old St.Mary's in March 2007
This old building seems to be Perpendicular in style (i.e. from about 1350); the nave, unusually, just two windows, one north, one south. The chancel was given new pews in 1802 and a number of other improvements followed, including a new pulpit and desk in 1805, a west gallery in 1814, a new east end to the chancel in 1819 and new tables of the ten commandments in 1820. By 1826 it seems that consideration was being given to enlarging the church and these resurfaced in 1839, transepts north and south being considered; however, the rector was ill and plans shelved (he died in 1843). The new rector decided that a new church altogether should be built at a more convenient site in the village.
new St.Mary's about 1900
On completion of the new church the old one was converted for use as a mortuary chapel as the graveyard remained open; this involved removing the galleries and pulling down the chancel, re-erecting the 1819 east window in the east wall. Sir Stephen Glynne in 1854 noted that the old church was "A poor, small church on top of a very high hill, having only a nave & Tower, the Chancel having been destroyed, & the Church is apparently now wholly abandoned". Further repairs to the old building were carried out in 1901 but in 1956 the lead was stolen from the roof and so the remaining fittings were removed and the building allowed to fall into ruin.
new St.Mary's in March 2007
The new church was built in 1848-1849 at the foot of the hill on which the old church stands. The architect was Thomas Smith of Hertford, who had built a new church at nearby Silsoe (which shared the same patron of the living) in 1831. The chancel was restored in 1879 and the original clerestory removed in repairs of 1966-1967.
Thanks to the Bedfordshire archives and records website for the above text and images
To the cache. You need to find the unusual numbers featured on the clock face and reading from 12 o'clock in a clock wise direction these are ABCD
The cache can be found at
N52 01.C(B-A)(C+A-B)
W000 24.(C-A)(B-(2xA))(D+D)
you are looking for a nano non magnetic cache, the cache is hidden outside of the church grounds. BYOP
While you are here, do take a walk up the hill to the old St. Marys Church Ruin and Pharisee's excellent cache GCKBA3 Darker Deeds at St. Mary's
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.
There is also a Church Micro Stats page found via the Bookmark list
Congratulations FTF Pumpkin67