St. Mary, Denham, Buckinghamshire
Description
The parish church of St. Mary, standing in a churchyard planted with and surrounded by fine trees, is a Perpendicular building of flint, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of three bays, aisles and an embattled western tower containing a clock and 8 bells: the east window and two lancet windows are stained: the font is ancient: there are several monuments of the Peckhams, including one with recumbent figures, dated 1564, to Sir Edmund Peckham, cofferer in the King's house, knighted 18 Oct. 1537, and Anne his wife; there is another to Sir Robert Peckham, knighted 1553, privy councillor to Queen Mary, who died in 1569, being then on his travels, and was buried in the church of St. Gregory at Rome, his heart being deposited at Denham, pursuant to his own request; there is also a monument to Sir Roger Hill kt. 1729, several tablets to the Bowyer family, baronets, of Denham Court, a brass to Agnes Jordan, last Abbess of Sion, in the parish of Isleworth, Middlesex, who was buried here in 1545, another of the 15th century to Walter Durdent, his two wives and 21 children, and a palimpsest brass, long supposed to have been lost: the earlier figure on the reverse side is that of a friar, in gown and hood, with his hands folded within his sleeves and a knotted cord hanging from his girdle, but his feet have been cut off; below is an inscription in Latin to John Pyke, a native of Langport, between the letters M.J.P.S. perhaps for Johannes Pyke Magister Scholae; the date is c. I440; the figure on the obverse side is that of a lady in a long-sleeved robe and pedimental head-dress, and below an inscription to Amphillis, daughter of Sir Edward Peckham kt. d. 13 March, 1445; under this is a quartered shield of arms; there is also & brass effigy of a priest, 1612, and a slab incised with a figure of a man in a gown, to Philip Edelen, 1656: the south wall exhibits remains of a painting: the Early English font has an octagonal basin, supported on a central shaft surrounded by eight smaller ones: there are 250 sittings.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1564.