Patrick Comerford
I spent an afternoon recently in Leighton Buzzard, a market town in south-west Bedfordshire, close to the Buckinghamshire border. It is between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton and Milton Keynes, and near the Chiltern Hills.
I pass through Leighton Buzzard regularly on the train between Milton Keynes and London, but this was my first time to walk around the town, visiting some churches and cafés, searching for the main historical buildings and sites, and walking by the banks of the Grand Union Canal in the afternoon summer sunshine.
All Saints’ Church stands at the end of Church Square in the heart of Leighton Buzzard, on a site where there has been a church for about 1,000 years. The present church was built in the early 13th century and its 190-ft spire is a dominant feature in the town that can be seen for miles around.
The episcopal seat was moved from Dorchester to Lincoln in 1075. Saint Hugh of Lincoln is depicted in the great west window with his legendary pet swan. Around his time, Leighton became a prebendal ‘peculiar’ in 1189. The Prebendary of Leighton Buzzard was a canon of Lincoln Cathedral and received his income from a prebendal manor in Leighton. Peculiar parishes were outside the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, and, generally, the bishop as well.
One explanation for the name of Leighton Buzzard suggests an early prebendary, Theobald de Busar, gave his name to Leighton, which became Leighton de Busar, and later Leighton Buzzard, to distinguish it from Leighton Bromswold in the same diocese.
Former prebendaries included William de Packington (1389), who was also Archdeacon of Canterbury and Dean of Lichfield (1380-1390). Former vicars included Christopher Sclater, who was Vicar from 1624 until he died in 1642. A petition from local people shows that he was not popular. He was described as ‘a promoter of superstitious innovations and of a scandalous life’, and so they employed a lecturer, Samuel Fisher, for their better instruction.
In practice, the prebendaries of Leighton Buzzard endowed the Vicarage of Leighton with a portion of their income. Until the 19th century, the prebendary held visitations, duplicates of registers were sent to the Prebendary, and the Peculiar Court proved all wills and registered all places of worship. No marriage licences except those granted by the Peculiar were legal.
Legislation in 1835-1836 empowered the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to abolish Peculiars, and the last visitation of the prebendary was in 1852. Meanwhile, the parish was transferred to the Diocese of Ely in 1837, and then to St Albans in 1914. By the time these changes were made, the position had become simply an honorary title. There is still a prebendal stall for Leighton Buzzard in Lincoln Cathedral.
The church is large, and of cruciform shape, with a central tower and spire, and with a long chancel that is only slightly shorter than the nave. Most of the walls, tower, spire and nave arcading date from the 13th century, and the ground plan remains basically the same with some later additions, such as porches and the coffee shop.
The tower is about 9 metres (30 ft) square and 21 metres (69 ft) high. On the sides of the tower are traces of the older 13th century high pitched roofs. The pinnacles were added in 1842. The spire is 58 metres (191 ft) high, and is built with a slight bulge designed to make the tower appear straight from a distance. The spire was struck by lightning in 1852 and the top 6 metres (20 ft) had to be rebuilt.
There are 25 15th century gargoyles around the outside of the church, dating from the 15th century. Five sundials are fixed to the outside of the church, including one on the north transept wall that only catches the sun soon after sunrise or just before sunset.
The great West Door has hinges made by Thomas of Leighton, a 13th century ironsmith who made the iron grill on the tomb of Queen Eleanor of Castile in Westminster Abbey.
The chancel is the oldest part of the church. The wooden altar and altar rails date from the 17th century. The sedilia and piscinae are Early English and date from before 1288. There are two piscinae and the most important of the three sedilia seats is at the west end and is a step below the other two.
Before the fire in 1985, the window over the altar was a traditional stained glass window. After the fire, it was replaced with plain glass.
The reredos is a carved oak triptych designed by the Gothic Revival architect George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907). The central section has three alabaster panels, the work of the stonemason and sculptor Robert Bridgeman (1844-1918) of Lichfield, and depict the Crucifixion, the Virgin Mary and Saint John.
The side sections are of leather and have four angels embossed, richly coloured and lacquered and are the work of Minnie King and Arthur Smallbones of the Leighton Buzzard Handicraft Class for Cripples. All the panels have finely carved oak canopies and bordered with a deep cut, vine pattern.
On either side of the chancel are late 14th century stalls have 27 misericords or tip-up seats with ledges for resting against when standing. The carvings include 14 with heads, six of foliage, two heraldic birds, and one with two men (or monkeys) fighting. The carvings of the remaining four have been destroyed. The misericords probably originated from monastic stalls at St Albans Abbey.
