Weston Turville, Buckinghamshire

St. Mary (parish church)

The church of St. Mary, is an ancient building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, vestry (serving also as organ chamber), north and south porches, and an embattled western tower with hexagonal turret containing 5 bells: the chancel is unusually lofty, having been raised in the 15th century to receive an open-timbered roof which rests on a massive wall plate, carved with quatrefoils, inclosing shields; the ridge line of the older roof is distinctly marked on the western wall: the east window is of three lights, with flowing tracery in the head, and has a small demi-flgure of the Madonna and Child: on the south side, projecting from the wall, is a double piscina of Early English date: within the communion rails are two carved chairs of Elizabethan or Jacobean date, one of which is unusually wide and has a hinged back, which, being reflexed, converts the whole into a table: within recesses, in the south wall, are portions of the earlier church and some sculptured figures discovered during the restoration of 1860: there is a mural monument of marble on the south side, with fluted pilasters and a boldly-moulded pediment with arms, to the Rev. John Tipping M.A. rector until 1722: on the north side is a marble mural tablet, with effaced shield, to the Rev. John Taylor S.T.P. 27 years rector here, 1774, Mary his wife, 1779, and Danvers, their eldest son, 1771: in one of the chancel windows on the south side are the arms of John of Ghent, Duke of Lancaster: the chancel generally is Decorated, and north of the chancel arch, under a tall and narrow arch in the eastern pier of the arcade, are the remains of the rood-loft steps: the nave, also Decorated, is of five bays, with clustered columns and moulded arches supporting a clerestory, lighted by four windows on either side; the roof is of timber and plaster, and dates from the late 15th century: the north aisle retains its original roof and in one of the windows is a shield of arms, beneath a canopy, assigned to the family of Gernor or Horwood: the south aisle exhibits in its windows some elegant examples of Flamboyant tracery; two of these are segmental headed and have interior hood mouldings, and the east window and two others retain some ancient foliated glass in the heads: the font, placed in this aisle. of the Aylesbury style, late 12th century, consists of a fluted basin with elaborate scroll ornament round the edge, resting on a square-cushioned base, similarly carved, with chevron and cable moulding: the tower occupies the whole of the westernmost bay of the nave, the arches of which are connected by smaller and perfectly plain arches cut through the tower walls; towards the east a lofty narrow arch opens from the nave to the lower stage of the tower, which has a good Perpendicular window of three lights; in the south wall of the tower, within the church, is a recessed arched ledge, and on the floor below a stone inscribed to Mr. Henry Babham, 1719: the pulpit is of Tudor or Jacobean date, hexagonal in shape, well carved in panels and rests on a modern base: there are some remains of a carved wood screen in the south aisle, which has also a trefoil-headed piscina and several large brackets: the church was restored in 1860, and the chancel in 1879, the floor of which was considerably raised and laid down with tiles, some being reproductions of old tiles found in the church: new stalls and desks of carved oak were fitted: a new organ was erected in 1890 and the church was further renovated in 1901: the chancel and nave were re-roofed in 1921: the side chapel at the east of the south aisle was restored in 1925; it was later furnished as a memorial to Mrs. Kennedy Cooke, wife of a former rector; the reredos was erected in memory of the late Rev. George Kennedy Cooke M.A. who died in 1932: the church has 300 sittings. There is a lych gate.