St. Mary, North Mymms.
This church lies within the gates of the great Elizabethan house, which can be seen amongst the parkland trees to the south west. I visited on Christmas day, and was surprised to find the church open when most remain locked up. A good number of people came into the church whilst I was there, mostly walkers in the surrounding park, so the efforts of the parish are certainly not in vain.
Most of the fabric of the church dates from the first half of the fourteenth century, with the tower the only major later addition. When this was added in the mid fifteenth century, the earlier west doorway and window above were reused, though both now have been restored. The west doorway has been recently totally replaced, though the splendid Victorian ironwork on the doors was retained. New gargoyles are on the top of the tower, which has lost its spire since Pevsner's 1950 visit.
This church lies within the gates of the great Elizabethan house, which can be seen amongst the parkland trees to the south west. I visited on Christmas day, and was surprised to find the church open when most remain locked up. A good number of people came into the church whilst I was there, mostly walkers in the surrounding park, so the efforts of the parish are certainly not in vain.
Most of the fabric of the church dates from the first half of the fourteenth century, with the tower the only major later addition. When this was added in the mid fifteenth century, the earlier west doorway and window above were reused, though both now have been restored. The west doorway has been recently totally replaced, though the splendid Victorian ironwork on the doors was retained. New gargoyles are on the top of the tower, which has lost its spire since Pevsner's 1950 visit.
 Mid C15th tower reusing C14th bits.
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 New fourteenth century doorway with Victorian ironwork on doors.
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 New gargoyle on tower.
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Inside the church are fouteenth century arcades, and remains of a plan of that time for transepts and a central tower. The panels of the pulpit are late sixteenth century,the font Victorian like most of the furnishings, but it is the memorials here that are the great draw. There are some good Georgian tablets in the north aisle, one to Gilbert Browne and family has two excellent skulls and one in the corner to George Jarvis has a good bewigged bust of 1718. Below this is an Elizabethan tomb chest with rudimentary renaissance details and Bereford shields on its sides; on top is a slab of alabaster with the incised figure of a woman between two pillars, the patterns on her dress and pillow being filled with black bitumen. Such slabs are far more often found in the midlands than here, though another exists at Watton-at-Stone. This tomb originally came from further east, and the other two tombs that you should not miss can be found in the chancel. One is the brass to a priest, its detail Flemish in style though unlike most from this source it is partially cut out in the English manner. The canopy has saints in niches up the sides, and God holds a soul in the bosom of Abraham between censing angels over the priest's head. It may be a de Kesteven of circa 1361; his feet rest unusually on a stag over two lions and a coat of arms.
 Flemish brass of c.1361
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 Incised Beresford tomb , mid C16
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 Detail of 1737 Browne memorial
 George Jarvis, 1718
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In the north chapel there's another chest tomb, but it's behind the altar and hard to see. It may be a reused fifteenth century one to a Coningsby lady, as glass with the family's punning rabbit coat of arms can be seen in the windows above. There is also some fifteenth century glass of God the father and John the Baptist holding the lamb of god amidst fragments including a turbaned head. In the chancel there is good Victorian tiling of the 1870s, and a series of brasses removed from this floor on the south wall.
 Coningsby rabbit.
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 C15th fragments
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 Tomb of John Lord Somers by Scheemakers, 1716
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The door to the vestry is unusually made of marble, as part of the monument over its head to John Lord Somers who reached the position of Lord Chancellor before being impeached by Parliament. He died in 1716, and Scheemakers carved the figure of Justice holding her scales on his tomb. Presumably the door once led to a funerary chapel, but a vestry was built on the spot in 1860, retaining the stone door.
 Justice by Scheemakers, 1716
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 Coningsby alliances in late c16 glass
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 Abraham's sacrifice, 1870s tiles
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The church is open daily, and looks well looked after and loved in an area where none of this is usual or can be taken for granted.
