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St Mary's Church, Chesham

CheshamChurch of England church buildings in BuckinghamshireEnglish Gothic architecture in BuckinghamshireGeorge Gilbert Scott buildingsGrade I listed churches in Buckinghamshire
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St Mary's Chesham from churchyard
St Mary's Chesham from churchyard

St. Mary's Church is a Grade I listed Anglican church in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and is part of the Diocese of Oxford. Built on the site of a Bronze Age stone circle of puddingstones, parts of the church building date to the 12th century. Remodelled in the 15th and 17th centuries, the church is architecturally a mixture of English Gothic styles. Weakened by additions to the church tower and undermined by burials in and around the church, by the 19th century the building was structurally unsound. The church was remodelled and strengthened in the 1860s by George Gilbert Scott and again in the 20th century by Robert Potter. Formerly part of the Diocese of Lincoln, it served what was historically the largest parish in Buckinghamshire, and the church traditionally had two vicars. Initially the advowson (the right to appoint the vicar) was held jointly by a pair of prominent local families, but in the wake of the 12th century civil wars of the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154), the advowsons were granted to the monks of Woburn Abbey and to the Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis in Leicester, each of whom appointed their own vicars to the parish. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries Woburn Abbey, together with its half of the advowson, was granted to the Earls of Bedford, while the half that had belonged to Leicester Abbey passed through a succession of private owners. In 1769 the Duke of Bedford acquired the Leicester half of the advowson and unified the parish, and from then on the parish was served by a single vicar. The town of Chesham grew rapidly in the 19th century. After the parish was transferred to the Diocese of Oxford, reforms introduced by the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, led to the parish being partitioned, eventually becoming four independent parishes (Chesham, Latimer, Waterside and Ashley Green). In 1980 it was decided to reverse this decision, and over the 1980s and 1990s three of these parishes (Chesham, Waterside and Ashley Green) were reunited under St. Mary's Church.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article St Mary's Church, Chesham (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

St Mary's Church, Chesham
Park Road,

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N 51.704 ° E -0.617 °
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St Mary's Church Yard

Park Road
HP5 1HY , Old Town (Chesham and Villages Community Board)
England, United Kingdom
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St Mary's Chesham from churchyard
St Mary's Chesham from churchyard
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Chesham
Chesham

Chesham (, locally , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom, 11 miles (18 km) south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, 25.8 miles (41.5 km) north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmland. The earliest records of Chesham as a settlement are from the second half of the 10th century, although there is archaeological evidence of people in this area from around 8000 BC. Henry III granted a royal charter for a weekly market in 1257.Chesham is known for its four Bs — boots, beer, brushes and Baptists. In the face of fierce competition from both home and abroad during the later 19th and early 20th centuries, the three traditional industries rapidly declined. The ready availability of skilled labour encouraged new industries to the town both before and after the Second World War. Today, employment in the town is provided mainly by small businesses engaged in light industry, technology and professional services. From the early part of the 20th century, Chesham has experienced a considerable expansion, with new housing developments and civic infrastructure. Chesham has become a commuter town with improved connection to London via the London Underground and road networks. The town centre has been progressively redeveloped since the 1960s and has been pedestrianised since the 1990s. The population at the 2021 census was 23,008.