St. Mary, Great Shefford, Berkshire
Description
The church of St. Mary, approached through a fine avenue of lime trees, is an edifice of flint stone, affording a very admirable specimen of a church of the time of Henry III.; it consists of quasi-chancel, nave, south porch and a circular western tower containing 6 bells: also a clock which strikes, but is without a face: the lower part of the tower, which has massive walls, partly built of flint, is Late Norman: the upper portion is octagonal and of Perpendicular date; the tower arch is Transition Norman: the fine south doorway is of the same date, as well as the font, which has a cylindrical basin, richly carved with scrolls of foliage, in four bands, the lowermost having an invected border and pendent leafage: the east and west windows are stained: the former, a Perpendicular insertion, is a memorial to Miss Lucy Menzies, sister of the Rev. Canon F. Menzies M.A. rector here 1866-87; on the east walls are paintings of the Virgin Mary and Gabriel; in the chancel are brasses to the Rev. Thomas Ashley, d. 1851, and the Rev. Thomas Townson Churton M.A. d. 1865, both former rectors; also tablets to various members of the Browne family, including one to Sir George Browne kt. ob. 1673; there is a piscina in the south wall of the nave; the lectern, presented in 1871 by Edward Stewart Jones esq. is of oak and marble with brass mounts: the church was effectively but carefully restored in 1870 at a cost of upwards of £1,500, under the direction of the late Mr. J. West Rugall, of Oxford: an organ chamber was erected, and the font, which had been resting, without a base, in a pew on the north side of the church, was repaired and set upon a new base; the space beneath the tower is now utilised as a baptistery and vestry: during the restoration the plaster on the exterior of the east wall was removed and the outlines of a series of Transition Norman windows disclosed; in the church are two ancient metal flagons and a paten with foot, given 31 March, 1621, by Thomas Harvye, and ornamented with shields of arms and various devices, and on the margin the legend :- WHAT HAVE WE THAT WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED OF THE LORD-1616. There are 200 sittings. An ancient cross, found in the churchyard in 1870, now stands near the church on the south side; it consists of a plain stone shaft on an octagonal pedestal, with rude sculptured heads at the angles.
Church Records
The register of baptisms dates from the year 1571; marriages and burials from 1599: the registers also record that the font was removed out of the church and the clergyman dispossessed of his living during the Great Rebellion.