St.Mary's Church in Hardmead
Hardmead had once been the focal point for the farming community, boasting a two room school house, and the wonderful Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Much of the church dates from the 13th and 15th centuries, but traces of an older church are found in the porch, where fragments of a broken carved Norman font have been built into the walls.
The nave and tower were built in the mid-13th century. A few decades later, the south aisle was added to the nave. As the congregation grew and more space was needed, in the 14th century, the north aisle was added. Shortly after this, the chancel was rebuilt to its current design.
At the turn of the 15th century, the south porch was erected. Later in that century, the nave was heightened, and the clerestory, a row of windows, was added to allow light to fill the body of the nave.
Monuments to the Catesby family can be found in the north aisle. The Catesbys held the manor at Hardmead throughout the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. (Robert Catesby, Gunpowder Plot conspirator, was from a branch of this Catesby family.) One especially interesting monument is to Francis Catesby. He died in 1636, and his effigy is depicted as lying on a bed of books!
In the chancel, is a terrific carving of the schooner yacht, “Nancy Dawson”. This marble monument remembers Robert Shedden, who died in 1849 searching the Arctic for the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin. The infamous ships of Terror and Erebus. Some may know from the recent TV series 'Terror'.
By the mid 20th century, following devastating losses during WWI and WW2, Hardmead, as with many rural English hamlets, became abandoned as decimated populations gave up working the land and moved to urban areas.
Despite being listed Grade I, with no congregation, St Mary’s had become derelict and was set to be sold for a domestic conversion in 1982. That's when the charity Friends of Friendless Churches stepped in and, with the help of local supporters, took this wonderful church into their care.
In 2021 and 2022 The church restoration was awarded grants from the Culture Recovery Fund, ensuring new roofs and crenellations, new drainage, masonry repairs, glazing repairs and internal replastering and redecoration.
Entering the beautiful yet humble St. Mary's, one is carried back to a time when families from all across the fields would down their farm tools, put on Sunday best, and walk to church.
St. Mary's Church, Hardmead
Photos taken with an iPhone 11.
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