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St Nicolas, Taplow, Buckinghamshire

Location
(51°31′56″N, 0°41′11″W)
Taplow
SU 912 823
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Buckinghamshire
now Buckinghamshire
  • Ron Baxter
  • Ron Baxter
31 August 2022 (RB)

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Feature Sets
Description

Taplow is a village in the South Buckinghamshire district of the county, 1 mile E of Maidenhead on the opposite bank of the Thames. The church is in the village centre, facing the High Street and the village green, but it formerly stood at the W end of the village, near Taplow Court. It was pulled down in 1828 and replaced by a new church on the present site at that time. This was a plain brick church which received a new chancel in 1865, then in 1911-12 that church was rebuilt in stone by Fellowes Prynne in its present 14thc style, Re-used spolia from the medieval building include 17thc panelling in the N transept, various brasses at the E end of the nave, and the 12thc Purbeck base of the font. The old font bowl itself remains under the tower.

History

Taplow was held as a manor by Asgot, a man of Earl Harold in 1066, and by Roger from Bishop Odo of Bayeux in 1086. It was assessed at 8 hides and 1 virgate, and also had a fishery rendering 1,000 eels, meadow for 1 plough and woodland for 700 pigs. When the bishop forfeited his lands it passed to the Honour of Leicester and the Duchy of Lancaster, which retained the tenancy in chief throughout the Middle Ages. The tenancy passed from Roger to the Bolbecs and the Turvilles, and in 1197 William de Turville and his wife Isabel subinfeudated Taplow to the Priory of Merton, which retained the tenancy until the Dissolution. The advowson to the church was held by Merton Priory until 1271 when a claim to it was made by the Prior of Chalcombe and the intermediary lords, descended from the Turvilles.

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

The RCHME report was published in 1911, and describes the 1828 church that was still standing before the present one was built. At that time the font appears to be in its present state, therefore the old bowl must have been replaced. Its condition would correspond to its having been outside until recently (it is not mentioned by Pevsner (1994) or VCH (1925)).

Bibliography

N. Pevsner and E. Williamson, Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire. London 1960, 2nd ed. 1994, 689.

RCHME, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Buckingham. Volume 1 (south). London 1912, 293-94.

Victoria County History: Buckinghamshire. III (1925), 240-45.