The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Buckinghamshire (pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales))
Parish church
The development of Milton Keynes that was to absorb the village of Shenley Church End did not begin until the mid-1980s, and it is now on the SW edge of that conurbation. Its name, along with that of Shenley Brook End to the S, indicates that the medieval village was in a forest clearing, and indeed part of Shenley Wood survives to the W. Although the area is dominated by the curving streets and pastiche houses of the New Town, it retains a further trace of its medieval past in the motte, called the Toot, to the S of the church.
The church is cruciform with a central tower, aisled and clerestoried nave with a S porch, transepts, and chancel with a N vestry. Romanesque interest centres on the chancel, of c.1200 with windows with nook-shafts inside and out and the remains of a vault in the form of a corbelled wall-shaft with elaborate capitals. The presence of a blocked plain 12thc lancet in the E wall of the S transept suggests that the present chancel is not the original one. The S arcade is crude work of c.1200 or a few years later, certainly not by the sophisticated workshop responsible for the chancel. The N arcade is later still. Both arcades are of 4 bays, and their E bays were cut back when heavy buttresses were inserted to support the crossing tower. All details of this are 15thc, and it must have been rebuilt at that time. The aisle windows are 14thc, as are those of the clerestory, and the latter are more elaborate on the S side than the N (as are the chancel windows). These facts, together with the presence of a S porch, indicates that this was the side of normal approach originally, but now the church is approached from the N and worshippers must walk around it to gain entry. The N vestry was added in the 19thc. Features recorded here are the chancel windows and vaulting shaft and the S nave arcade.
Parish church
Little Missenden is a village towards the S of the county, 2 miles W of Amersham in the Chiltern hills. The village extends for approximately a mile along the S bank of a stream, the Misbourne. The church stands in the centre of the village, and consists of nave, chancel and W tower with aisles to the nave and a long N chapel, extending further E than the chancel. It is constructed of small flints, pudding stone and assorted stone rubble. The nave is 11thc, perhaps pre-Conquest, and the chancel arch and one S and two N windows date from this phase. In the 12thc the nave walls were pierced with arcading and the aisles added. This was carried out in two stages; the S c.1120 and the N c.1160-80. The short chancel has 13thc windows on the S and E, and the N chapel has 14thc details except for a plain pointed lancet towards the E end of the S wall. This, according to the church guide, was recently discovered and set in its present position. The S doorway is also 14thc, and its timber-framed porch is 15thc, as is the W tower with its polygonal S stair and embattled parapets. The church fell into disrepair between the 15thc and the 18thc, and in 1711 it was restored in brick. The S aisle windows date from this restoration. The church is justly celebrated for its 13thc to 14thc wallpaintings, including a Crucifixion (on pier 2 of the N arcade), and a large St Christopher and a St Catherine cycle on the N arcade wall. The chancel arch and nave arcades are described here, along with the font, one of the Aylesbury type.
Parish church
Little Marlow is a village in the Wycombe district of Buckinghamshire, on the N bank of the Thames which forms the boundary between Buckinghamshire and the Unitary Authority of Windsor and Maidenhead at this point. The nearest large towns are High Wycombe, 3 miles NW, and Maidenhead, 4 miles S. The church stands at the S end of the village, alongside the manor. It consists of a chancel with a S chapel, a nave with N and S aisles and a N porch, and a W tower. Alongside the tower are modern N and S vestries. Construction is of flint rubble with clunch quoins and brick repairs, except for the N porch, which is timber framed on an old brick base, and the vestries which are timber framed on modern brick bases. The church is 12thc in origin, as shown by the chancel arch and the arch to the S chancel chapel. The chancel was rebuilt in the 13thc, the N nave aisle and the W tower are 14thc, and the S aisle dates to the 15thc, at which time the S chapel was also rebuilt. The N porch is 16thc work, restored in 1902. The chancel and S chapel arch and the font, all plain, are recorded here.
