointed on the outside, but within retain their old plastering in a very perfect condition, with a masonry pattern in red lines, which has been treated to represent courses of Purbeck marble, or something of the kind, round the windows. Little of this particular detail remains, as the dressings of the windows have been unfortunately cleared of the plaster with which they were from the first covered.

In the east wall are three modern lancet windows, with tall detached banded shafts on the inner face, and in each of the side walls are two lancets, much shorter and narrower. The heads of those on the south are cut out of unusually large single stones, which make a permanent centring for the relieving arches, but the north windows are treated in a more ordinary manner. At the north-west and south-west of the chancel pointed arches of two chamfered orders with half-round responds and plainly-moulded capitals open to the north chapel and south vestry; the roll string, which runs round the chancel below the window-sills, is level with the capitals of the arches. In the east wall, behind the altar, is a large rectangular recess which doubtless served as a place to keep some of the church possessions, and on either side of the altar are smaller recesses, with arched heads, that to the south having at the back a wooden beam, and in it a sinking which may have served as the base of a flue.

The piscina, at the south-east, has a trefoiled head, and may be of the 15th century.

The north chapel has an east window of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery, of 15th-century date, containing a good deal of contemporary glass, mostly in jumbled fragments. The tracery lights are in better condition, and have St. Bartholomew and St. Matthew in the two middle lights, with St. John Baptist and St. Paul on either side, and seraphs in the outer lights. The canopies in the main lights are in fairly perfect condition, but all the rest of the centre light is filled with fragments, many of which are inscribed with parts of the Apostles' Creed.

The north window is of the same character, but of four lights, with a transom in the tracery above, and at the north-west is a small four-centred doorway with a square label and carved spandrels. In the south wall is a very beautiful 13th-century piscina, with a moulded trefoil arch and engaged shafts set in a panel of diapered stonework surrounded by a moulded string. Over the arch is a label enriched with small dogtooth ornament, now unfortunately much clogged with whitewash.

The south vestry is modern, but its east wall is apparently on the line of that of the former south chapel, and in its east window of 14th-century type a few old stones are re-used. On the south is a modern doorway, and the arch opening to the chancel is filled with a 15th-century screen, the upper panels of which have open tracery with cusps ending in carved heads. The sill of the screen is a re-used beam with churchwardens' names and the date 1709.

The nave is of four bays, the arcades having circular columns with moulded capitals and bases, and clustered responds with three shafts. The bases all show the characteristic hollow moulding, but the capitals are of several different sections, and some have been cut back and re-worked. The arches are pointed, of two chamfered orders, and have a filleted label. There is no clearstory and the ceiling is a plaster cove of 18th-century date.

The north aisle is lit by three three-light windows. The first two are of 14th-century date with trefoiled heads and flowing tracery. Between these is the north door, of late 14th-century date, the head and jambs continuously moulded with a double ogee. West of the second window is a square-headed 15thcentury window of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery over, while in the west wall is a small re-set and restored 14th-century trefoil light. At the east end of this aisle are the remains of the rood-stair, with both upper and lower doorways. The north porch is of late 14th-century date with an embattled parapet, and has east and west windows of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil over.

The south aisle has at the south-east a much-restored five-light 15th-century window, with a straightlined head, the tracery being quite modern. Beneath it is a 15th-century piscina with a trefoiled head and a stone shelf. West of this window is the south door, of late 14th-century date with a continuous moulding and an external label. The two remaining south windows and the west window correspond to those in the same positions in the north aisle.

The tower is an unusually fine specimen of its period, and is of three stages with corner buttresses to the ground stage and a stair in the south-west angle. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders, the two outer dying into the two square orders of the jambs, while the inner is supported upon almost completely detached round shafts with circular capitals. The west door is of three continuous chamfered orders with a label, and above it are three modern lancets within a shafted 13th-century recess with a moulded two-centred head. There are narrow moulded lights in the second stage, except on the east side, where the pitch of the original roof rises to the base of the belfry stage. The belfry stage is arcaded on each face with five moulded arches springing from circular shafts with capitals and bases. The first, third, and fifth arches on each face are blind, but the second and fourth have window openings filled with luffer boards. Above is a line of corbels carrying a plain parapet.

The roof of the chancel is modern and of the same pitch and height as the old roof. That of the nave is hidden by the coved ceiling already noted, and is of lower pitch than the original roof. The roof of the north chapel is of 15th-century date with moulded timbers and wall brackets carried by carved corbels.

The font stands close to the western pillar of the south arcade, and is of late 12th-century date, with a tapering circular bowl on a moulded base, resting on a pentagonal block of stone. The bowl has a band of foliage, in which is a dragon, round its upper part, and has tall and narrow scalloped ornament below.

There is a considerable quantity of old woodwork re-used, including some bench ends with fleur-de-lis finials. On one of the latter is carved a plough and the letter A, and on another a tun, from which springs a small spray of foliage, and the letters W and R. There are also some remains of 15th-century screens, one length between the tower and the nave, and others between the north aisle and chapel and between the chancel and vestry. The lower panels are solid, and the upper pierced with traceried heads of normal type. The double door in the north porch bears on an upper rail the initials G. W. and T. G. and the date 1637, and has had an ingenious arrangement of weights and pulleys to keep it closed.