The rood screen separated the chancel from the crossing and is a good example of 15th century work.
The nave arcades have four bays. The arches have a chamfered moulding and are supported by octagonal pillars that have moulded capitals and bases. Many of the bases were renewed in 1886.
The roof has magnificent carvings of angels, poised on the ends of alternate beams, and is one of the finest features in the church.
The roof was added in the 15th century, and paid for by Alice de la Pole, Duchess of Suffolk and granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer. On each corbel are carved figures representing various saints, and the carvings on the corbels themselves represent objects associated with Christ’s Passion.
All Saints’ Church has a large collection of windows by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907), including 12 at lower levels and 16 in the clerestory. Kempe was at the forefront of the Anglo Catholic revival and worked closely with the architect GF Bodley.
The windows depict various saints, and the great west window depicts Saint George, Saint Etheldreda, Saint Michael, Saint Hugh and Saint Alban.
The oak eagle lectern is the oldest piece of carved woodwork in the church and the oldest of its type in the country. The base appears to date from the 13th century and the eagle from the 14th century.
The Jacobean pulpit in the nave is of American cedar, given in 1638 by Edward Wilkes, a local benefactor. The Wilkes family also provided the almshouses in North Street.
The font is Early English in design (ca 1240) and is from an earlier church. It has of a large bowl supported on a large central column, with four smaller ones. The metal plug is of much later date (1630).
Mediaeval graffiti or scratchings can be seen throughout the church, on the pillars and walls. They include crosses, birds, a king’s head, strange beasts, coats of arms, names and initials and geometric designs.
The best-known and the one that is always pointed out to visitors is known as the Simon and Nellie graffiti, on the south-west pier of the tower. It is linked locally with the origin of the Simnel Cake or ‘Sim and Nell’ cake. It dates from ca 1400.
The story has it that Simon and Nellie were preparing to welcome their children home for Mothering Sunday. They had little in their larder to eat except a piece of left-over Christmas pudding mixture. They argued over which to how to cook it: boil or bake? The carving shows them about to come to blows: Nellie raised a wooden spoon, Simon was about to throw the dough at Nellie, but they made peace, compromised, and boiled and then baked the mix.
And so, it is said in Leighton Buzzard, the Simnel cake was made.
The church was damaged extensively by fire in 1985. A vast restoration project included redecorating and refurbishing the carved angels, creating new vestries, and a small chapel dedicated to Saint Hugh from an old priests’ vestry upstairs. Other alterations include a meeting room named the Good Samaritan Room from the large window depicting the parable, a parish office, and a choir vestry and office. A new Harrison organ and new bells replaced those destroyed by fire. A new altar was placed under the tower, and a coffee shop is open to the public three days a week.
The lower level of the north transept has a 14th century piscina in the east wall, and combined with other architectural features in both the north and south transepts, point to the fact that they were both originally designed to contain altars. John Esgoer’s will in 1519 refers to two altars in each transept.
The south transept is now a Lady Chapel. It also has a piscina and fine trefoiled niche containing a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Chrost Child. This niche was originally used to display relics, including the tunic of Saint Hugh of Lincoln'. Against the south wall is a single altar, which replaced the two against the east wall from before the fire.
The tower crossing suffered the most damage in the 1985 fire, and most of what is seen in this part of the church is new. The altar is of limestone, weighing 3.4 tonnes. The frontal depicts the 12 apostles, and is in gold thread, the work of Watts of London. The organ was built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham in 1989.
Directly above the crossing roof is the ringing chamber, and above that the bell chamber. All ten bells had to be replaced after the fire, and the church now has a ring of 12 bells by Taylors of Loughborough, cast in the key of C sharp. The peal is ranked 21st out of 92 peals of 12 bells in the world.
One old mediaeval bell was rescued from the fire. This bell called ‘Ting Tang’ because of its sound. It is the oldest bell in the diocese and is now housed in the ringing room.
Further restorations were carried out in 1999-2016 after the discovery of cracks in the tower and structural problems in other places, when the tower was stabilised with steel anchors.
The Vicar of All Saints, Canon David MacGeoch, was appointed earlier this year. All Saints has a strong choral tradition and its worship and liturgy is in the Liberal Catholic tradition.
The church has a wide range of weekly services, most of which focus on the Eucharist, using Common Worship. The Parish Eucharist is the main service each Sunday at 9:30 am. An All Age Service is at 11:30 am on the first and third Sunday each month. Evensong is at 6 pm on Sundays. The weekday services include Holy Communion and Morning Prayer.