Parish church
East Claydon is a village towards the N of central Buckinghamshire, 6 miles S of Buckingham. It stands on Sion Hill, overlooking the Vale of Aylesbury to the SE. East Claydon is one of a group of villages with that suffix, indicating a clayey hill, of which the largest is Steeple Claydon, 2½ miles to the W, and the others are Botolph Claydon and Middle Claydon. To the N are Claydon Hill, and Claydon Brook, a tributary of the Great Ouse. The village is little more than a cluster of dwellings around a meeting of three minor roads, with the church just off to the E, on the lane to Sion Hill farm.
St Mary’s consists of a nave with a N aisle, a S chapel and a S porch; a chancel with a N vestry and a W tower. The tall narrow nave must date from the 12thc at the latest, and the chapel was added at the E end of its S side in the early years of the 13thc. The small chapel windows are plain pointed lancets, but the arch from the nave is decorated with frontal sawtooth, a 12thc motif, old fashioned by the time the chapel was built. In the NE angle of the chapel is a rood-stair, and in the chapel’s N wall, E of the arch to the nave, is an open arch cut through in the 14thc or 15thc to give a view to the main altar. Around 1500 a clerestory was added, the nave walls were heightened and a parapet added, and a new N doorway was installed. The clerestory now survives in the S wall only, and its absence from the N may be connected to the widening in the nave in that direction that leaves the chancel arch slightly off-centre. The church underwent a major restoration at the hands of Scott in 1871, when the N aisle was added and the N doorway moved to the new outer wall. The widening of the nave probably dates from this campaign. The chancel arch is 14thc, with big figural capitals depicting angels and a devil. The chancel itself is 14thc too, but partly rebuilt; all its windows are by Scott. The vestry is also 19thc. The W tower is work of c.1500, with simple Perpendicular windows and bell-openings, a W doorway with a 4-centred arch, diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet. It is constructed of big, worn ashlar blocks, as are the rebuilt parts of the chancel, while the remainder of the church is of rubble blocks, roughly squared and approximately coursed. The arch from the nave to the N chapel is described below on account of its Romanesque vocabulary, although it almost certainly dates from the early 13thc.
Parish church
Fingest is a small village in the Chiltern Hills, surrounded by wooded rolling pasture. It consists of a few houses, a pub and the church clustered around a minor crossroads some 5 miles W of High Wycombe. The church is dominated by its 12thc W tower with a later twin gabled roof. It has an unaisled nave with a plain round-headed N lancet indicating a 12thc date, and a 13thc chancel with no chancel arch. Entry is through the timber S porch. The exterior is rendered, although much has been lost from the tower. Romanesque features recorded here are the tower bell-openings and tower arch.
Parish church
Great Kimble is a village in the Chiltern Hills, 4½ miles S of Aylesbury, on the A4010 road toHigh Wycombe. The village is on the western slopes of the wooded Beacon Hill. To the N of the village, between Great and Little Kimble, are earthworks typical of a motte and bailey castle, and to the SE is Pulpit Hill camp, an Iron Age hill fort. The church is in the centre of the village, alongside the main road. It has an aisled and clerestoried nave with 4-bay arcades dating from the late 13thc; a chancel rebuilt by J. P. Seddon in 1876-81, raised on four steps with N and S chapels (the N an organ room), each with a 2-bay arcade towards the chancel; and a 13thc W tower to which an embattled parapet has been added. Chequered flushwork-decorated parapets have also been added to the nave, aisle and chancel roofs, and this must be 15thc work (where it is nor Seddon’s). Construction is of flints with stone dressings. The only Romanesque work here is the font, one of the masterworks of the Aylesbury group.
