Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed church in

Linslade Linslade is a town in the Central Bedfordshire unitary authority area of Bedfordshire, England. It borders the town of Leighton Buzzard, with which it forms the civil parish of Leighton-Linslade (where the 2011 Census population was included). ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, England. It became a listed building on 20 February 1954.

History

Pre-16th Century

Pilgrims were originally attracted to a holy well on the site during the 10th century. The first church was built in the 12th century, though was rebuilt in the 15th century into the form it is today.

19th Century

In the 19th century, the canal and railway revolutions meant those living in Old Linslade moved to the current area of Linslade, adjoined with Leighton Buzzard. In 1868, the bells from the Church of St Mary were moved to St Barnabas in Linslade upon completion of its tower. The south porch of the church dates from restorations made in the 19th century.

20th Century

On 20 February 1954 the church became a Grade I listed building.

21st Century

In the late 2010s a wooden toilet block was installed on the site, situated close to the wall of the south-east facing side of the church. It is a separate structure from the church itself.

Architecture

The church consists of a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, west

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

and south

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

. The chancel is 24 feet long by 12 feet. The nave adds around 45 feet in length and 19 feet in width. The tower is around 35 feet high, the base being 10 feet by 11 feet wide.

Porch and Doorways

The outer doorway is under a square head with quatrefoil designs in the

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s. The south doorway under the porch, leading into the church, dates from the 15th century. In the east wall of the porch is a

holy water stoup A holy water font or stoup is a vessel containing holy water which is generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is often placed at the base of a crucifix or religious representation. It is used in the Catholic Church, Anglican Churches ...

, dating from the 16th century. A doorway on the north side of the church is blocked, likely in restorations around 1897–8. In restorations during 1876 the north doorway was in use and given a porch.

Tower and Bells

A semi-octagonal stair turret can be accessed from inside the church, leading up the west tower's north-east corner. In 1868, the original bells were transferred to St Barnabas in Linslade upon completion of the church's tower, leaving only one bell in the Church of St Mary.

Surrounding area

The church site is situated less than 100 metres from the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter ...

, which was built around it due to the site being on slightly higher ground. The nearest pub, The Globe Inn, is around 500 metres south-east, and can be easily reached from the church by following the canal. The site is less than 2 km from the 400 acre (160ha) Rushmere Country Parks of Heath and Reach to the north, and a similar distance from Leighton Buzzard High Street to the south-east.

References

Church of England church buildings in Bedfordshire Grade I listed churches in Bedfordshire {{England-church-stub