St Mary's Parish Church is a red brick

gothic 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 ...

style

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

in the parish of Upton cum Chalvey in the

borough of Slough The Borough of Slough is a Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough with Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority status in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, Southern England. The borough is centred around the town of Slough and i ...

and the

county of Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Built between 1876–8 to a design by

John Oldrid Scott John Oldrid Scott (17 July 1841 – 30 May 1913) was a British architect. Biography He was the son of Sir Gilbert Scott (George Gilbert Scott) and his wife Caroline (née Oldrid). His brother George Gilbert Scott Junior and nephew Sir Giles Gil ...

and partly funded through a personal donation by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

, it was again enlarged in 1911–1913, and is protected as a grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The grounds contain the grade II listed war memorial by the west door of the church, inscribed with over 300 names of the dead from Slough in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

World Wars. The walls and gates of the church yard are also protected grade II listed features. The church is located centrally in the parish, serving the Slough town centre. The church is linked to two schools in the area, Saint Mary's Church of England Primary School, in Upton, and Slough and Eton Church of England Secondary School, in Chalvey. The building regularly plays host to musical concerts, often including accompaniment on the organ

Organ

The church contains a

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

in the English Romantic style, built in 1912 by

Norman and Beard Norman and Beard were a pipe organ manufacturer based in Norwich from 1887 to 1916. History The origins of the company are from a business founded in Diss in 1870 by Ernest William Norman (1851–1927). In 1876 he moved to Norwich where he wen ...

. It features three manuals, 37 stops and over 2,400 pipes. It is pitched to the French diapason. At its dedication it was played by noted organist and composer Sir Walter Parratt.

Bells

The church tower is home to a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of ten bells, the tenor weighing 17½ cwt. The original bells were cast in 1619 by Richard Eldridge, of which only one survives. The nine newer bells were all cast by the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...

, the last two being added after the others as a memorial donation in 1949.

Notable people

* A

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window was designed in 1915 for St Mary's by artist and poet Alfred Wolmark. * The church hosted the funeral of

Letty Lind Letitia Elizabeth Rudge (21 December 1861 – 27 August 1923), known professionally as Letty Lind, was an English actress, singer, dancer and acrobat, best known for her work in burlesque at the Gaiety Theatre, and in musical theatre at Daly's ...

in 1923. * A lost work of

Eric Fogg Charles William Eric Fogg (21 February 190319 December 1939) was an English composer, conductor and BBC broadcaster. His early works were influenced by Igor Stravinsky, though his later pieces owe more to Granville Bantock and Richard Strauss a ...

, ''The Seasons'', was re-scored and performed at St Mary's Church on 13 September 2003 to celebrate the centenary of Fogg's birth.

Parish of Upton-cum-Chalvey

St Mary's is linked within the parish of Upton-cum-Chalvey with two other churches: the Grade 1 -listed St Laurence's, in Upton, to the east, and the church of St Peter in

Chalvey Chalvey () is a former village, which is now a suburb of Slough, in the unitary authority of Slough in Berkshire, England. It was transferred to Berkshire from Buckinghamshire in 1974. It was first recorded in 1217 by an Old English word meaning ...

, to the west.

In the News

It has been reportedSlough Express
/ref> that a woman was raped in the church yard at approximately 7:45pm on Wednesday, January 30, 2019. In the following month, three men were arrested and questioned by the police and subsequently released without charge. In February, the police renewed a call for anyone who may have information to come forward.

References

External links

St Mary's Parish Church website

Aerial view of the church, 1935.
(Almost all of the buildings in the surrounding area have since been demolished.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Marys Parish Church Slough Buildings and structures in Slough Church of England church buildings in Berkshire 19th-century Church of England church buildings

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

Churches completed in 1878