Historical Information

Plan of St Mary's Church, Eaton Bray

The South Door

As you enter the church by the south door you will notice some very fine late 13th century ironwork consisting of three hinges with ornamental scroll work and a scroll ornament at the top of the door. It is attributed to the Bedfordshire iron worker, Thomas, a native of Leighton, who also made the iron grille of Queen Eleanor's tomb in Westminster Abbey.

During the restoration of the church in the 1890s, the iron works was removed in 4 complete pieces and replaced on the new door by Jeffrey Sharrett, builder and farmer of Yew Tree Farm, Eaton Bray, who died on 30th April 1930 aged 81. Quite a feat of workmanship!

The Lady Chapel

To the right of the south door is the small Lady Chapel with beatiful stonework around the east window. The stained glass in the window was designed and installed in 1900. There is also a memorial plaque to George Edward Whyley who was vicar of the parish for 46 years from 1825 - 1870 and another plaque dated 1934, to Mrs Edith Brandom, caretaker at the church. Among her duties were the cleaning and filling of the oil lamps for the sum of 3/- per week. Electric lighting was installed in the church in 1928.

The Nave

The north arcade is a perfect example of the style of architecture of the 13th century. It consists of five bays with richly moulded arches resting on columns of eight shafts with beautifully carved foliate capitals.

The south arcade also has five bays but the columns are carved with foliage of a much plainer character.

It is possible to see the line of the of the 13th century roof above the arches of the columns. The roof was raised during the 15th century when the clerestory windows were added.

If you stand in the centre of the church (or look at the plan, above) you will notice that the axis of the chancel is off-set slightly. It has been suggested that this represents Christ's head leaning on the cross.

The Corbels

If you stand in the nave and look up, you can see brightly painted corbels. These are worth studying as they apparently represent people living in the village during the 15th century restoration of the church - although one wonders about the little monkey which is to be found at the side of the Lady Chapel! It is only in recent years that they have been painted in distinctive, bright colours.

The Chancel

The chancel arch dates from 1320, though the chancel seems to have been rebuilt in the 15th century together with the nave chapels. The glass in the east window commemmorates the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary. The reredos, (carved screen), depicts scenes from the life of Christ and contains statues of the four Evangalists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It was added in 1951 by May Oates and Harriett Gray in memory of their parents, William and Annie Wallace, whose family business was an important carnation-growing nursery in Eaton Bray.

On the south east side of the chancel, there is a 13th century 'piscina' with a deep basin which was used for washing sacred vessels after mass.

Under the north east window is the panelled altar tomb of Lady Jane Bray who died on 5th March 1539. She had ten daughters and one son and her memorial brass reads, chillingly:

"I, Jane, the doughter of Edmond Lord Bray
Under this stone lieth closed in clay
All ye my frendys I pray you pray for me
For as ye ar so I was and as I am so shalt ye be
Oblit V die Marcij ano dni MCCCCCXXXIX"

The North Chapel

Henry Stonestreet, vicar from 1696 until his early death at the age of 44 in 1714, is believed to be buried by the North Chapel. A slate memorial tablet to him, let into the floor is still legible.

On the north side of this Chapel, which is also known as the Sacrament Chapel, is a beautiful, modern, stained glass window in memory of Sheila Twivy, donated in 1996 by her husband, Dr Sam Twivy. The window depicts Holy Communion and is decorated with many of the flowers that Sheila loved.

Thatching Hooks

On the rear wall of the nave on either side of the organ there are two great iron and oak thatching hooks. They are curious objects that always cause comment from visitors to the church who wonder about their purpose. Their story is that they were used to drag burning thatch from cottages in the village before the days of the fire engine. It is possible that the original church on this site was also thatched. The hooks would have needed several strong men to manoeuvre them!

The Organ

There is evidence in church records of an organ in the church since 1840. The current organ, however, is very recent in origin, having been installed in 1991. For the technically minded, it is a two manual tracker action instrument of comprehensive specification which includes mutations, mixture and a pedal reed. The organ was built in 1991 by Peter Collins, then of Redbourn, Herts.

A fund raising committee was formed under the chairmanship of Graham Chappell, churchwarden, and after much hard work, donations and sponsorship, the necessary �55,000 was raised within 4 years.

The opening recital was given on 7th December 1991 by John Scott, Director of Music at St Pauls Cathedral.

The Font

The font which is near the south door, is of 13th century origin. It has a round bowl on a central column. The four detached columns surrounding the central one have capitals beautifully carved with foliage like that of the north aisle. The font was restored in 1855. The wood cover was added in 1923 to the memory of Reverend and Mrs Charles E. J. Carter 1916-1919. It is fascinating to think of all the thousands of families who have brought their children to the church to be baptised in this historic and beautiful font.

Footnote

The information on this page has been taken from the guide book to the church which is on sale in the church price 50p.

The guide book, edited by Margaret Jones, has ilustrations by Alf Hall, Philip Johnson and Russ Harrison and photographs by Eileen Bennett. It contains much more about the history of the church and the village of Eaton Bray than has been reproduced here.