| St Mary's Church | |
| Coordinates: | 51.7658°N -0.9267°W |
| Country: | England |
| Denomination: | Church of England |
| Previous Denomination: | Roman Catholic |
| Website: | St Mary's, Haddenham |
| Heritage Designation: | Grade I |
| Designated Date: | 21 December 1967 |
| Parish: | Haddenham with Cuddington, Kingsey and Aston Sandford |
| Deanery: | Aylesbury |
| Benefice: | Wychert Vale Benefice |
| Archdeaconry: | Buckingham |
| Diocese: | Oxford |
| Province: | Canterbury |
| Vicar: | Revd. Cassa Messervy |
| Curate: | Ian Herbert, Trish Mander |
St Mary's Church is the Church of England parish church of Haddenham, Buckinghamshire[1] [2] [3] It is a Grade I listed building.
Parts of the church are 12th century Norman, from when the Benedictine abbey of Rochester, Kent held the parish. The first priest was called just Gilbert.
Other parts of the building may be from the original Saxon church, including the font, which has a drawing of a dragon imprinted on it. The tower is Early English Gothic and according to experts, it is the finest demonstration of Early English in the country.
In 2008 the church had major refurbishments, as part of the Millennium 2 project. A new vestry, creche, and kitchen were built and the roof was repaired, along with other additions and fixings.
The astronomer William Rutter Dawes is buried in the churchyard.[4] Episodes of the murder mystery television series Midsomer Murders were filmed on the church grounds.
In the Covid-19 pandemic, the church authorities opted not to reopen St Mary's fully for very much longer than the official guidance recommended, in part because the parish was waiting for a new Rector to arrive. While churches were expected by the Government to be closed from late spring to early summer 2020, St Mary's did not fully re-open until May 2021.[5] As a result, families with young children were unable to attend the church regularly for over a year, meaning they were unable to pass the church attendance test for the local Church of England secondary school. This led to an important ruling by the Office of the Schools Adjudicator about school admissions during the pandemic.[6]
A pipe organ built by Norman and Beard of Norwich was installed in 1967. The organ had been built in 1916 for a church in London, which was bombed in the Second World War. In 2007 this was replaced because its restoration would cost more than a new instrument so a new electric organ was put in the church as part of the parish's Millennium 2 project.[7]
The full organ specifications are as follows: