St. Lawrence's church, Ardeley
At first sight, Ardeley seems the quintessential English village with its thatched cottages scattered around the green, its pretty pump house and rustic looking village hall. But not is all as it seems, the buildings were all built by F.C. Eden in 1917 for the local lord’s estate, and notices remind us that this is a private village green where we have no right of way. The picturesque atmosphere is it seems only skin deep. Close by, the church slumbers in a bosky churchyard with its tombs overgrown with brambles, wildlife’s delight. There is a surprisingly metropolitan looking lead water tank, embossed with sprays of flowers and a big fleur-de-lys, and dated 1776. The building has an Early English core that shows in the C13th chancel, with dogtooth around the piscina and the tomb niche, now filled with an organ . The south arcade and chancel arch are a style later, being C14th as is the lower tower and the C15th was responsible for most of what we see outside, the window tracery of aisles and clerestory, the top of the tower and the porch. All is topped off with a Hertfordshire spike carrying a splendid cockerel wind vane with flowing tail..
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The roofs inside have plentiful carving, with big musician angels, bosses and traceried brackets in the nave and both aisles. There are several brasses and memorials around the walls, including a nice baroque cartouche to Henry Chauncy of 1703. He was the estranged son of famous Hertfordshire historian, Sir Henry Chauncy, who was also one of the men to prosecute Jane Wenham of Walkern for witchcraft in its last legal trial. The judge tried everything to get her off; when the prosecution accused her of flying he said she broke no laws, but being forced to find her guilty, managed to get the Queen's pardon before she was killed, and the laws were finally changed. This was no thanks to Chauncy, so perhaps the village should have thought twice before erecting a modern memorial to this unpleasant man. An interest in the past shouldn't lead us to live in it.
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The most outstanding monument is that of 1673 to young Mary Markham and her baby, who is shown lying swaddled before her mother on one side of the chancel arch. F.C.Eden did the rood loft with its rood and canopy above in 1928, a late date for such an Anglo-catholic fitting , and there’s more than a whiff of incense still here in the air. There’s a Travers style reredos too; whilst presumably carved from wood, they always have a plastic look to me. In the west window of the north aisle the tracery holds several grinning lions, cheerful still after 600 years, and far more to my taste.
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The church is open, in an area where this is thankfully still common: long may this remain the case.
All rights reserved for this entire site. Copyright reserved to stiffleaf for all text and images, which may not be reproduced without my permission.
All rights reserved for this entire site. Copyright reserved to stiffleaf for all text and images, which may not be reproduced without my permission.
