North Crawley, Buckinghamshire

St. Firmin (parish church)

The parish church of St. Firmin, first bishop of Amiens (one of the only two in England so named, the other being in Lincolnshire), is a very ancient edifice of stone, consisting of chancel, clerestoried nave of five bays on the south side and four on the north, aisles. south porch and an embattled western tower, containing a clock and 6 bells: the whole external appearance of the nave is Perpendicular: the chancel is Early Decorated, with an east window of three lights and Geometrical tracery: on the south side is a double piscina and near it a fine doorway, with shafts and mouldings on the outside; the roofs of both nave and chancel are open-timbered and of the Perpendicular period with moulded ribs and bosses: the piers and arches of the nave arcades are Early Decorated, some of the former being octagonal and others clustered: the chancel is said to have been built by Peter de Guildford, rector, who died in 1321: on the outside wall, under the east window, is this inscription:-
Petrus cancellum tibi dat Firmine novellum
Ut cum lauderis Dec, Petri memoreris.

A finely carved oak screen remains in a perfect state and is a rich specimen of open screen work of the Decorated period; the whole screen is divided into sixteen compartments and in the panels at the base are painted as many figures, well drawn and in excellent condition, re-presenting royal and ecclesiastical personages, and all, with the exception of the four on the doors, carry inscribed scrolls; there is also an ancient stone octagonal font covered by a carved oak canopy bearing the date 1635 and the initials T.L.: on the south wall of the chancel is a brass to John Garbrand D.D. 1589, a former rector; in the floor is another to Thomas Hackett esq. 1689; a third is recorded to Robert Latymer esq. 1547, and Catherine his wife, and one to Elizabeth, wife oI Nicholls Hackett esq. 1690, and on the chancel floor a memorial to Elizabeth (d. 1687). wife, first of Thomas Giffard (d. 1638) and secondly, of Thomas White: there are 260 sittings, partly free.