The Church of St Mary is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in the village of

Stoke d'Abernon __NOTOC__ Stoke d'Abernon () is a village and former civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge district, in Surrey, England. It is on the bank (geography), right bank of the River Mole contiguously south of ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, in the

Diocese of Guildford __NOTOC__ The Diocese of Guildford is a Church of England diocese covering eight and half of the eleven districts in Surrey, much of north-east Hampshire and a parish in Greater London. The cathedral is Guildford Cathedral and the bishop is the ...

."Parish of Stoke d'Abernon"
Diocese of Guildford. Retrieved 9 November 2020. The church, the oldest parts of which date from the 7th century, is a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

building.

Description

History

The original church was built in the 7th century; substantial parts of the south wall date from this time. In building the Saxon church, some bricks, tiles and worked stones from Roman buildings were re-used. It was one of the churches in this area built soon after the introduction of Christianity by

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

, the first

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

."Church History"
St Mary's Church, Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey. Retrieved 23 February 2025. The church was an ''

ecclesia propria During the Middle Ages, a proprietary church (Latin ''ecclesia propria'', German ''Eigenkirche'') was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests, especially the right of what ...

'', being built on private grounds by a

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

lord. There is a high-level door, now blocked, in the south wall of the nave, leading to the

thegn In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn or thane (Latin minister) was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were ...

's gallery, where, until the 13th century when the square chancel was built, the lord of the manor had his own chapel.

Nave

The north aisle of the nave dates from about 1190. Stonework of the entrance in the south wall, blocked in 1866, can be seen; it was probably a modification of the original Saxon doorway. The pulpit was given by Sir Francis Vincent in 1620, when he became a baronet. His arms and family motto are on the

sounding board A sounding board, also known as a tester and abat-voix is a structure placed above and sometimes also behind a pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platf ...

, which has elaborate wrought-iron supports. The pulpit is

heptagon In geometry, a heptagon or septagon is a seven-sided polygon or 7-gon. The heptagon is sometimes referred to as the septagon, using ''Wikt:septa-, septa-'' (an elision of ''Wikt:septua-, septua-''), a Latin-derived numerical prefix, rather than ...

al and made of walnut; it stands on a central column, and is supported by seven part-animal, part-human

caryatid A caryatid ( ; ; ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient t ...

s. The church chest, below the pulpit, is of oak and dates from late 12th or early 13th century. The organ, at the west end of the nave, was made for the church by

Frobenius Frobenius is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ferdinand Georg Frobenius (1849–1917), mathematician ** Frobenius algebra ** Frobenius endomorphism ** Frobenius inner product ** Frobenius norm ** Frobenius method ** Frobenius g ...

of Denmark in 1975.

Chancel

The

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

, which replaced a rounded Saxon apse, dates from about 1240. It has a quadripartite vault. In front of the altar rail are brasses of Sir John d'Abernon (died 1277) and of his son Sir John d'Abernon (died 1327). The

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...

of Sir John the Elder is one of the finest in existence. It shows him as a knight in armour; he carries a lance as well as a sword, which is thought to be unique, and there is original blue enamel in the shield. The chancel arch, replacing the narrower Saxon arch, dates from the 1866 restoration of the church by Ford and Hesketh.

Norbury Chapel

The Norbury chapel, to the north of the chancel, was built about 1490 by Sir John Norbury (died 1521), to commemorate the victory at the

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field ( ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 ...

. His memorial, showing a kneeling knight, is in the east wall of the chapel. There is a monument to Sir Thomas Vincent (died 1613) and Lady Jane Vincent (died 1619) by the north wall, and by the east wall is a monument to Lady Sarah Vincent (died 1608), their daughter-in-law; these have life-size painted effigies. In the east wall are the ashes of

Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon Edgar Vincent, 1st Viscount D'Abernon, (19 August 1857 – 1 November 1941) was a British politician, diplomat, art collector and author. He played an important role in the negotiations behind the 1925 Locarno Pact between Germany and its ne ...

(1857–1941).

References