Marston Moretaine
St. Mary the Virgin

Places > Marston Moretaine > Churches

This church is unusual because the tower is completely detached from the main building of the church. The tower also has a few other singular features including a single arched opening which is too high up to be reached without the aid of a long ladder, and its own well. The upper stage of the tower dates from the fourteenth century, though the first two stages are earlier.

To the south of the church is a stone commonly known as the 'Devil's jumpstone'. Legend says that there were once three such stones indicating a series of jumps made by the devil. There are different versions of what he was up to at the time. In one account he was trying to carry off the church tower which proved too heavy for him so that he had to leave it in its present position i.e. separated from the main part of the church. The other version of the legend recounts that a former owner of the field was playing leap frog on the Sabbath. This caused the devil to jump down from the church tower (marking the spot with a stone) and carrying the man off into eternity.

In a south window of the chancel are three stained glass figures by Burne-Jones c.1893. 

The church contains a tomb to Thomas Snagge and his wife, erected some time between 1593 and 1626.

Sources

• Odd and unusual Bedfordshire by Alan Cox, Bedfordshire County Council, 1982

St. Mary the Virgin by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2007

Page last updated: 1st August 2023