swuklink: St John's Parish Church, Mildenhall, Wiltshire

St JOHNs PARISH CHURCHMildenhall, Wiltshire, England

OS Map Grid Ref: SU209696

Parish Church, Mildenhall

The parish church, at the southern extremity of Church Lane in Mildenhall, Wiltshire, is dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It is rare in that it retains its unspoilt Georgian interior from the refurbishment of 1816;

The colour as a whole is that of an old fiddle

... John Piper, 1949

You walk in to the church of a Jane Austen novel, into a forest of magnificent oak joinery . . .

... Sir John Betjeman (an old Marlburnian) in a 1948 broadcast

Visitors come to the church from all over Britain and abroad, especially from the United States of America, some claiming ancestry back to the parish.

ROMAN
There was a Roman town at Werg only some four hundred metres to the north of the church which is well documented as Cunetio. Although ancient graves facing the east have been discovered in the area, there is no firm evidence of a Christian church here before Saxon times.

SAXON
The Abbot of Glastonbury secured a plot of land here on which to build a new church in AD 804. The lower courses of the present tower are of Saxon origin, clearly showing the cornerstones between courses. It is possible that this may have been the only masonry-built part of the Saxon church.

The walls of the tower are about five feet thick and iclude a small window on the south side, now long filled in, which may have been a ' dole' window.

MEDIEVAL
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that the Church held Mildenhalle and that Edward held it from the Church. At the time of the survey, the parish contained about two hunred people - about half of the approximately 440 souls who live within the parish boundaries now. The hamlets or large farmsteads of Poulton or Stitchcombe are also recorded in the Domesday Book but possessed no churches of their own.
see also: Domesday record of Mildenhall

It is within the Church that the Norman influence of its builders can be trully appreciated in the perfect lines of the main pillars and their capitals which set its place in the history of the church - the six main arches of the nave with their stone columns form a textbook example of Norman architecture of the 12^th century when the main church building in masonry was commenced.

'Eve'

'Adam'
The column immediately on the left when entering the church through the south door carries two heads which may have been carved to represent Adam and Eve.

The main tower arch dates from about 1250 but the pointed arch at its apex is obscured by the gallery. The chancel arch, also pointed, is of later Early English date. The columns dividing the south aisle from the nave possess carved corbels and no two of these are the same.

The second column in the north aisle has the outline of a human figure which is believed to be part of a medieval wall painting - it is best seen from the centre aisle. This figure was only discovered during the restoration work of 1981.

THE 19^th CENTURY
By 1816, "the church was deeply in decay" and twelve members of the parish, men of wealth and influence, decided to refurish the interior under the guidance of the rector, Charles Francis.

It is recorded than one Gardner, a carver, was paid 6d. for every flower leaf which he carved.

A master carpenter and stone carver were employed to design and erect the shoulder-high box pews, gallery and matching pulpit and reading desk. The total cost of this refurbishment came to £2,000 - a very considerable sum in the early 19^th century. The names of the twelve benefactors of the church are set un shields under the the gallery.

THE 20^th CENTURY
It became very evident in 1980 that the fabric of the church was in poor condition due principally to the ravages of damp and dry rot in the woodwork and decay in the masonry. A fund was opened to restore it and, by 1982, after a period of some eighteen months, the church was repaired structurally, the wood was replaced with new oak, carvings re-made and a general restoration completed.

With generous aid from the Department of the Environment, the Wiltshire Historic Churches Trust, the Georgian Society and many others, together with a great effort on the part of the parishioners, nearly £37,000 was raised and the whole cost paid. The interior of the church now stands much as it did when the restoration of 1816 was completed. This work of 1980-82 is commemorated on a panel on the front fo the west gallery.

During the restoration, the three large hatchments were cleaned and restored.

No invisible behind the pannelling at the east end of the south aisle is a piscina indicating that there was a side chapel here at one time.

STAINED GLASS
The small panels of stained glass at the top of the east window are amongst the oldest in the county. One head is ascribed to Augustinius.

THE BELLS
There were originally three bells dating from 1596 but these were recast into aring of five by Wells of Aldbourne in 1801. A sixth bell, cast at the Whitechapel Foundry, was added in 1958.

MONUMENTS
The oldest memorial is in the sanctuary floor and dates from 1647.

Also in the sanctuary are memorials to Gordon Soames and his wife, he was rector here for 41 years, to Charles Francis, rector here and of Collingbourne Ducis and prebendary of Sarum.

THE ORGAN
The present instrument was built by Jones of Kensington and installed in 1894 as a memorial to Charles Soames, a former Rector. It was thoroughly overhauled in 1961 and again in 1996.

ALTAR FRONTAL
The church possesses an altar frontal dating from the reign of Charles II. This was restored in 1996 by the Sarum Group of Embroiderers and is used at Advent and Lent. A new frontal, lovingly made by parishioners, was presented to the church in 1982.

THE HATCHMENTS
The three large hatchments were cleaned and restored during the Restoration of 1980-82. One, the 'Resurgam' is that of the Rev. Charles francis. Another was used at the funeral of General Calecraft whose memorial stands in the Chancel. The third comes from the Nourse family of Woodlands.

RECTORS OF St JOHN's

Johannes de Knovyle is the first rector to be recorded here in 1297 and the list of incumbents is complete to the present day.

George Morley, rector here (1641), went on to become the first Bishop of Worcester and, in 1662, Bishop of Winchester. His portrait, painted in oils, hangs in the north-east corner stall - the "Bishop's Corner".

Closer to our own time, three successive incumbents have between them spanned a period of 122 years; Charles Soames, his son Gordon Soames, and Edward Courtman.

In 1985, Minal joined the Marlborough Team Ministry and the Team rector has pastoral care of the village, ensuring that services are held at the church every Sunday.

PARISH RECORDS
The parish registers of the 17^th century show that the Earl of Winchester was married to a local farmer's daughter from Woodlands in the church in September 1692.

CHURCH GUIDE
A guide is available from the church.

RECENT EVENTS
In 1992, the church was visited by HRH the Prince of Wales.

The church scenes fron the ITV production of Jane Austen's 'Emma' were filmed here in 1996.

The Millenium was marked by a stone plaque of the Lamb of St John the Baptist commissioned from the sculptor Sebastian brooke. It was installed in the east wall of the south porch on Millenium Eve, 1999. A sapling from a 2,000 year old yew tree was also planted in the churchyard.

St John's does not merely look to its long past but is consecrated as a fully active place of worship. Services are held here each Sunday: Parish Communion, Family Service, or occasionally Matins. These are at 10 am, and there is in addition, an early celebration of Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer) at 8 am on the first Sunday of the month.

In 1985, Minal joined the Marlborough Team Ministry and the Team rector has pastoral care of the village, ensuring that services are held at the church every Sunday.

Links to Other Pages on this Site

MILDENHALL VILLAGE
Parish Churches of Wiltshire
CHURCH ARCHITECTURE

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