Holy Trinity Church, Prestwood is the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
church serving the
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
village and parish of
Prestwood
Prestwood is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, about two miles west of Great Missenden and six miles north of High Wycombe.
History
Early history and creation of parish
The village name is Anglo Saxo ...
. The church,
its
lych gate
A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...
and the church school,
and Church Cottage at 134 Wycombe Road are
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
,
as well as Prestwood Park House behind the church.
Origins of parish and church
Up until 1852, Prestwood fell largely into the parish of
Hughenden Hughenden may refer to:
*Hughenden, Queensland, a town in Australia
*Hughenden, Alberta, a village in central Alberta, Canada
*Hughenden Valley
Hughenden Valley (formerly called Hughenden or Hitchendon) is an extensive village and civil parish in ...
. Hughenden's vicar from 1836 to 1851 was John Robert Pigott; concerned that his parish was too large to meet the spiritual needs of all its inhabitants, he began fundraising for a new church building to serve Prestwood, along with a school, schoolmaster's house, and an endowment for the living of the new parish's vicar at a public meeting in
Aylesbury
Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...
on 15 April 1846. The biggest contributor was the Reverend Thomas Evetts, who in 1848 was appointed to the Prestwood church project by the local bishop, and eventually contributed over £3000. The church building itself was erected on land purchased from Knives Farm. Construction was delayed by a decision to make the nave pillars out of chalk, which proved entirely impractical; they were replaced with pillars of
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...
. Moreover, a contractor went bankrupt in May 1849. The church was consecrated 19 October 1849 and cost £1400. The parish was created on 5 April 1852 from land in the parishes of Hughenden and
Great Missenden
Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mary ...
. Following Evetts, vicars included J. W. W. Booth (1892-1902) and H. Fallows (1939-51), and churchwardens included H. R. Clark (1940–68).
[D. J. Keen, ''Prestwood Parish Church: Guide to the Architecture and Furnishings'' (High Wycombe: Delnevo, 1976).]
Architecture
Overview
The church was designed by
Edward Buckton Lamb
Edward Buckton Lamb (1806–1869) was a British architect who exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1824. Lamb was labelled a 'Rogue Gothic Revivalist', and his designs were roundly criticised for breaking with convention, especially by ''The E ...
, broadly in the late Decorated style of the
Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
, and influenced by
Tractarian
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 ...
theology. The material was local flint and mortar and Denner Hill sandstone, with Bath Stone dressings. Lamb's original designs drew some criticism (particularly the unusual feature of a chancel at both the east and west ends) and were quite extensively reworked. The nave of the realised church is 32 feet long and 15½ wide with a high, narrow, triple-chamfered chancel arch at each end. The nave arcades have three arches: two eleven feet wide, and squat, and a third, by the chancel, a mere three feet wide; they sit on octagonal pillars six feet high. The narrowest arches give access from the chancel to the stone pulpit. There is a
clerestory
In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
characterised by stained glass windows, at least some of which were designed by Lamb and which serve more for decoration than to admit light. Over the west gable of the nave there is a bell-cote rising to 50 feet and containing a single bell founded in 1849. Pews extend from the nave into the aisles; in the original plan of the church, these could seat up to 246 people. The roof-tiles were mounted on wooden battens which originally formed the church ceiling, while heating was provided by three stoves. Rainwater from the roof was piped into a tank near the original vicarage to provide water.
Concluding that the design of the building was grander than its proportions really warranted, D. J. Keen opined that 'it might be said that the building was never intended to be filled with life-sized people at all'.
Alterations
1884 saw some significant alterations to the chancel by the Reverend H. M. Wells, at his own expense, raising the low roofline five feet, almost as high as the nave, replacing the low, ornately carved ceiling with a barrel roof of seven cants with carved Tudor rose bosses. Wells's wife gave the church a mosaic reredos, while his daughters donated two large wrought iron and brass candelabras. In 1891 the parish bought a new organ, installing it in the place of one of the choir stalls. For the church's golden jubilee in 1899, the organist (and headmaster of the church school) W. H. Pitt carved a gothic frame for the reredos and hanging oil lamps were introduced. Central heating was added in 1905. The cramped pews were replaced in 1920, reducing the seating capacity to 181. The oil lamps were replaced with electric lighting in 1930. The original nave ceiling was covered first in matchboarding and, in the twentieth century, plaster.
In 1961-62 major restorations were conducted, principally focusing on replacing most of the roofing and the central heating system.
Gallery
References
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Church of England church buildings in Buckinghamshire
Churches completed in 1849
Gothic Revival church buildings in England
Gothic Revival architecture in Buckinghamshire