St Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley on:
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St Mary the Virgin is the parish church of
The church was rebuilt in its present form in 1494 (the date being carved in stone over the west door) possibly after incurring damage during the 
The tower of the church, at the west end, contains nine bells which are in good order and regularly rung, eight being hung for
Monken Hadley
Monken Hadley is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. An ancient country village north of Barnet, it is now a suburban development on the very edge of Greater London north north-west of Charing Cross, while retaining much of its rural cha ...
. It is located in the Diocese of London
The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England.
It lies directly north of the Thames. For centuries the diocese covered a vast tract and bordered the dioceses of Norwich and Lincoln to the north ...
.
History
The church was rebuilt in its present form in 1494 (the date being carved in stone over the west door) possibly after incurring damage during the battle of Barnet
The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV. On Sunday 14 April ...
in 1471. A church is believed to have stood on the site for over 800 years. The present building is in the Perpendicular style
Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-c ...
, and included two side chapels (in transepts) dedicated to St Anne and St Catherine. The building was heavily renovated by the architect G. E. Street in Victorian times, and contains large quantities of Victorian woodwork furniture. The parish and church were heavily influenced by tractarianism and the Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...
, and it remains a focus of eucharistic worship within the surrounding district. The church maintains a strong choral tradition.
Of the two side chapels, only that of St Catherine is still in use today; it was restored in 1958. The former chapel of St Anne now houses the church organ.
There is a well-preserved monument by Nicholas Stone
Nicholas Stone (1586/87 – 24 August 1647) was an English sculptor and architect. In 1619 he was appointed master-mason to James I, and in 1626 to Charles I.
During his career he was the mason responsible for not only the building of ...
to Sir Roger Wilbraham
Sir Roger Wilbraham (4 November 1553 – 31 July 1616) was a prominent English lawyer who served as Solicitor-General for Ireland under Elizabeth I and held a number of positions at court under James I, including Master of Requests and survey ...
(died 1616), Solicitor-General for Ireland
The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish legal matters. On ra ...
, his wife Mary Baber and their three daughters.
The church has been grade II* listed
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 ...
since 1949.
The tower of the church, at the west end, contains nine bells which are in good order and regularly rung, eight being hung for change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in which the ringers commit to memor ...
, and the ninth as a sanctus bell. At the top of the tower there is a signal beacon, part of an ancient series of signal beacons. The church markets itself under the title "The Beacon Church", and the beacon has become a symbol of the local area, and forms the badge of the nearby Church of England primary school.
It was the model for another Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, built in 1904 in Chappaqua, New York
Chappaqua ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of New Castle, in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. It is approximately north of New York City. The hamlet is served by the Chappaqua station of the Metro- ...
, United States.
See also
*Church View and Church Cottages
Church View and Church Cottages are grade II listed buildings in Hadley Green Road, Monken Hadley, to the north of Chipping Barnet, London Borough of Barnet
The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in No ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monken Hadley, Saint Mary Diocese of London Grade II* listed churches in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Barnet History of the London Borough of Barnet