Parish church
In 1960 when it was still a village, Pevsner noted that the manor house, almshouses and church were part of a vista that unfolded gradually. Today they are still isolated, despite being on the northern edge of Milton Keynes, but the two first named buildings now form part of an Arts Centre with studios, gallery space and a café. The church is on the N edge of this group, and consists of a tall clerestoried nave with a S aisle and N and S doorways under porches, the former contiguous with a N chapel, the latter projecting; a W tower of three storeys with an embattled parapet and a W doorway; and a chancel with a modern N vestry, and a S priests’ doorway. The oldest part is the tower, whose doorway and 2nd-storey windows appear to be 12thc (but see Comments below). The arch to the nave was replaced c1300, diagonal buttresses were added in the 15thc and the top storey in the 18thc. Excavations revealed that there was a smaller 12thc nave and chancel, and a 12thc S aisle, but nothing of these stands above the ground. The present nave is 13thc with a 14thc S arcade, and N chapel. The clerestory was probably added in the 15thc, although it now has 18thc windows. The chancel was also rebuilt in the 18thc and many windows were replaced at that time. Romanesque features described here are the W tower doorway and the 2nd-storey tower windows.
Parish church
Great Missenden is a village towards the S of the county, 4 miles NW of Amersham in theChiltern hills. The village extends for 2 miles along the valley of the river Misbourne; the High Street with the station and most of the residential area being on the W bank, while the church stands on the steeply-rising opposite bank, beyond the A413 Aylesbury to Amersham road that bypasses the village on its E side. The church stands in wooded land with Rook Wood some 300 yards to the S, and in the wood is Rook Wood Castle, a medieval enclosure with a ditch and bank that may have been a timber castle, and was occupied in the 12thc (pottery finds). The site of Missenden Abbey is 0.3 mile S of the church.
The church has an aisled nave with 4-bay 14thc arcades and a 15thc clerestory. The S aisle is wider than the N, and both aisles have 15thc windows. The E nave aisle bays on either side is in fact a transept, which dates from the 14thc, with one flowing tracery window in the S transept, two windows of c.1300 in the N transept, and other windows dating from the 15thc. The chancel is 14thc, with an elaborate wall arcade on the S and life-sized figures of St Peter andSt Paulin niches on the E wall. To the N of the chancel is a 19thc vestry. The embattled W tower has been broadened to the S, giving it a markedly rectangular plan. Construction is of small flints, and the nave clerestory and chancel walls are mortar rendered. The only Romanesque feature is the font, of the Aylesbury type.
Parish church
Haversham is a village on the N edge of Milton Keynes and the N bank of the River Great Ouse. It extends along the minor road linking Castlethorpe and Newport Pagnell with the church isolated on a short spur road to the S. St Mary's has a 12thc nave with 3-bay aisles, and a 13thc chancel, refenestrated in the 14thc, with an organ room on the S side. The nave apparently had no W tower originally but one was added in the 14thc, turning the W doorway into a narrow tower arch. The area under the tower is now largely occupied by lavatories, and there is a curtained-off kitchen area at the W end of the N aisle. The outstanding feature of the church is the alabaster effigy of a lady under a slightly older canopy, said to be that of Lady Clinton and dated to the 1420s. The nave W doorway and W window are the only features recorded here.
Parish church
Mentmore is in E central Buckinghamshire, 6 miles NE of Aylesbury, in the Domesday Hundred of Cottesloe. The village is now dominated by Mentmore Park, the house built by Joseph Paxton in the style of Wollaton Hall for Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild in 1850-55. The village of Mentmore is to the E of the estate, with the church at its W end, alongside the boundary of Mentmore Park. Mentmore Manor, an 18thc house, stands to the NE of the village. Mentmore is on rising land overlooking the broad arable and pasture land of the Vale of Aylesbury. Remains from the Roman and Anglo-Saxon periods have been found here.
The church consists of a nave with aisles and clerestory and a S porch, a W tower and a chancel with a N vestry, all refaced in small, regular blocks of a yellowish brown ashlar. The original nave aisles dated from that late 12thc, but only the capitals of the arcades remain, reused as bases to the present 14th-15thc arcade piers. These are clustered with castellated capitals. The aisle windows are of c1300 stylistically, but largely replaced; the clerestorey windows are 15thc. The chancel has 15thc windows too, and is partly of that date, but was largely rebuilt in G. H. Stokes’s enthusiastic restoration of 1858 which also added the N vestry and the S porch. The W tower is 15thc, of a common Buckinghamshire type with a corner turret (here at the SE) rising higher than the main parapet. The nave pier bases and the c1200 font are the only features recorded here.