Aldbury Church
St John the Baptist Church, Aldbury
Client: Friends of Aldbury Church
Services:
Flintwork
Stonework
Lime Mortar
Mathias’s extensive experience in restoring ecclesiastical buildings, including our stone and flint skills, saw us appointed as project lead to carry out restoration and repairs on Aldbury Church. Dating back as far as the 13th Century, the church was showing areas of weathering and frost damage, with decayed stone and missing flint and mortar.
Working with stone, matured over centuries, required very specific replacement, along with right shade of shelter coat, to ensure the restored areas blended seamlessly. This included both structural and decorative features on the external facades, as well as specific repairs to the internal tomb.
Stone, matured over centuries required the right shade of shelter coat, to ensure conserved areas blended seamlessly
Project Gallery
About Aldbury Church
The Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist is a good example of the early English style, dating from the 13th century. Parts of the chancel and nave date back to the 1200’s, enlarged in the 1300’s. The church was heavily restored between 1866–67, by Edward Browning, removing two Romanesque arches from the nave and remodelling the exterior with flint, rubble masonry and Totternhoe stone.
An ornate Pendley Chapel, sited in the eastern end of the nave, was originally installed in 1575. This chapel houses two notable tombs, one being Edmund Verney, the royalist soldier and favourite of King Charles 1, slain at the Battle of Edge Hill in 1599, lending his name to the ‘Verney Chapel’. The other notable intern is Sir Robert Wittingham. A nobleman slain at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.
Today the church sits south-west of the particularly attractive and equally historical village of Aldbury, with its world-famous stocks sitting aside the picturesque village pond. The church hosts a weekly Church of England service and remains well-supported by its supporting charities and patrons around the region.