St Mary & St Nicholas, Chetwode

St Mary and St Nicholas is a Grade I former Augustinian priory church, now the parish church of Chetwode, Buckinghamshire, in the Diocese of Oxford.

Overview

Historic England records that the present nave and chancel were the Early English chancel of a priory founded in 1244. The west section serves as the nave; the east end, with five stepped lancets, is the chancel. A north transeptal chapel was rebuilt in the seventeenth century as the Chetwode Chapel, incorporating a Decorated window. The west tower is fifteenth- or sixteenth-century. The church was appropriated as the parish church about 1480, when the older parish church of St Martin by the manor house was reduced to a chapel. RCHME notes a substantial rebuild about 1820 reusing thirteenth- and fourteenth-century fabric; Buckinghamshire’s heritage record attributes an 1868 restoration to Sir Gilbert Scott.

The south wall has an Early English arcade over piscina, sedilia and priest’s door with dogtooth ornament. Thirteenth-century glass survives in the central light of a south window, with fourteenth-century glass in the flanking lights. The east window has glass signed by William Holland, 1842. The listing also notes a monument to Mary Risley (1668) and painted panels of 1696 recording repairs by W. Lawley.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1211496
• RCHME Buckinghamshire: Chetwode
• Buckinghamshire Heritage Portal