Betjeman’s Best British Churches. Richard Surman
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There has been a certain amount of ill-considered restoration in the county, but in the main, save for the barbarous rebuilding of Cardington, the county has been well served by its church restorers.
FELMERSHAM: ST MARY – clustered piers of the crossing and delicate rood screen
DUNSTABLE: ST PETER – the western front freely mixes Norman and Early English forms
BEDFORD † St Mary
On corner of Cardington Road and St Mary’s Street
OS TL051493 GPS 52.1328N, 0.4656W
St Mary’s is from the Saxon/Norman period, with 16th- and 19th-century additions. There is a Norman crossing tower with Perpendicular top.
BEDFORD † St Paul
St Paul’s Square
OS TL049496 GPS 52.1354N, 0.4675W
This, the largest church in Bedford, is in its final form mainly a work of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but its magnificent silhouette and striking scale justify the process. The S. aisle with its porch is medieval, the former a fine two-storeyed structure of the 15th century. It is from this side that one first appreciates that the building is a ‘hall church’, its clerestory windows being directly over those of the aisles. The tower and spire are 19th century, a somewhat enriched reconstruction of an original 14th-century feature. F. C. Eden did much to improve the interior in the early 20th century, and the chancel is now a model of rubrical correctness. The late 20th-century W. door, a slightly anachronistic combination of 14th- and 15th-century details, is very fine in effect.
BLUNHAM † St Edmund and St James
7m/1km E. of Bedford
OS TL153511 GPS 52.1462N, 0.3163W
The church has a massive yet delicate sandstone and limestone tower, and is charmingly set in this thatch and whitewash village. The W. door is Norman, otherwise the predominant style is Perpendicular, including the fine stone screen between the chancel and the S. chapel.
CHALGRAVE † All Saints
6m/10km N.W. of Luton
OS TL008274 GPS 51.9362N, 0.5343W
Set on an isolated site on a plateau overlooking the Chiltern hills, All Saints has a wonderful unspoiled interior, no doubt due to its poverty. The 13th-century carving of the nave arcade capitals is very fine and belongs to the Totternhoe stone group mentioned later. There are 15th-century traceried bench-ends in the old pewing. The tower was reduced to its present height in 1889, consequent upon the failure of the Totternhoe stone as at Eaton Bray. Wall-paintings, impressive as an overall scheme, unusually feature St Martin, and heraldic shields fill the spandrels in the nave.
CLAPHAM † St Thomas of Canterbury
2m/3km N.W. of Bedford
OS TL034524 GPS 52.1609N, 0.4898W
Important for the enormous Saxon tower with Norman top stage, St Thomas of Canterbury has a 13th-century font and a 17th-century communion table. The chancel is by Sir George Gilbert Scott, 1861–2.
DEAN † All Saints
11m/18km N. of Bedford
OS TL046676 GPS 52.2969N, 0.4664W
Dean is a scattered and unspoiled village embowered in trees, and its church has a perfect country interior; the roofs are wonderful specimens belonging to the 15th-century remodelling, from which only the 13th-century chancel arch and the 14th-century tower and spire were retained. Fine screens are at the W. end of both chapels and across the chancel arch.
DUNSTABLE † St Peter
5m/8km W. of Luton
OS TL021218 GPS 51.8860N, 0.5175W
This truncated fragment of Dunstable Priory still has a grandeur, particularly in its fine Norman nave of c. 1150, which makes the disappearance of the eastern parts a tragedy. The W. front is a magnificent makeshift, Norman and Early English in combination, of which the most lovely feature is the N.W. door, a sumptuous 13th-century creation loaded with ornament. Restored by Bodley in 1900 and later by Richardson. Scholarly re-creation of the Norman vaulting of the S. aisle, based upon the survival of three bays at the E. end. How much of the original material has been re-used is hard to tell, but the general effect greatly enhances the monastic character of the building.
EATON BRAY: ST MARY THE VIRGIN – decorative corbel in the south arcade
EATON BRAY † St Mary the Virgin
3m/4km W. of Dunstable
OS SP969207 GPS 51.8767N, 0.5925W
A complete 15th-century reconstruction and W. tower effectively conceal the interior core of the original 13th-century building, which has nave arcades of absolute and quite unexpected magnificence. That on the N. is the richer, with deep mouldings and conventional leaf-carving on the capitals, a tour de force of craftsmanship. On the S. arcade the decoration is simpler and the mouldings plainer, but the corbels at each end are wonderfully detailed. The 13th-century font is richly carved to match the N. arcade. The village may well have been the centre of the Totternhoe stone school of carving. Thomas of Leighton may have been responsible for the 13th-century foliated ironwork on the S. door; similar scrollwork can be found at All Saints, Leighton Buzzard.
ELSTOW † St Mary and St Helen
2m/3km S. of Bedford
OS TL049473 GPS 52.1149N, 0.4693W
A church of monastic foundation, this truncated but magnificent remnant of a Norman cruciform church is the central feature of an attractive village. The W. front was begun in the 13th century, but was never finished; it decayed until sensitive restoration by Professor Richardson in the mid-20th century. Two coeval 13th-century bays remain at the W. end inside, the rest being massive Norman work. The detached 15th-century bell-tower, witness to the religious doubts of the young John Bunyan, who was born nearby, completes a noble composition.
FELMERSHAM † St Mary
6m/10km N.W. of Bedford
OS SP991578 GPS 52.2099N, 0.5505W
On a superb site looking out over the Great Ouse, St Mary’s was begun in 1220 and finished in 20 years – the finest Early English church in the county. The W. front is a noble arcaded composition. The raising of the nave walls in the 15th century to give a low pitched roof and clerestory, with a tower in place of an intended spire, created a fine four-square composition. There is competent restoration in the chancel, carried out by J. Brandon in 1853–4, when he reinstated lancet windows to match the existing. The interior is wonderful, particularly the great clustered piers of the crossing contrasting with the delicacy of an excellent 15th-century screen.
KEMPSTON † All Saints
2m/3km S.W. of Bedford across R. Ouse
OS TL015479 GPS 52.1209N, 0.5185W
Set by the river, All Saints is Perpendicular outside, including the tower. Inside are a 12th-century chancel arch and Early English arcades.
KNOTTING † St Margaret
4m/6km S.E. of Rushden
OS TL002634 GPS 52.2603N, 0.5324W
Churches Conservation Trust
A delightful church with Norman nave, 13th-century chancel and transept and W. tower dated 1615. There are simple 16th- and 17th-century furnishings, and chancel gates dated 1637.
LEIGHTON