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St Mary the Virgin, Ludgershall, Buckinghamshire

Location
(51°50′58″N, 1°2′35″W)
Ludgershall
SP 660 172
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Buckinghamshire
now Buckinghamshire
  • Ron Baxter
07 June 2016

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Feature Sets
Description

Ludgershall is a village in the Aylesbury Vale district of the county, 12 miles W of Aylesbury and close to the Oxfordshire border. The church is on the S side of the village, on the Brill road, and consists of a chancel, rebuilt in the 14thc, a nave with 4-bay N and S aisles whose arcades are 14thc with some striking capitals carved with large figures with linked arms. The W bays ofthe nave flank the 15thc W tower, and there is a 13-14thc S doorway under a 15thc porch. Construction is of limestone rubble. According to RCHME (1912) the entire church apart from the porch and the chancel were then covered with rough-cast. The only 12thc feature is the font.

History

Two manors were recorded in Ludgershall in the Domesday Survey. The Manor of Ludgershall, assessed at 9 hides, was held by the Bishop of Coutances in 1086 and by Eadgifu from Queen Edith in 1066. The second, assessed at 2 hides, was held by Aelfric, the chamberlain of King Edward in 1066 and by William fitzManni in 1086. The Manor of Ludgershall was not originally subinfeudated by the Bishop, but by 1190 it was held by the de Trailly family of Yelden in Bedfordshire. It remained in this family until the end of the 13thc, when John de Trailly enfoeffed it to William de Louth, later Bishop of Ely. For the later history of this manor, see VCH (1927).

The church was given to the Knights Hospitallers before the middle of the 13thc, and the advowson remained with the order until the 16thc.

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

RCHME and the VCH both date the font to the late 12thc, but it more probably belongs to the 1170s than the 1190s. The other writers in the bibliography merely call it Norman.

Bibliography

Historic England Listed Building 42482

N. Pevsner and E. Williamson, Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire.London 1960, 2nd ed. 1994, 452-53.

RCHME, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Buckingham. Volume 1 (south).London 1912, 249-52.

Victoria County History: Buckinghamshire. IV (1927), 68-73.