Cardington
Saint Mary's

Places > Cardington > Churches and Meeting Houses

Saint Mary's Church

The church dates largely from 1898-1902 when it was rebuilt in the Perpendicular style with the exception of the chancel.

Some points of interest:

• A sundial of 1782 erected by Samuel Whitbread on the outside of the tower below which is an Anglo-Saxon sundial.
• The R101 memorial chapel in the south aisle commemorating the 48 victims of the disaster.  A monument to the victims, designed by Sir Albert Richardson, is in the churchyard on the opposite side of the road.
• A black basalt font given by Harriet Whitbread in 1783, who also gave the font to Essendon in Hertfordshire.  They are the only ones in England of Wedgwood black basalt.
• Whitbread Monuments.  "One of the richest assemblies in the county." (Pevsner).  These include a memorial to Samuel Whitbread I (1720-1796) by J. Bacon, a memorial to Charles Whitbread "accidentally killed at Cardington by the fall of a Tree" (1845) and a memorial to Samuel Whitbread by H. Weekes (1849).  "One of Weekes best works" (Pevsner)
• Tomb chests with canopies on each side of the chancel to Sir William Gascoigne (1540) and his two wives and to Sir Jarrate Harvye (1638) and wife.  Sir William Gascoigne was controller of Cardinal Wolsey's household.

Sources:

• Nicholas Pevsner, The buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough, Penguin Books, 1968
• Brian L. Harris, Harris's Guide to Churches and Cathedrals, Ebury Press, 2006

Saint Mary's Church, by Bedfordshire Libraries, 2008

Page last updated: 23rd January 2014