St Mary's Church, Woodford is the ancient parish church for

Woodford Woodford may refer to: Places Australia *Woodford, New South Wales *Woodford, Queensland, a town in the Moreton Bay Region *Woodford, Victoria Canada * Woodford, Ontario England *Woodford, Cornwall * Woodford, Gloucestershire *Woodford, Greate ...

in east London, on the High Road in what is now

South Woodford South Woodford is an area of east London, England, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It adjoins Woodford Green to the north, Walthamstow to the west, Snaresbrook and Wanstead to the south and Redbridge to the east, and is north-east of ...

in the

London Borough of Redbridge The London Borough of Redbridge is a London borough established in 1965. The borough shares boundaries with the Epping Forest District and the ceremonial county of Essex to the north, with the London Borough of Waltham Forest to the west, the ...

. It is known to have existed by the 12th century. Its rector in the 1520s was

John Larke John Larke (fl. c. 1500 - died 7 March 1544) was an English Catholic priest and martyr, who was executed during the reign of Henry VIII. Larke was a notable personal friend of Thomas More, Lord High Chancellor of England. Larke was beatified in ...

. Its medieval west tower and spire were in dangerously poor repair by 1705 and in 1708 it was replaced with a brick tower The medieval church was substantially rebuilt in brick in the

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

in 1816. Population expansion led to the construction of the new churches of St Paul's in 1854 and All Saints in 1874, both within the parish. Prior to a 1969 arson attack, the interior of St Mary's contained several wall monuments and tombs, including the tomb of Bridget, widow of Alexander Staples and eldest daughter of Sir John Ernle,

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

to Charles II and

James II James II may refer to: * James II of Avesnes (died c. 1205), knight of the Fourth Crusade * James II of Majorca (died 1311), Lord of Montpellier * James II of Aragon (1267–1327), King of Sicily * James II, Count of La Marche (1370–1438), King C ...

. The current interior is modern. The church is fitted with a 3-manual Grant, Degens and Bradbeer Organ which was built at a similar time to the organ of New College Oxford. The church was completely rebuilt in 1971-72. The churchyard hosts one of the

Great Trees of London Great Trees of London is a list created by Trees for Cities after the Great Storm of 1987, when the general public were asked to suggest suitable trees. Forty-one were chosen, with a further 20 added in 2008. In 2010, Time Out Guides Limited p ...

, a Copper Beech.

References

Mary's {{england-church-stub