The Church of St Mary Magdalene is an Anglican church of the Diocese of Oxford. Named after Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene, it is located in the village of Willen, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. It was completed in 1680 and was designed by the scientist, inventor, and architect Robert Hooke. It was designated as a Grade I listed building in 1966. [1]
The Willen parish registers date back to the year 1065. The current church stands in the place of an older one that resembled the church in Great Woolston, but without a turret, the two bells belonging to it hanging in arches, as at Little Linford. [2]
The current church was commissioned and paid for by Richard Busby, the long-serving headmaster of Westminster School, who was also the local Lord of the Manor in the village of Willen. The building was designed by former Westminster pupil Robert Hooke, who also supervised its construction. In addition to his work as an architect, Hooke was the curator of experiments of the Royal Society, a member of its council, the Gresham Professor of Geometry, and Surveyor of the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666.
Work on the church was probably carried out during the period 1678–80. [3] The project cost Dr. Busby nearly £5,000, not including the materials taken from the former edifice. George Lipscomb observes that "with good management the church might have been built for a third part of the money."
In the 19th century, the building was modified by removing the cupola from the tower and adding an apse at the end of the church's nave. This was a reversal of Hooke's original architectural intention, which was to combine a simple nave with a decorative tower. [4]
Sir George Gilbert Scott, largely known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started his career as a leading designer of workhouses. Over 800 buildings were designed or altered by him.
Benjamin Ferrey FSA FRIBA was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic Revival.
English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed arches, rib vaults, buttresses, and extensive use of stained glass. Combined, these features allowed the creation of buildings of unprecedented height and grandeur, filled with light from large stained glass windows. Important examples include Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. The Gothic style endured in England much longer than in Continental Europe.
St Mary's Church is located on Overleigh Road in Handbridge, an area south of the River Dee, in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is also known as the Church of St Mary-without-the-Walls, which was to distinguish it from Church of St Mary-on-the-Hill across the River Dee within the city walls. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester.
Stephen Ernest Dykes Bower was a British church architect and Gothic Revival designer best known for his work at Westminster Abbey, Bury St Edmunds Cathedral and the Chapel at Lancing College. As an architect he was a devoted and determined champion of the Gothic Revival style through its most unpopular years. He rejected modernism and continued traditions from the late Victorian period, emphasising fine detail, craftsmanship and bright colour.
St Mary's is the Church of England parish church for the village of Stretton, East Staffordshire, north of Burton upon Trent. It is part of the Diocese of Lichfield.
Tickford Priory was a medieval monastic house in Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, England.
Edward James Willson was an English architect, antiquary, architectural writer, and mayor of Lincoln in 1851–2.
Lewis Atterbury the younger LL.D., (1656–1731) was an English churchman, a royal chaplain to two monarchs.
St Mary Magdalene's Church is in Broughton-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Furness, the archdeaconry of Westmorland and Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. Its benefice is united with those of four other local parishes. The church, dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene, is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
St Mary Magdalene's Church is in Crewe Road, Alsager, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Congleton, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield, and the diocese of Chester. Dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene, it is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, in the Anglican Diocese of Southwark, is a Grade II* listed parish church on Paradise Road, Richmond, London. The church, dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene, was built in the early 16th century but has been greatly altered so that, apart from the tower, the visible parts of the church date from the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
All Saints’ Church, Bow Brickhill is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Bow Brickhill, Buckinghamshire, to the south-east of Milton Keynes.
St Mary & St Giles Church is a parish church in Stony Stratford, in Milton Keynes, England.
Church of St Simon and St Jude Church is a late 12th century parish church in Castlethorpe, City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It was formerly a chapelry of Hanslope. Of note is the Norman font with figures at the corners. It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1966.
All Saints' Church is a 12th-century parish church in Lathbury in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1966.
Church of St Mary is a 13th-century parish church in the village of Wavendon, City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1966.
The Church of Mary Magdalene of Buda is one of the oldest churches of the Várkerület District. Dedicated to Jesus' follower, Mary Magdalene, it was built between the 13th and 15th centuries in Gothic style. Today only ruins and the tower of the church remains.
Perpendicular Gothic architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-centred arches, straight vertical and horizontal lines in the tracery, and regular arch-topped rectangular panelling. Perpendicular was the prevailing style of Late Gothic architecture in England from the 14th century to the 17th century. Perpendicular was unique to the country: no equivalent arose in Continental Europe or elsewhere in the British Isles. Of all the Gothic architectural styles, Perpendicular was the first to experience a second wave of popularity from the 18th century on in Gothic Revival architecture.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : O. Ratcliff's "History and antiquities of the Newport Pagnell hundreds" (1900)