---
title: "St Mary the Virgin, Stevington"
description: "Located in Stevington, Bedfordshire. Built Saxon west tower; C14 nave, aisles and chancel chapels; C15 clerestory and tower top; restored 1871. Diocese of St Albans. Grade I. Anglo-Saxon tower with Decorated nave and Perpendicular clerestory style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Bedfordshire","Stevington","Grade I","Anglo-Saxon","Decorated","Henry Clutton"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/stevington-st-mary-virgin"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:47:48.828Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T00:34:38.863Z"
location: "Stevington, Bedfordshire"
country: "England"
county: "Bedfordshire"
town: "Stevington"
address: "Church Road, Stevington, Bedfordshire, MK43 7QB"
postcode: "MK43 7QB"
built: "Saxon west tower; C14 nave, aisles and chancel chapels; C15 clerestory and tower top; restored 1871"
architect: "Henry Clutton (restoration 1871)"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Mary"]
diocese: "St Albans"
grade: "I"
style: "Anglo-Saxon tower with Decorated nave and Perpendicular clerestory"
website: "https://www.stevington.org.uk/"
openingHours: "Open daily 10am to 5pm summer; 10am to 4pm winter. Should the church be closed, a number is available to ring on the noticeboard in the porch"
parish: "Stevington"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310202"
gridReference: "SP 990 536"
accessNotes: "Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Ramp or level access available on request"
---

# St Mary the Virgin, Stevington

St Mary the Virgin is a Grade I parish church on Church Road, Stevington, Bedfordshire, in the Diocese of St Albans: an Anglo-Saxon tower with a fourteenth- and fifteenth-century church beside an ancient holy well.

## Overview

Historic England lists a church whose west tower is Saxon below belfry level, with a Perpendicular top. Nave and both aisles are fourteenth-century, the south aisle probably earlier than the north. North and south chancel chapels are also fourteenth-century but now unroofed and ruinous. The fifteenth-century clerestory has a fine nave roof with figures holding shields of the Passion and woolpacks with merchants’ initials. A high Perpendicular screen of one-light divisions now stands under the tower. Front benches have good sixteenth-century poppyheads. A brass to Thomas Salle (d.1422) is 32 inches long. Victorian restoration of 1871 was by Henry Clutton.

Bedford Borough archives note long-and-short quoins to the tower and a high, narrow, rough-hewn Anglo-Saxon arch on the south wall of the tower, with a contemporary splayed window retaining original woodwork. Wikipedia records a first church on the site from about 880 and later work completed about 1480; a rebuilding of 1872 was sponsored by the Duke of Bedford. The church is open daily (10am to 5pm in summer, 10am to 4pm in winter), with accessible toilets and level access.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1310202](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310202)
- [Stevington village](https://www.stevington.org.uk/)
- [Bedford Borough: Stevington church architecture](https://bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk/CommunityHistories/Stevington/StevingtonChurchArchitecture.aspx)