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Furnishings

The Organ

The first organ was installed in 1807 and sold in 1866. Its replacement stood for many years in the chancel, obscuring the view of the altar, but when permission was finally granted by the family responsible for the Resurrection Chapel its pipework was moved into its current position behind the reredos, with the console in the north side of the chancel.

An almost exact contemporary by the same builder can be seen in its original form less than a mile away in Christ Church, Little Drayton.

Stained Glass

St. Mary’s enjoys some excellent stained glass, most notable the six Kempe windows. These illustrate Christ’s appearance after the Resurrection (east window), the flight into Egypt and the boy Jesus in the Temple (north east corner of the nave) and Jesus healing the man by the pool of Bethesda, raising Lazarus and healing blind Bartimaeus (south west corner).

The west window, a memorial to Queen Victoria by Shrigley and Hunt, is also worthy of note.

Monuments

In the sanctuary there are several monuments to the Corbet family, lords of the manor and patrons for centuries. The oldest of these is a brass, complete with Latin inscription and coat of arms, to Rowland Corbet who died in 1560, and placed there by his father Reginald Corbet of Tyrley. Immediately above this is an ornate monument commemorating Dame Alice Corbet, the mother of 10 sons and 10 daughters, who died in 1682.

Also of note is the Bulkeley memorial in the choir vestry. This is to Thomas and Elizabeth, grandparents of Peter Bulkeley who was the founder of Concord, Massachusetts and who died in 1653.

The Vicars’ Board records incumbents dating back to 1137.

The Bell Tower

St Mary's has a fine peal of eight bells, the oldest dating back to 1700. The Tenor bells weighs 17.5 cwt and the Treble 5.5cwt. They were last re-hung by Taylors of Loughborough in 1931.

The Ringing Chamber itself is a delightful time-warp, with the details of 18th and 19th century Benefactors on painted boards hanging round the walls alongside old photographs of past St Mary's Bands, all presided over by a daguerrotype of Queen Victoria, which clearly has clearly hung undisturbed since the year of her Golden Jubilee.

Paintings

St. Mary’s is blessed with a number of dramatic paintings. The largest of these is in the chancel over the vestry door. It is after the style of Ribera, a 16th Century Spanish painter who worked in Italy, and may once have been part of a triptych, behind an altar.

In the north aisle is a painting of the mother and child. Presented in 1907 it is reminiscent of Murillo, although the actual artist and date are not known.

The polyptych behind the altar in the Buntingsdale Chapel was commissioned in 1984 and is by Nicholas Parry, a member of St Mary's until his death. The panels represent aspects of man’s search for God, with the threefold theme of the shepherd set against a background steeped in history and rich in local memory. When closed the four panels then revealed weave impressions of the four seasons with the themes of wilderness, the sower, crucifixion and resurrection.

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