St Mary's Church in the village of Downe, Bromley (formerly Kent) is the Church of England Parish Church for the parish of Downe. It is a Grade II* listed building, which dates from the 13th century. [1] The church is dedicated to either St Mary the Virgin or St Mary Magdalene. The west window is the oldest stained glass, depicting Christ as the Good Shepherd, by Daniel Bell (1840-1915). [2]
The Church, as with the village of Downe itself, is closely linked with the naturalist Charles Darwin who lived at nearby Down House from 1842 to his death in 1882. John Brodie Innes was the vicar from 1846. Darwin played a leading part in the parish work of the church, [3] but from around 1849 would go for a walk on Sundays while his family attended church. [4] Charles's wife, Emma Darwin, was Unitarian and the family would face away when the Anglican Trinitarian Creed was read.
Several members of the Darwin family are buried in the churchyard, Charles's brother Erasmus Alvey Darwin (died 1881), Emma Darwin (1896), Charles and Emma's children Mary Eleanor Darwin (1842), Charlie (1858), Elizabeth (1926), Henrietta (1927); Elinor Monsell (1954) and her husband, Charles and Emma's grandson Bernard Darwin (1961). Charles Darwin had wished to be buried here too but was instead buried in Westminster Abbey.
Emma Darwin's sister Elizabeth Wedgwood and Charles and Emma's Aunt Sarah Wedgwood are also buried together in the St Mary the Virgin churchyard.
St Mary's stands in the Conservative Evangelical tradition of the Church of England. [5] Its graveyard is home to a yew tree that is one of the Great Trees of London. [6]
William Butterfield was a British Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement. He is noted for his use of polychromy.
Emma Darwin was an English woman who was the wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin. They were married on 29 January 1839 and were the parents of ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood.
Down House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theory of evolution by natural selection, which he had conceived in London before moving to Down.
Henrietta Emma Litchfield was a daughter of Charles Darwin and his wife Emma Wedgwood.
The Darwin–Wedgwood family are members of two connected families, each noted for particular prominent 18th-century figures: Erasmus Darwin, a physician and natural philosopher, and Josiah Wedgwood FRS, a noted potter and founder of the eponymous Josiah Wedgwood & Sons pottery company. The Darwin and Wedgwood families were on friendly terms for much of their history and members intermarried, notably Charles Darwin, who married Emma Wedgwood.
Downe, formerly Down, is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley but beyond London's contiguous urban area. Downe is 3.4 miles (5.5 km) south west of Orpington and 14.2 miles (22.9 km) south east of Charing Cross. Downe lies on a hill, and much of the centre of the village is unchanged; the former village school now acts as the village hall. The word Downe originates from the Anglo Saxon word dūn, latterly down, hence the South and North Downs. In April 1965, Downe and the remaining part of Orpington Urban District Council, was abolished, and transferred from the historic county of Kent and placed within the newly created London Borough of Bromley.
Maer is a rural village and civil parish in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, to the west of the pottery manufacturing town of Stoke-on-Trent.
St Mary Aldermanbury was a parish church in the City of London first mentioned in 1181 and destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Rebuilt in Portland stone by Christopher Wren, it was again gutted by the Blitz in 1940, leaving only the walls standing. These stones were transported to Fulton, Missouri in 1966, by the residents of that town, and rebuilt in the grounds of Westminster College as a memorial to Winston Churchill. Churchill had made his Sinews of Peace, "Iron Curtain" speech in the Westminster College Gymnasium in 1946.
Erasmus Alvey Darwin, nicknamed Eras or Ras, was the older brother of Charles Darwin, born five years earlier. They were brought up at the family home, The Mount House, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. He was the only other son besides Charles, the fourth of six children of Susannah and Robert Darwin, and the grandson of Erasmus Darwin and of Josiah Wedgwood, a family of the Unitarian church. He was a member of the semi-secretive Cambridge Apostles society, a debating club largely reserved for the brightest students.
Benjamin Ferrey FSA FRIBA was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic Revival.
St Mary's Church is in the village of Eccleston, Cheshire, England, on the estate of the Duke of Westminster south of Chester. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester. Its benefice is combined with that of St Mary, Pulford. The Dukes of Westminster are buried in the adjacent Old Churchyard.
St Mary and St Helen Church is in the town of Neston, Cheshire, England. 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 Wirral South. Its benefice is combined with that of St Michael, Little Neston. St Thomas' Church, Parkgate, is a chapel of ease in the parish.
St Mary Magdalene Woolwich is an 18th-century Anglican church dedicated to St Mary Magdalene in Woolwich, southeast London, England.
The church of St Mary Magdalene is a Church of England religious building in North Ockendon, Greater London, England. It is a Grade I listed building and is dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene.
Joseph Parslow was an English manservant, who worked as butler for the English naturalist Charles Darwin for over thirty years. In this role he was variously as head servant, Darwin's companion, scientific assistant, and nurse through Darwin's illness.
St Mary the Virgin, Mortlake, is a parish church in Mortlake, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is part of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. The rector is The Revd Canon Dr Ann Nickson.
St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church, Mortlake, is a Roman Catholic church in North Worple Way, Mortlake, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The church is dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene. It is located just south of Mortlake High Street and the Anglican St Mary the Virgin Church. St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School is just north of the churchyard.
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.
The Church of St Nicholas in Norton in Hertfordshire is the parish church for what was originally the village of Norton but which today has become a suburb of Letchworth Garden City. The present building dates from about 1109 to 1119, with additions in the 15th century including the tower. Before the Reformation it was a stopping point on the pilgrim route to the Abbey of St Albans and the shrine there.
St Mary the Virgin, Wanstead is a Church of England church in Wanstead, east London. It is located on Overton Drive and now shares its parish with Christ Church, Wanstead. It is the only Grade I listed building in the London Borough of Redbridge.
