Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 42, Thursday 18 June 2026

The Lord’s Prayer in the Greek of Saint Matthew’s Gospel

Patrick Comerford

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time and this week began with the Second Sunday after Trinity (14 June 2026). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Bernard Mizeki (1896), Apostle of the MaShona, Martyr.

Later this evening, I hope to be part of the play reading group that meets in the Library in Stony Stratford, and I expect to stay up late tonight, waiting for the Makerfield byelection result to come in. But before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘Give us this day our daily bread’ … bread in a shop window in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 6: 7-15 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 7 ‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 ‘Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.

14 ‘For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’

The words of the Lord’s Prayer on a board on the north wall of Saint James the Great Church, Hanslope, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading today (Matthew 6: 7-15) continues our readings from the Sermon on the Mount and provides the verses that we missed in our Gospel reading yesterday (Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18).

We are all so familiar with the Lord’s Prayer, that we often recite it by rote without noticing the significance and intention of each petition. Have you noticed this in your own prayer life?

The Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel reading this morning is the more familiar version, but there is another, shorter and slightly different version in Saint Luke’s Gospel (see Luke 11: 2-4).

In Saint Matthew’s Gospel, Christ teaches the Lord’s Prayer within the context of the Sermon on the Mount. But in Saint Luke’s Gospel, immediately after visiting the home of Mary and Martha in Bethany, Christ finds a private place to pray. It is then that the disciples ask him to teach them ‘to pray, as John taught his disciples.’

The disciples are already familiar not only with the prayers of Saint John the Baptist, but also with traditional Jewish prayers in the home, in the synagogue and in the Temple in Jerusalem.

So why did they ask Jesus to teach them how to pray?

As a rabbi and a religious leader, Jesus was responsible for teaching his followers how to fulfil Jewish religious commandments, including the obligation to pray at certain times and in certain forms.

Then and now, a religious community has a distinctive way of praying; for Anglicans and most other Christian traditions, it is exemplified by the Lord’s Prayer, which is a communal rather than individual prayer, expressed in the plural and not the singular:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.

We approach God in a personal way, as Father. We then bring before him petitions that are not on behalf of me personally, but on behalf of us, on behalf of all.

Sometimes we miss out on the impact of the Lord’s Prayer because we are so familiar with it. But in the public worship of the Church we often facilitate people missing out on the impact of the Lord’s Prayer when we privatise it.

Many of us were taught to pray the Lord’s Prayer as a private personal prayer as children, perhaps even saying it kneeling by our bedside, hands joined together, fingers pointing up.

So often, in our churches, we encourage people to kneel for the Lord’s Prayer, as if this was now both the most sacred and the most personal part of the Liturgy, rather than asking them to remain standing and to continue in collective prayer.

Or, at great public events, such as synods and mission conferences, we invite everyone present to say the Lord’s Prayer in their own first language. In this way, a collective, public prayer becomes a private, personal prayer, detached from and ignoring where everyone else is at each stage in the petitions.

As someone with English as my first language, I often notice how others finish a lot later than we do – the Finns in particular, but even the Germans too. Each language has its own rhythms and cadences. And the cacophony and conflicting rhythms mean it sounds as if we are in Babel rather than praying together, collectively and in the plural.

The first two petitions place us in God’s presence (‘hallowed be your name’ and ‘your kingdom come’). The next two then ask to control of our lives and of life around us: ‘Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ The next two bring our needs before God, both physical (‘daily bread’) and spiritual (forgiveness, verse 4). The final petitions have an eschatological dimension, looking forward to the fulfilment of all God’s promises, in God’s own time (‘the time of trial’ and being rescued from evil).

The ‘time of trial’ is the final onslaught of evil forces, before Christ comes again, but also refers to the temptations we experience day-by-day.

So there is a temporal and an eternal dimension to these petitions, even when we pray for ourselves in the here and now.

The privatisation of the Lord’s Prayer, even on Sundays, takes away from its impact and from the collective thrust of each of the petitions.

