A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



The church of ST. M^RT, one of 



CHURCH the largest and finest parish churches in 



England, stands in a large churchyard, 



bounded on the north and east by Church Street and 



St. Mary's Street. 



The building is cruciform, with a chancel 49 ft. by 

 2 5 ft. ; north vestry of two stories, 1 8 ft. square ; north 

 or Wenlock Chapel, 25 ft. east to west by 33 ft. ; 

 north transept, 24 ft. by 32 ft. ; south transept of 

 similar dimensions, with the Hoo Chapel to the east, 

 14 ft. wide; nave, including the crossing, 98 ft. by 

 25 ft., with north and south aisles 13 ft. wide, north 

 and south porches with parvises above, and a western 

 tower about 1 8 ft. square. All these measurements 

 are internal. 



In spite of much enlargement and rebuilding, 

 enough is left to show that a cruciform church existed 

 here in the twelfth century, and the arches still exist- 

 ing in the west walls of the transepts prove that the 

 nave had north and south aisles by the end of the 

 century, if not earlier. 



About the year 1230 the chancel seems to have 

 been extended eastward to its present limits, and it is 

 possible that the transepts may have been enlarged at 

 the same time, but the evidence is not conclusive. 

 In the fourteenth century a general enlargement of 

 the church was undertaken, beginning with the addi- 

 tion of the present western tower, which was to take 

 the place of the old central tower. The arcades and 

 aisles on both sides followed, the new work being 

 built &om the west eastwards to the crossing. The 

 arches at the crossing were then built in place of 

 those carrying the central tower, the opening to the 

 west of the crossing being probably closed in by a 

 temporary wall. It is noticeable that the western 

 jambs of the transept arches are not fully developed 

 like those of the eastern, but are set as far westward 

 as possible, as though to avoid the destruction of some 

 existing work, doubtless the side arches of the central 

 tower, which would not be removed till the new work 

 was ready to take their place. There was probably 

 some short pause between the work on the west tower 

 and the nave arcades, as the western responds on both 

 sides have a different section from that of the arcade 

 piers ; they are of three engaged shafts, and had the 

 arcades followed immediately the piers would probably 

 have been of four engaged shafts to match the re- 

 sponds, instead of having a plain octagonal form. It 

 is curious to note that when the south arcade met the 

 eastern work it was found that, owing to some slight 

 discrepancy in the setting out of the bays, there was 

 not room for a semioctagonal respond ; to narrow the 

 archway would have entailed new centering, and rather 

 than do this the difficulty was overcome by making 

 the respond of less projection. 



In the fourteenth century also the transepts were 

 enlarged and chapels equal in depth to the transepts 

 added on the east ; the chapel on the north side was 

 probably of the same depth as that on the south (now 

 called the Hoo Chapel), but the arcade is of earlier 

 and better detail. The lower story of the vestry, to 

 the north of the chancel, with its stone vault, was the 

 work of this century, as were also the porches to the 

 nave. 



Shortly before 1 46 1 "" Lord Wenlock pulled down 

 the east and north walls of the chapel east of the 

 north transept and extended it to the west wall of 



the vestry, at the same time piercing the wall into the 

 chancel and inserting the two beautiful arches (or, 

 rather, double arch) there ; the rood stair was either 

 built at the same time or altered to make more 

 room for this opening, as was also the doorway into 

 the vestry from the east. Alterations amounting 

 almost to a rebuilding were carried out in the chancel 

 by the abbey of St. Albans, as rector, and nearly all 

 the windows in the church were replaced by larger 

 ones at different times during this century. At the 

 same period the four western bays of the north 

 arcade were rebuilt, probably for structural reasons, 

 and the clearstory added. There appears to have 

 still been a wall across the western arch of the 

 crossing, as the corbel heads supporting the jacks of 

 the trusses do not look north or south as the others, 

 but are given a quarter turn to the west. The 

 corbels to the roo6 of the chancel and the crossing 

 are of much coarser detail than those of the nave, 

 and are doubtless of the early sixteenth century ; it 

 is probable that the space between the nave and 

 crossing was entirely cleared at this time. The upper 

 story to the vestiy and the stair turret to it are also 

 of this date ; a fifteenth-century window on the 

 north of the chancel was blocked up by their addi- 

 tion. The small chantry just west of the sedilia in 

 the chancel was built by Richard Barnard, vicar, 



H77-9*- 



The church was completely restored by the late 



G. E. Street, R.A., between the years 1865 and 

 1885. The east wall of the chancel was rebuilt, a 

 triplet of lancets in thirteenth-century style re- 

 placing the fifteenth-century window which then 

 existed. They purport to be a ' restoration ' of the 

 original thirteenth-century lancets, whose sills were 

 found in the wall when it was taken down. Most of 

 the outside face of the walls and window tracery has 

 been renewed, and new doorways have been made in 

 the south wall of the Hoo Chapel and in the west 

 wall of the tower. 



The tower is now (April, 1 907) undergoing a 

 complete external repair, the buttresses, which are 

 very much perished, having to be entirely refaced. 



The three lancets in the east wall of the chancel 

 have round jamb-shafts both outside and inside, the 

 latter being of marble ; the arches are two-centred 

 and plain. Externally the three lancets are inclosed 

 by a large shallow arched recess. 



The piscina and sedilia in the south wall have 

 cinquefoiled ogee heads with rich crocketed canopies 

 and carved cornice, and are divided by square shafts 

 set diagonally with moulded bases and capitals and 

 surmounted by crocketed finials. In the canopy are 

 eight shields, whose colours suggest that they have 

 been repainted. The first and the eighth shield have 

 the arms commonly attributed to Abbot John of Wheat- 

 hampstead. Gules a cheveron between three groups of 

 three wheatears or ; the second and seventh shields 

 are Argent two cheverons between three roses gules ; 

 the third has three crowns, no doubt intended for the 

 shield of St. Oswin, Gules three crowns or, although 

 the field is painted blue ; the fourth has the golden 

 saltire on blue of St. Alban ; the fifth is easily recog- 

 nized as the four lions of St. Amphibal, although 

 the painting of this shield is quite different from that 

 of the arms attributed to the saint — Quarterly gules 

 and or with four lions countercoloured — as they 



"OHarl. MSS. 1531, fol. 15. 

 368 



