St Peter & All Saints, Battlesden

The church was built in about 1280, with the Tower being added in the 15th Century, much patched and buttressed - If you look carefully, you will see the remains of sundials carved into the soft stone of the south facing buttresses. In the days before clocks, sundials were important aides to fix the times for services.

As you approach the church up the grass track, you will enter through the North Door, also known as the Batchelor’s Door because men and boys used to sit on the north side of the aisle, separated from the womenfolk who used to enter through the South Door and sit on the south side. The South Door was blocked off some 150 years ago and its remains can be seen from the outside of the church.

There are also the remains of a Squint Window to the Chancel in the north jamb. A squint was made in an external wall so that lepers could see the elevation of the Host at Mass and the service itself without coming into contact with the rest of the congregation. Squint Windows are also known as leper windows or lychnoscopes.

So why did the church provide this facility? In early Medieval England leprosy was a frightening, incurable disease and lepers were not allowed to pass through towns and villages. It is believed that lepers used to live in an encampment by the lake near the church, no doubt provided by the Lord of the Manor, as it was expected of the gentry to provide leper accommodation on the boundaries of their estates.

Also, on the South side, notice the small door near the East end - the Priests Door - and what was this for? Was it to maintain the mysteries of his profession, or perhaps so he could escape quickly at the end of the service?

Inside, the Chancel has the original 14th Century Chancel Arch, but the East Window is a later edition, often referred to as ‘Modern’.

The Font, which used to stand near the pillar next to the organ (which was on the North side of the Chancel) is very old, dating from about 1180. It is decorated with carvings of leaves. Around the walls are a number of monuments, many of which which are difficult to read or date.

The Nave has a Rood Stair at the corner where the Pulpit now stands - a stair leading to the gallery or loft of a rood screen. The rood was a large crucifixion, usually carved and painted, generally with flanking figures of the Virgin Mary and St Peter. It stood on a loft, or gallery above a screen across the chancel arch. The unevenness of the Nave floor could be due to the old custom of burying the dead inside the church.

In the small ‘Vestry’ under the Tower you will see a large beamed ladder to the Bell Chamber which houses three bells dated 1813. The bells are set in a pre-reformation bell-frame - Oh, and don’t try and climb the ladder - the trap door is locked!

The soft stone of some of the walls has attracted graffiti - now known as ‘medieval graffiti’ - Please don’t add anymore, but do look carefully and see if you can spot the Giants, Gravestones and Windmills.

There is evidence from drawings of 1820 that there was a staircase and gallery at the west end of the church. This would likely have been for musicians to accompany the congregation in the hymns.

The church still has its original silver Chalices and Paten from the reign of Charles ll, which survived the ravages of the New Model Army and are kept securely, only coming out for special services.

The Church Register shows attendances at services and special occasions such as weddings, baptisms and funerals. Our earliest register book still in the possession of the church contains entries dated 1694. The average attendance then was 35, whereas our congregation today averages around 15-20.

The church at Battlesden in 1291 was valued at £5 6s 8d, and at the Dissolution during Henry VIII’s reign at £12 9s 6d. While the church was in good condition in 1553, history tells more of its state of disrepair: an inventory of 1663 describes the “parish church of Battlesden ruinous- Charles Newport of Battlesden should repair”, and in 1775 the suggestion was made that the building at Battlesden was so ruinous it should be pulled down. It escaped this fate, but was not restored - the church was said to be in very poor repair by the middle of the 19th Century too.

The church was closed in 1928 but reopened and re-hallowed for worship in 1949 following restoration work, further restoration being carried out in the 1960s and 1970s and indeed we have a continued list of works being carried out to keep it in its current healthy condition.

St Peter & All Saints, Battlesden

St Peter & All Saints, Battlesden

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Frances Brown

St. Peter and St. Paul Church architecture