St.Mary, Hemel Hempstead
The thirteenth century spire stands out above the town, a beacon of aesthetic sanity high above the surrounding 1960s new town. To its west lies a park, to the east the picturesque old High Street, which runs higher than the churchyard of the big cruciform church. The Normans built such a large church between 1140-80, that no great enlargement has ever been needed. Apart from the spire and stair turret of the thirteenth century, porches and window replacements of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and some sacristies or vestries, little change has been necessary.
The thirteenth century spire stands out above the town, a beacon of aesthetic sanity high above the surrounding 1960s new town. To its west lies a park, to the east the picturesque old High Street, which runs higher than the churchyard of the big cruciform church. The Normans built such a large church between 1140-80, that no great enlargement has ever been needed. Apart from the spire and stair turret of the thirteenth century, porches and window replacements of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and some sacristies or vestries, little change has been necessary.
|
|
|
For Norman work, there are few sculptural fireworks, but plentiful zigzag over windows and doors, and nook shafts on the windows, even on the early clerestory, though everywhere over restored. This was a church built on a grand scale, with a vaulted chancel and sacristy , but only on the west doorway which is recessed in orders is there any figurative work. On the capitals are a beast in foliage and two figures I first took to be Adam and Eve with the serpent in Eden: however both figures are clothed and the snake may be part of the surrounding foliage, meaning and detail are far from clear.
|
|
|
For many years hard to access, the church is now open daily. The interior is a little disappointing after the promise of the outside, every inch having been retooled and tided up. There's a quadruped on one of the crossing capitals that looks believably c12 but almost everything else has been restored to death; indeed I'd judge the entire font to be a replacement rather than having been recut. There's a good late c14 brass to Robert and Margaret Albyn and group of unusual heraldic lead plaques, one engraved with a copy of the epitaph to Ann Combe + 1658, supposedly found in the vicarage garden but likely ejected from a funerary vault during the restoration of the sacristy.
|
|
|
So with a final look at the grand fourteenth century windows on the south side of the chancel, and at the few tombstones saved from the philistine clearance of the graveyard, it's back again to the antique shops on the high street and the confusing contraflow roundabouts of the main town. Despite the lack of any authentically c12 patina it's good that one of Hertfordshire's oldest biggest parish churches, worth a visit for the spatial experience alone, is again regularly open to the public and being used for all sorts of events.
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.
