User:AnemoneProjectors/St Mary's Church, Stevenage

St Mary's Church is a Grade II* listed church in Shephall, Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

History
A small wooden church was built in the village of Shephall in the 12th century, as a daughter to the larger church in nearby Aston. It was built in a corner of the parish, close to the parish of Aston, possibly in a "no man's land" between manors, and people soon moved close to it. Aston was briefly held by Reading Abbey and the church in Shephall was included in that holding. Records from a Reading Abbey charter in 1151 show that the pastor of Aston was also the incumbent of the parish of Shephall. The Prior of Reading Abbey and the Abbot of St Albans later came to an agreement to transfer the church in Shephall to the jurisdiction of St Albans. The first known vicar is Robert Goderich, who died in 1351, though records are incomplete. The church was confirmed to the monastery of St Alban by Pope Honorius III in 1218, and a vicarage was ordained and endowed. The earliest known mention of the church's dedication to St Mary is in the 1456 will of William Ledys, a vicar of Shephall, which refers to it in Latin as beate Marie de Sepehalle. The will stated that Ledys be buried in the porch of the church.

The wooden building was replaced by one of flint and stone in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and nothing now remains of the original wooden construction. Some tracery still exists in the church from this period, in a south nave window, and a side window in the chancel dates to this time. A wooden chancel screen was carved in the 15th century, along with a matching pulpit (the present pulpit is a later copy). The screen has traceried panels and faint remnants of painted flowers. The wooden chancel arch, one of the few wooden chancel arches in England, and roof also survive from the late 14th or 15th century, and the nave roof dates to slightly later. A stone in the south wall of the chancel has an inscription, possibly of Saxon origin. The bell turret houses two bells. The treble bell is tall, elongated and unmarked. Its long-waisted shape dates it to around 1130, making it the oldest bell in Hertfordshire, older than the priest's bell in St Albans Abbey. The tenor bell was recast in 1767, and is inscribed, "Lester and Pack of London fecit 1767". Both bells were rehung by the Whitechapel Foundry in 1974. An old church inventory states "two bells, one cracked."

By the early 16th century, the church had a statue or image of St Mary, with candles and a new cross for the congregation. In 1553, Edward VI ordered an inventory of all church goods in England. St Mary's had the two bells, a chalice of silver parcel-gilt, vestments of white and red silk, and one of fustian, albs and altar cloths of linen, copes of red and green silk, a cross of copper and gilt, and two handbells, as well as a printed canopy and other linens and silks.

The church was transferred to the Diocese of London in 1550, the Diocese of Rochester ifn 1845 and to the newly created Diocese of St Albans in 1877.

The church was rebuilt and extended in the mid-19th century, with a new north aisle and south porch added. The belfry and some windows were replaced, including the west window, whose stained glass dates to around 1913.

It was restored and rebuilt in 1956.

It was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1999 by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, as a building of historic importance.

Monuments, memorials and burials
The church contains five monuments to the Stanton family, dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. There is a monument to John Rudd, priest here from 1595 to 1640, on the east wall in the north aisle. It originally depicted Rudd as a shephard, carrying a lamb over his shoulders, but a restorer mistook the faded image of the lamb for long, grey hair. There are also brasses from the tombs of members of the Nodes family, who were lords of the manor of Shephall between 1542 and 1761, including the first, George Nodes (died 1564), a Serjeant at Arms and Serjeant of the Buckhounds to Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, whose brass is on the wall of the sanctuary. The brass from the tomb of his wife, Margaret, is in the chancel. George Nodes' great-nephew, also George Nodes (died 1643), married Helen Docwra of Hitchin and in 1658 she was buried in the chancel, on the north side of her husband, however, her burial slab was later moved into the churchyard. Charles Nodes (died 1651), son of the second George Nodes, had a second wife, Frances Pert, who was buried in the chancel along with her second husband, Edmund Feilde, despite both living in Stansted. In 1960, tiles were removed from the chancel floor, revealing the tombstones of several Nodes family members. There are some Nodes family monuments, including Susannah (died 1695), wife of a fourth George Nodes (died 1664), brother of Charles, in the north aisle, which was originally on the north wall of the nave before the aisle was built. A memorial in the pulpit to a fifth George Nodes (1636–1697), son of George and Susannah, describes him as "a tender husband, a careful father, a charitable neighbour, a diligent peacemaker, a loyal subject, lover of the Church, serious and devout and his memory is blessed."

Olympic athlete Thomas Hampson, who died in 1965, was buried at the church. He was a church warden at one point.