St Michael and All Angels, Hughenden | |
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51°39′6.45″N0°45′9.36″W / 51.6517917°N 0.7526000°W Coordinates: 51°39′6.45″N0°45′9.36″W / 51.6517917°N 0.7526000°W | |
Location | Hughenden Valley, Buckinghamshire |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Church of England |
Website | www |
History | |
Status | Parish church |
Founded | c. 1100–1135 |
Founder(s) | Geoffrey de Clinton |
Associated people | Benjamin Disraeli, member 1848–1881 Church restored 1874 and 1890 by Sir Arthur William Blomfield |
Architecture | |
Heritage designation | Listed Grade: II* |
Style | Early English, extended Victorian Gothic |
Administration | |
Province | Canterbury |
Diocese | Oxford |
Archdeaconry | Buckingham |
Deanery | Wycombe |
Parish | Hughenden |
St Michael and All Angels' Church is a Grade: II* listed [1] [2] Anglican church in the Hughenden Valley, Buckinghamshire, England, near to High Wycombe. It is closely associated with the nearby Hughenden Manor and the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Disraeli who is buried in the churchyard.
The church stands on land owned by the National Trust but the church and churchyard belong to the Church of England.
According to early records, a church existed on this site in the 12th century, built by Geoffrey de Clinton between 1100 and 1135. Monks established a small priory here in the building which is today used as a parish hall, Church House. [3] The church itself is mediaeval in origin and this original building now forms the chancel and north chapel of the present building.
In 1848 Benjamin Disraeli purchased Hughenden Manor. [4] The church was restored and extended between 1874 and 1890. Disraeli was British Prime Minister twice, in 1868 and 1874–80, and was made Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876. He died in 1881 and was buried in the family vault along with his wife Lady Beaconsfield (died 1872) which is located at the west wall of the church. [5] Royal protocol did not permit Queen Victoria to attend the private funeral, but she visited the tomb a few days later to pay her respects. [6] [7]
The exterior walls of St Michael and All Angels are of flint with stone dressings and the roofs are tiled.
The oldest part of the church is the chancel, which was formed from the original mediaeval body of the church. When the church extension work was carried out, the floor was covered with ceramic tiles designed by Edward William Godwin and the walls decorated with 1881 wall paintings in the Aesthetic Movement style by Heaton, Butler and Bayne that depict the Nativity, the Four Evangelists and the Prophets. [8]
A memorial to Disraeli was erected by Queen Victoria on the north side of the chancel following his death. It was the only memorial to be erected by a reigning monarch to one of her subjects in an English parish church. The inscription reads:
To the dear and honoured memory of Benjamin Earl of Beaconsfield.
This memorial is placed by his grateful sovereign and friend Victoria R.I. "Kings loveth him that speaketh right"— Inscription on Disraeli memorial, 27 February 1882
The Banner and Insignia of the Order of the Garter hanging beside the memorial originate from St George's Chapel, Windsor.
Among the stained-glass windows are works by Thomas Willement and Clayton and Bell, including their 1881 East Window depicting Christ in Majesty which was installed as another memorial to Disraeli. The ornately carved marble and alabaster pulpit (c. 1891) is the work of Thomas Earp in the High Victorian style and features effigies of archangels in Gothic arches. [8]
The memorials in the church include three recumbent effigies of knights, one lying cross-legged; although apparently in the style of the 13th century, the effigies have been ascertained to date from the 16th century and are thought to have been sculpted as fabricated evidence of the pedigree of the Wellesbourne family as descendants of Simon de Montfort. [8]
St. Michael and All Angels' Church featured in the title sequence of Gerry Anderson's 1969 Supermarionation/Live Action television series The Secret Service .
It also featured briefly in the film Johnny English , in the funeral scene where a bomb kills all of Britain's secret agents.
Judi Dench filmed a scene from the film Victoria & Abdul in the grounds of the church – another scene was filmed in the manor house.
Mary Anne Disraeli, 1st Viscountess Beaconsfield was a British peeress and society figure who was the wife of the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli.
