St Mary's Church | |
---|---|
Parish Church of Amersham | |
51°40′01″N0°36′58″W / 51.6670°N 0.6161°W | |
OS grid reference | SU9569797427 |
Location | Amersham, Buckinghamshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Church of England |
Website | stmaryschurchamersham |
History | |
Founded | c. 1140 |
Dedication | St Mary the Virgin |
Architecture | |
Style | English Gothic |
Years built | 13th, 14th centuries |
Administration | |
Province | Canterbury |
Diocese | Oxford |
Archdeaconry | Buckingham |
Deanery | Amersham |
Benefice | Amersham |
Parish | Amersham |
St Mary's Church is a Church of England parish church in Old Amersham, Amersham in Buckinghamshire, England. The church is a grade I listed building.
The site of St Mary's Church has had Christian associations for many centuries. Early missionary monks of St Augustine and St Birinus travelled via the Roman Road Akeman Street, converting the local population to Christianity and baptising them in the River Misbourne. A place of worship has existed on this site since around 1140 A.D. [1] The present church dates from the 13th century with additions in the 14th and 15th centuries, when the church was extended. [1] [2]
The parish has connections with the persecution of the Lollards in the early 1500s when a group of locals known as the Amersham Martyrs were burned at the stake on the hill overlooking the old town. The Amersham Martyrs Memorial was placed on a hill overlooking the church in 1931. In 1553, Scottish reformer John Knox preached his last sermon at Amersham before going into exile to flee the wrath of Queen Mary. [1] [3]
The patrons of the parish are the Drake family, the Lords of the Manor of Amersham, related to Sir Francis Drake. Around 1637, Sir William Drake purchased the Borough of Amersham from the Earl of Bedford. [1] [4] There are numerous memorials to Drake family members in St Mary's Church. [5]
Several descendants of the Drakes have served as rector of the parish, including Rev. Edward Drake, who commissioned a major restoration of the church in 1890, and the external appearance dates from this time. [1] [3]
The bells are still rung in the church tower. [6] [7]
On 22 December 1958, the church was designated a grade I listed building. [8]
The Church of England parish of Amersham is part of the Archdeaconry of Buckingham in the Diocese of Oxford. [9]
The body of the murderer Ruth Ellis was reburied in the churchyard extension of St Mary's Church. The headstone in the churchyard was inscribed "Ruth Hornby 1926–1955". Her son, Andy, destroyed the headstone shortly before he died by suicide in 1982.
In 2024 the funeral of Liam Payne, former member of boyband One Direction, was held at the church. [10] He had lived nearby in Chalfont St Giles. [11]
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the east, Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, and Oxfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Milton Keynes, and the county town is Aylesbury.
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.
Amersham is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, 27 miles (43 km) northwest of central London, 15 miles (24 km) south-east of Aylesbury and 9 miles (14 km) north-east of High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt.
Chesham is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom, 11 miles (18 km) south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, about 26 miles (42 km) north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmland. The earliest records of Chesham as a settlement are from the second half of the 10th century, although there is archaeological evidence of people in this area from around 8000 BC. Henry III granted a royal charter for a weekly market in 1257.
Chalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish in southeast Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts, which also includes Chalfont St Peter and Little Chalfont.
Chalfont St Peter is a large village and civil parish in southeastern Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts which also includes Chalfont St Giles and Little Chalfont. The villages lie between High Wycombe and Rickmansworth. Chalfont St Peter is one of the largest villages, with nearly 13,000 residents. The urban population for Chalfont St Peter and Gerrards Cross is 19,622, the two places being considered a single area by the Office for National Statistics.
Little Chalfont is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is one of a group of villages known collectively as "The Chalfonts", which also comprises Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter. Little Chalfont is located around 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Amersham and 21.9 miles (35.2 km) northwest of Charing Cross, central London.
Latimer is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, on the border with Hertfordshire. It is within the civil parish of Latimer and Ley Hill, which also includes the village of Ley Hill and the hamlet of Tyler's Hill.
Chiltern District was a local government district of Buckinghamshire in south-central England from 1974 to 2020. It was named after the Chiltern Hills on which the region sits.
Chesham and Amersham is a parliamentary constituency in Buckinghamshire, South East England, represented in the House of Commons by Sarah Green, a Liberal Democrat elected at a 2021 by-election.
South Buckinghamshire was a parliamentary constituency in the county of Buckinghamshire, England. From 1950 to 1974, it returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.
The Vache is an estate near Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, England. Within the estate is a monument dedicated to the memory of Captain James Cook (1728–1779), the explorer. It has been owned or occupied by, among others, Hester and George Fleetwood, regicide of Charles I.
St. Mary's Church is a Grade I listed Anglican church in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and is part of the Diocese of Oxford. Built on the site of a Bronze Age stone circle of puddingstones, parts of the church building date to the 12th century. Remodelled in the 15th and 17th centuries, the church is architecturally a mixture of English Gothic styles. Weakened by additions to the church tower and undermined by burials in and around the church, by the 19th century the building was structurally unsound. The church was remodelled and strengthened in the 1860s by George Gilbert Scott and again in the 20th century by Robert Potter.
Edward Tyrwhitt Drake was an English clergyman and first-class cricketer who played for Cambridge University, the Gentlemen, All-England, the Marylebone Cricket Club and other amateur sides between 1853 and 1873. He and other members of his extended family are often recorded by the double-barrelled surname of "Tyrwhitt-Drake". He was born at Bucknell, near Bicester, Oxfordshire and died at Amersham, Buckinghamshire.
Newland Park is a Grade II listed country house and estate near the village of Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Ivinghoe is a 13th-century Church of England parish church in the town of Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, England, and is a Grade I listed building. It stands on the main High Street and is surrounded by a churchyard.
St Giles' Church, Goodrich, Herefordshire, England is an Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Hereford. The church dates from the 13th century, although almost all of the current building is of the 14th century, or from the 19th century restoration. It is an active parish church and a Grade II* listed building.
St Giles' Church is an active parish church in the village of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, England. A Grade I listed building, it stands in the grounds of Stoke Park, a late-Georgian mansion built by John Penn. It is famous as the apparent inspiration for Thomas Gray's poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard; Gray is buried in the churchyard.