St Edmund, King & Martyr, Hardingstone
St Edmund, King & Martyr, Hardingstone
St Edmund is a Grade II* ironstone parish church on High Street, Hardingstone, now a suburb of Northampton, in the Diocese of Peterborough.
- Location
- Hardingstone, Northamptonshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Northamptonshire
- City / town
- Hardingstone
- Address
- High Street, Hardingstone, Northamptonshire, NN4 6BZ
- Postcode
- NN4 6BZ
- Built
- Early 13th century onwards; restored 1868–69
- Architect
- Robert Palgrave of London (1868–69 restoration)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Edmund
- Diocese
- Peterborough
- Parish
- Hardingstone St Edmund
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Medieval Gothic with mid-18th-century remodelling
- Materials
- Coursed dressed ironstone rubble; chancel refaced in ashlar; lead and slate roofs
- Grid reference
- SP 763 578
- Opening hours
- Every day between 10 am and 4 pm, except for Wednesday mornings during term time. Keyholder details are on the noticeboard by the gate or contact 01604 760411.
- Access
- Ramp or level access available on request. Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets in church
Overview
Historic England dates the earliest visible fabric to the lower part of the west tower in the early thirteenth century. Aisles, chancel, north porch and the upper tower were added in the fourteenth century; a south chapel followed in the fifteenth century and the south porch in the early sixteenth. Mid-eighteenth-century work for Edward Bouverie of Delapré Abbey refaced the chancel in ashlar, rebuilt the upper tower with a battlemented parapet and obelisk pinnacles, and reroofed the church (cast lead letters on the south aisle roof read ‘The Honourable Edward Bouverie Esqr 1764’). Robert Palgrave of London restored the church in 1868–69, removing the eighteenth-century furnishings, replastering and renewing the east window. Further work in 1992–94 reopened the north door and porch.
Materials are largely coursed dressed ironstone rubble, with lead roofs to nave, chancel and north aisle and slate to the south aisle and porches. The plan is an aisled nave with north and south porches, a two-stage west tower and a chancel with south chapel. Monuments include alabaster tombs to the Harvey family and a large chancel monument to Bartholomew Clarke (d. 1746) by Rysbrack. The church is usually open daily, with keyholder details on the gate noticeboard.