The Holy Cross and St. Mary, Quainton, Buckinghamshire

Description

The church of the Holy Cross and St. Mary is a building of stone, chiefly in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave of five bays, aisles, vestry, south porch and an embattled western tower with turret containing a clock and 5 bells with chimes and a sanctus bell: in the south aisle is a mural tablet, with effigies kneeling at a desk, to the learned Orientalist, Richard Brett D.D. one of the 47 translators of the Bible in 1611, and rector here from 1595 until his death, 15th April, 1631, and to his wife, with a long Latin inscription: in the tower is a magnificent monument to Robert Dormer, a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, d. 18 Sept. 1726, and his wife and son; the sculpture is by Roubiliac, whose realistic monument to Lady Nightingale in Westminster Abbey is well known. There are brasses, in excellent preservation, to John Spence M.A. rector 1485; one with demi-effigy to Johane Plessi, 1360, with incription in Norman French, and others to John Lewis, rector 1422; Margery Verney, 1509; Richard Iwardby, 1529, and Elizabeth Chester, 1593: in the south aisle is a finely executed table tomb of white marble to Richard Winwood esq. 1689, with a recumbent effigy in complete armour, except the head, which is attired in a flowing wig; on the wall hangs a funeral helmet surmounted by a crest; behind him is his lady in an attitude of grief; at the base of the tomb is the sculptured figure of a human skeleton with an hour-glass: another monument of heavy design commemorates Sir Richard Pigott, knighted at Theobalds, Herts, 9 July, 1630, ob. 1688: a mural tablet of old design, in black and white marble, commemorates the men connected with the parish who lost their lives in the Great War, 1914-18.: the church was restored in 1877, at a cost of £2,600, under the direction of Mr. William White, architect, of London: there are 350 sittings.

Church Records

The parish register dates from the year 1599.