Church of St Mary, Fetcham

St Mary's Church, Fetcham

St Mary's Church, Fetcham
Denomination Church of England
Churchmanship Broad Church
Website http://stmarysfetcham.org.uk/
History
Dedication St Mary
Administration
Parish Fetcham
Deanery Leatherhead
Archdeaconry Dorking
Diocese Guildford
Province Canterbury
Clergy
Vicar(s) Rev'd Paul H. Boughton[1]
Laity
Churchwarden(s) Corinne Braid

Coordinates: 51°17′17″N 0°21′11″W / 51.288°N 0.353°W / 51.288; -0.353 St Mary's Church, Fetcham, Surrey, England is a Church of England parish church (community) but also refers to its building which dates to the 11th century, that of the Norman Conquest and as such is the settlement's oldest building. It is set off the residential road of its address, The Ridgeway, behind a small park, in the suburban part of the largely 20th century railway settlement adjoining the M25 London Orbital Motorway which has retained farmed rural outskirts. The closest secular building is Grade II* listed Fetcham Park House, which is in the same architectural category and the church has an adjoining church hall.

Structure and fittings

Built during Anglo-Saxon and early Norman periods, the structure has been conjectured by the Victoria County History's architectural analysis to have been a redevelopment of an Anglo-Saxon church:[2]

Roman bricks in considerable quantities in Fetcham Church, remains of Anglo-Saxon architecture in the church...
...quoins and dressings of thin red bricks, no doubt Roman, set in wide mortar joints.

Traces of its long past exist in many parts of its structure. These include the south-west quoin of the nave, and a single splay window high on the south wall with traces of Roman brick, as well as arches which fit with the architecture prevailing before the Norman Conquest of 1066.[3]

In the 19th century a considerable amount of restoration and improvement in the church was carried out by Rev. Sir Edward Moon rector from 1854 to 1904.[4] Moon inherited his baronetcy in 1871 on the death of his father Sir Francis Moon, 1st Baronet, who was commemorated in much of the restoration work in the church.

The structure gained listed status in 1951, has some stained glass windows, and is classed as Grade II*.[3]

Services

The daily service is the 5.30pm Sung Evening Prayer, which is said in August and on second Sundays.

Thursday 10.00am Holy Communion, and Sunday 8.00am Holy Communion are supplemented by 9.30am Parish Communion.

Activ8 for under 12's and Creche for under 3's takes place on Sunday at 9.30 and 11.15am (except first Sunday which provides Rev. Boughton's Family Service).[5]

Monuments

The church has wall monuments to Anthony Rous and Henry Vincent (a praying bust with an open book, in a cartouche with Corinthian small columns), both died 1631; in the left side of the porch is a large lettered tablet dated 1717 recording details of a charitable trust as administered among its mainstay of poor relief for centuries by the parish, until the advent of local government in the United Kingdom.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Fetcham St Mary Church of England
  2. ↑ H.E. Malden (editor) (1911). "Parishes: Fetcham". A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 25 October 2013.Malden, Henry Elliot (1911). Wikisource link to The Victoria History of the County of Surrey, Volume 3. London: Constable and Company Limited. Wikisource.
  3. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1378187)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  4. ↑ History of Fetcham Church
  5. ↑ Official website
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