On the south wall of the chancel is a small marble monument to John Marriott, 1677, ornamented with wreaths and cherubs' heads and a cartouche bearing the Marriott arms impaling Ermine six roundels. In the north chapel is another wall monument to Richard Beake, 1627, with the Beake arms impaling Ermine on a bend three cinquefoils. Near this is preserved a funeral helmet. In the same part of the church are the remains of some brasses. One is the figure of a priest wearing a long-sleeved cassock and fur almuce with, beneath, the inscription: 'Hic jacet Thomas Nassh quondã Vicari' de Haddenam qui obiit xiii° Die Marcii Anno Dni M° cccc° xxviii° Cujus aie ppiciet' deus ame[n].' Another is also the figure of a priest of early 15th-century date, in mass vestments, wearing an apparelled amice and albe and a fanon. Below is an inscription belonging to another brass: 'Here lyeth Gyls Woodbryge xv xx and ix and Elizabeth his wife which the four day of August changyd ther lyffe.'

The tower contains a ring of eight bells cast by J. Briant of Hertford in 1809.

The church plate consists of a chalice of 1706 inscribed with the churchwardens' names and the date 1707, a standing paten inscribed as the gift of John Marriott in 1716, and a plated flagon and salver.

¶The first book of the registers contains baptisms and marriages from 1653 to 1726 and burials 1653–78; with a gap. The second contains baptisms and burials 1727–32; the third, baptisms 1762–96, and burials 1761–95; the fourth continues the baptisms and burials to 1812, and the fifth and sixth are the marriage registers 1754–91 and 1791–1812.The church of OUR LADY consists of a chancel 16 ft. 10 in. by 35 ft., with north chapel 17 ft. 6 in. by 14 ft. 2 in., and small south vestry; a nave 20 ft. by 58 ft.; north and south aisles 10 ft. 6 in. wide; north porch, and west tower 12 ft. 6 in. square within the walls. There is some evidence of an aisleless nave earlier than the end of the 12th century, but the general character of the church is of later date, and apparently due to a complete rebuilding begun in the opening years of the 13th century, and carried on slowly, the tower being the latest part of the work, and belonging to the latter part of the century. The chancel arch has half-round responds with capitals of very late Romanesque detail, that on the south having small scallops, c. 1200, and the other being perhaps a clumsy later copy of it. Its bell sets back from the face of the respond, and the carving on it may be of very much later date. The responds have been thrust outwards, but the pointed arch, of two chamfered orders, shows no signs of dislocation, and is either a rebuilding or a successor of the original arch.

The aisles were probably rebuilt and widened in the 14th century; and the north porch is of the same date. In the 15th century the north chapel and the western bays of both aisles were rebuilt, and the rood-stair at the east end of the north aisle is also of this time. The original south chapel has disappeared, but parts of its east wall exist in that of the vestry now on its site.

The proportions of the church are very good, both nave and chancel being fine and lofty; the latter has no buttresses, and its eastern angles, quoined with large stones, give a great effect of height.

The walls of the chancel have been lately repointed on the outside, but within retain their old plastering in a very perfect condition, with a masonry pattern in red lines, which has been treated to represent courses of Purbeck marble, or something of the kind, round the windows. Little of this particular detail remains, as the dressings of the windows have been unfortunately cleared of the plaster with which they were from the first covered.

In the east wall are three modern lancet windows, with tall detached banded shafts on the inner face, and in each of the side walls are two lancets, much shorter and narrower. The heads of those on the south are cut out of unusually large single stones, which make a permanent centring for the relieving arches, but the north windows are treated in a more ordinary manner. At the north-west and south-west of the chancel pointed arches of two chamfered orders with half-round responds and plainly-moulded capitals open to the north chapel and south vestry; the roll string, which runs round the chancel below the window-sills, is level with the capitals of the arches. In the east wall, behind the altar, is a large rectangular recess which doubtless served as a place to keep some of the church possessions, and on either side of the altar are smaller recesses, with arched heads, that to the south having at the back a wooden beam, and in it a sinking which may have served as the base of a flue.

The piscina, at the south-east, has a trefoiled head, and may be of the 15th century.

The north chapel has an east window of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery, of 15th-century date, containing a good deal of contemporary glass, mostly in jumbled fragments. The tracery lights are in better condition, and have St. Bartholomew and St. Matthew in the two middle lights, with St. John Baptist and St. Paul on either side, and seraphs in the outer lights. The canopies in the main lights are in fairly perfect condition, but all the rest of the centre light is filled with fragments, many of which are inscribed with parts of the Apostles' Creed.

The north window is of the same character, but of four lights, with a transom in the tracery above, and at the north-west is a small four-centred doorway with a square label and carved spandrels. In the south wall is a very beautiful 13th-century piscina, with a moulded trefoil arch and engaged shafts set in a panel of diapered stonework surrounded by a moulded string. Over the arch is a label enriched with small dogtooth ornament, now unfortunately much clogged with whitewash.

The south vestry is modern, but its east wall is apparently on the line of that of the former south chapel, and in its east window of 14th-century type a few old stones are re-used. On the south is a modern doorway, and the arch opening to the chancel is filled with a 15th-century screen, the upper panels of which have open tracery with cusps ending in carved heads. The sill of the screen is a re-used beam with churchwardens' names and the date 1709.

The nave is of four bays, the arcades having circular columns with moulded capitals and bases, and clustered responds with three shafts. The bases all show the characteristic hollow moulding, but the capitals are of several different sections, and some have been cut back and re-worked. The arches are pointed, of two chamfered orders, and have a filleted label. There is no clearstory and the ceiling is a plaster cove of 18th-century date.

The north aisle is lit by three three-light windows. The first two are of 14th-century date with trefoiled heads and flowing tracery. Between these is the north door, of late 14th-century date, the head and jambs continuously moulded with a double ogee. West of the second window is a square-headed 15thcentury window of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery over, while in the west wall is a small re-set and restored 14th-century trefoil light. At the east end of this aisle are the remains of the rood-stair, with both upper and lower doorways. The north porch is of late 14th-century date with an embattled parapet, and has east and west windows of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil over.

The south aisle has at the south-east a much-restored five-light 15th-century window, with a straightlined head, the tracery being quite modern. Beneath it is a 15th-century piscina with a trefoiled head and a stone shelf. West of this window is the south door, of late 14th-century date with a continuous moulding and an external label. The two remaining south windows and the west window correspond to those in the same positions in the north aisle.

The tower is an unusually fine specimen of its period, and is of three stages with corner buttresses to the ground stage and a stair in the south-west angle. The tower arch is of three chamfered orders, the two outer dying into the two square orders of the jambs, while the inner is supported upon almost completely detached round shafts with circular capitals. The west door is of three continuous chamfered orders with a label, and above it are three modern lancets within a shafted 13th-century recess with a moulded two-centred head. There are narrow moulded lights in the second stage, except on the east side, where the pitch of the original roof rises to the base of the belfry stage. The belfry stage is arcaded on each face with five moulded arches springing from circular shafts with capitals and bases. The first, third, and fifth arches on each face are blind, but the second and fourth have window openings filled with luffer boards. Above is a line of corbels carrying a plain parapet.

The roof of the chancel is modern and of the same pitch and height as the old roof. That of the nave is hidden by the coved ceiling already noted, and is of lower pitch than the original roof. The roof of the north chapel is of 15th-century date with moulded timbers and wall brackets carried by carved corbels.

The font stands close to the western pillar of the south arcade, and is of late 12th-century date, with a tapering circular bowl on a moulded base, resting on a pentagonal block of stone. The bowl has a band of foliage, in which is a dragon, round its upper part, and has tall and narrow scalloped ornament below.

There is a considerable quantity of old woodwork re-used, including some bench ends with fleur-de-lis finials. On one of the latter is carved a plough and the letter A, and on another a tun, from which springs a small spray of foliage, and the letters W and R. There are also some remains of 15th-century screens, one length between the tower and the nave, and others between the north aisle and chapel and between the chancel and vestry. The lower panels are solid, and the upper pierced with traceried heads of normal type. The double door in the north porch bears on an upper rail the initials G. W. and T. G. and the date 1637, and has had an ingenious arrangement of weights and pulleys to keep it closed.

On the south wall of the chancel is a small marble monument to John Marriott, 1677, ornamented with wreaths and cherubs' heads and a cartouche bearing the Marriott arms impaling Ermine six roundels. In the north chapel is another wall monument to Richard Beake, 1627, with the Beake arms impaling Ermine on a bend three cinquefoils. Near this is preserved a funeral helmet. In the same part of the church are the remains of some brasses. One is the figure of a priest wearing a long-sleeved cassock and fur almuce with, beneath, the inscription: 'Hic jacet Thomas Nassh quondã Vicari' de Haddenam qui obiit xiii° Die Marcii Anno Dni M° cccc° xxviii° Cujus aie ppiciet' deus ame[n].' Another is also the figure of a priest of early 15th-century date, in mass vestments, wearing an apparelled amice and albe and a fanon. Below is an inscription belonging to another brass: 'Here lyeth Gyls Woodbryge xv xx and ix and Elizabeth his wife which the four day of August changyd ther lyffe.'

The tower contains a ring of eight bells cast by J. Briant of Hertford in 1809.

The church plate consists of a chalice of 1706 inscribed with the churchwardens' names and the date 1707, a standing paten inscribed as the gift of John Marriott in 1716, and a plated flagon and salver.

¶The first book of the registers contains baptisms and marriages from 1653 to 1726 and burials 1653–78; with a gap. The second contains baptisms and burials 1727–32; the third, baptisms 1762–96, and burials 1761–95; the fourth continues the baptisms and burials to 1812, and the fifth and sixth are the marriage registers 1754–91 and 1791–1812.

Patrick.Maxie1 (talk) 12:52, 31 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: An edit this large would need some input from other editors. In addition, I'm not 100% sure what I should be changing here. Do you want everything added? --allthefoxes (Talk)  17:37, 31 January 2016 (UTC)