A brief history of the church
Nobody can be quite certain of the date of Aldenham's first church. However, the presence of large quantities of Hertfordshire Puddingstone in the present building may indicate that it rests on the site of some kind of pre-Christian worship. Christopher Webb's wonderfully designed east window (replacing the window destroyed by enemy action in 1940) includes a panel showing the 8th century King Offa holding a Saxon Church, and an 11th century Norman window, probably from an earlier building, can be seen at the west end of the south aisle.
The earliest available document to mention the present church relates to the appointment of a Vicar and is dated 1267, so it would seem fair to assess the origins of this building as the mid-13th century. The lower part of the tower, the font and a large part of the Lady Chapel date from this period, while the south and north aisles date from the 14th and 15th centuries respectively. To the 15th century too belong the wonderfully decorated oak roof timbers in the nave, the painted oak Lady Chapel screen and the upper tower, diagonal buttresses and stair turret.
The earliest available document to mention the present church relates to the appointment of a Vicar and is dated 1267, so it would seem fair to assess the origins of this building as the mid-13th century. The lower part of the tower, the font and a large part of the Lady Chapel date from this period, while the south and north aisles date from the 14th and 15th centuries respectively. To the 15th century too belong the wonderfully decorated oak roof timbers in the nave, the painted oak Lady Chapel screen and the upper tower, diagonal buttresses and stair turret.
In the 16th century the chancel was widened and a vestry added. These additions and improvements seem to have been made without regard to the overall symmetry of the building, which remains quaintly asymmetrical to this day.
Various 19th century renovations culminated in a major overhaul and improvement project in 1882, instigated by the merchant banker and part-compiler of the first Oxford Dictionary, Henry Hucks Gibbs, first Lord Aldenham. This included a complete reseating of the Nave in oak, supplying a new organ and removing many years of decayed plaster, under which some early features of the church were discovered, including a rood passage, an original painted screen and the original Priest's door into the Sanctuary.
There is history, too, in the memorials. Commemorative plaques to Henry Coghill, a 17th century Sheriff of the county, and his wife Faith, are in the Lady Chapel. A later relative, John and his wife Deborah who died within a few weeks of each other in 1714, rest peacefully on a marble chest tomb in the North Chapel.
The wife and daughter-in-law of Sir William Crowmer, twice Lord Mayor of London in the 1400's, appear on a complex double chest tomb in the Lady Chapel.
After more than 750 years of continuous worship here, three services are held every Sunday and the church still survives to serve the local community. Even from these brief notes it is possible to see why the author of a book on Hertfordshire should write:
"Filled from end to end with beauty and interest is the church, set so proudly in the centre of the village."
The description is as true today as when Arthur Mee wrote it and it is a large part of our responsibility as the present day congregation to ensure that it remains so for many years to come
"Filled from end to end with beauty and interest is the church, set so proudly in the centre of the village."
The description is as true today as when Arthur Mee wrote it and it is a large part of our responsibility as the present day congregation to ensure that it remains so for many years to come
