Church of St Mary Magdalene, Willen

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Church of St Mary Magdalene, Willen
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Church of St Mary Magdalene, Willen
Church of St Mary Magdalene, Willen
52°03′44″N0°43′13″W / 52.06234°N 0.72015°W / 52.06234; -0.72015
Location Willen, Milton Keynes
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Church of England
Architecture
Architect(s) Robert Hooke
Style English Baroque
Years built1680
Administration
Diocese Diocese of Oxford
Parish Willen

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]

Contents

History

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. The 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. [a] Work on the church was probably carried out during the period 1678–80. [2] The project cost Dr. Busby nearly £5,000, [b] not including the materials taken from the former edifice. George Lipscomb observed that "with good management the church might have been built for a third part of the money". [3]

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]

The Willen parish registers date back to the year 1665. [3]

Notes

  1. ↑ In addition to his work as an architect, Hooke was the curator of experiments of the Royal Society, Secretary to its council, the Gresham Professor of Geometry, and Surveyor of the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666.
  2. ↑ Which equates to about £1.02 million today, using the Retail Prices Index.

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References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Church of St Mary Magdalene, Milton Road (Grade I) (1160998)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  2. ↑ John Figg (2012). "Our Church". St Mary Magdalene, Willen. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 Ratcliff, Oliver (1900). History and antiquities of the Newport Pagnell Hundreds. Olney: Cowper Press. p.  315.
  4. ↑ "Willen Church". Westminster School. 2007. Archived from the original on 10 December 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
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