Earl of Beaconsfield, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1876 for Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, a favourite of Queen Victoria. Victoria favoured Disraeli's Tory policies over those of his Liberal rival, William Ewart Gladstone. Disraeli had also promoted the Royal Titles Act 1876 that had given Victoria the title of Empress of India. The subsidiary title of the earldom was Viscount Hughenden, of Hughenden in the County of Buckingham, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Beaconsfield is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, 23+1⁄2 miles west-northwest of central London and 16 miles south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within five miles : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe.
Hughenden Valley is an extensive village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, just to the north of High Wycombe. It is almost 8,000 acres (32 km2) in size, divided mainly between arable and wooded land. It is situated 3 miles north of central Wycombe, 12.5 miles south of the county town of Aylesbury and some 35 miles west-northwest of London.
Hughenden Manor, Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, England, is a Victorian mansion, with earlier origins, that served as the country house of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. It is now owned by the National Trust and open to the public. It sits on the brow of the hill to the west of the main A4128 road that links Hughenden to High Wycombe.
Little Missenden is a village and civil parish on the River Misbourne in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about 3 miles (5 km) southeast of Great Missenden and 3 miles (5 km) west of Amersham. The village lies on the River Misbourne in the Misbourne valley.
Thornton is a village and civil parish on the River Great Ouse about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north-east of Buckingham in the unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire.
Black Bourton is a village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) south of Carterton, Oxfordshire. The village is on Black Bourton Brook, a tributary of the River Thames. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 266. RAF Brize Norton adjoins the parish. The northern boundary of the parish is along the middle of the main runway of the airfield.
St Michael and All Angels Church overlooks Market Place in the town of Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Macclesfield. It forms a team parish with three other Macclesfield churches: All Saints, St Peter's and St Barnabas'. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.
Coningsby Ralph Disraeli, was a British Conservative politician, and MP for Altrincham.
Primrose Day marked the anniversary of the death of the British statesman and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, on 19 April 1881. The day was marked each year into the 1920s, with arrangements of primroses left at Disraeli's tomb at St Michael and All Angels Church, Hughenden and his statue in Parliament Square, and many supporters wearing primroses as buttonholes, garlands and hat decorations.
St Michael and All Angels' Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Thornton, Buckinghamshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands to the north of the village, in the grounds of Thornton Hall, to the east of the River Ouse, some 4 miles (6 km) northeast of Buckingham.
St Michael's Church at Chenies, Buckinghamshire, is a Grade I listed Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Oxford in England. It is not of great architectural interest but stands in an attractive position in the Chess Valley near the Chenies Manor House. The church is famous for its Bedford Chapel, the mausoleum of the Russell family which is private and not open to the public.
Sarah Brydges Willyams, born Sarah Mendez da Costa, was an English supporter and confidante of Benjamin Disraeli.
Warfield Parish Church is a Grade II* listed building.<refHistoric England. "Church of St Michael and All Angels (1390393)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 December 2016.ref> It is located on Church Lane, Warfield, in Berkshire, England, ¾ of a mile north-east of the modern centre of the village. It is dedicated to the archangel Michael. The area around the church has been designated a conservation area since 1974 primarily to protect the character and nature of this historical building.
St Mary's Church is an Anglican church in Guildford in Surrey, England; the church's Anglo-Saxon tower is the oldest surviving structure in the town. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the author Lewis Carroll, preached here and his funeral was held in the church in 1898. Coming under the Diocese of Guildford, the church has been Grade I listed since 1953.
The Church of St Michael and All Angels is a Church of England parish church in Great Torrington, Devon. It has been a Grade II* listed building since 1951.
The Church of All Saints in Radwell in Hertfordshire is an Anglican parish church which falls within the Diocese of St Albans. It is a Grade II* listed building, having gained that status in 1968.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Ivinghoe, is a Church of England, Grade I listed church in the village of Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, in the United Kingdom. It stands on the main High Street of the village surrounded by a churchyard.