Jesus, when he is teaching us to pray, is responding not to one individual but to the disciples as the core, formative group of the Church. God is addressed not as my Father, but our Father, and each petition that follows is in the plural: our daily bread, our forgiveness, our sins, our debts, how we forgive, and do not ‘bring us’ to trial or temptation.

When we say ‘Amen’ at the end, are we really saying ‘Amen’ to the holiness of God’s name, to the coming of Kingdom, to the needs of each being met, on a daily basis, to forgiveness, both given and received, to being put on the path of righteousness and justice, to others not falling into evil or into any harm.

If we privatise the Lord’s Prayer, we leave little room for its collective impact to grab a hold of those who are praying, and we leave little room for our own conversion, which is a continuing and daily need.

And so, let the kingdom, the power and the glory be God’s, both now and for ever, Amen.

A selection of morning bread in the local bakery in Platanias, near Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 18 June 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 14 to 20 June 2026 (pp 10-11), is ‘Rooted in Compassion’. This theme was introduced on Sunday by the Ven Titus Oluwalusi, the Anglican Chaplain at Saint John’s Church in Casablanca, Morocco.

The USPG prayer diary today (Thursday 18 June 2026) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we give thanks for 120 years of faithful ministry at St John’s Church in Casablanca. Bless the congregation and its leaders as they celebrate this milestone and all you have done.

The Collect of the Day:

Lord, you have taught us
that all our doings without love are nothing worth:
send your Holy Spirit
and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you.
Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Loving Father,
we thank you for feeding us at the supper of your Son:
sustain us with your Spirit,
that we may serve you here on earth
until our joy is complete in heaven,
and we share in the eternal banquet
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Faithful Creator,
whose mercy never fails:
deepen our faithfulness to you
and to your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The words of the Lord’s Prayer (left) on a board in the chancel of Saint Peter’s Church in Lingwood, Norfolk (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Methodist Church and former Baptist chapel and the publican who decided to close his pub in Hanslope

The Methodist Church on the High Street, Hanslope … John Wesley first preached in Hanslope 250 years ago on 7 November 1775 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I was writing and extensively on Sunday afternoon about Saint James the Great Church in Hanslope and its spire which is the tallest church spire in Buckinghamshire. But in my recent stroll around Hanslope, I also visited the two other churches or religious buildings in Hanslope: the Methodist Church on the High Street, and the Gospel Hall, a former Baptist chapel on Gold Street, are both listed buildings.

There is some evidence of a small non-conformist presence in Hanslope in the early 18th century. Two families of Quakers and five or six families of Baptists were living in the parish in 1706, but by 1709 there was only one family of Quakers and four or five Baptist families.

Hanslope Methodist Church on the High Street was built in 1828 and the church is part of the Northampton District and Milton Keynes Circuit in the Methodist Church. The Northern Churches Council within the Milton Keynes Circuit includes Hanslope, Stony Stratford and Deanshanger.

Methodism in Hanslope dates back 250 to the 1770s, when John Wesley preached on at least three occasions when he visited Hanslope: 7 November 1775, 20 October 1778 and 11 October 1779.

John Wesley’s visits to Hanslope are linked with the story of the Cock Inn on the High Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Wesley’s early visits to Hanslope are associated with the story of the Cock Inn on the High Street. The first Cock Inn stood on a site that would become nos 16 and 18 High Street. When Wesley visited Hanslope, the landlord of the Cock underwent a conversion, closed the pub, and changed the use of the premises to two shops, a draper’s and a grocery.

Since then, the building has housed a number of premises, including a butcher’s, which had its own slaughter house at the back. The original building was demolished, and the Cock Inn moved to its present premises in the 1930s.

Before 1828, Methodists in Hanslope met in a room in the building that was later the old, thatched Cock Inn, owned by a Mr Panter.

The Wesleyan Chapel was built in the 1828 and later enlarged. The join can be seen on the side wall. The schoolroom was then added, and the pulpit had a back that could be pulled down, so that the congregation could overflow into the schoolroom.

Records show that in 1851 two services were held on Sundays, with 100 people attending in the afternoon and a congregation of 105 in the evening.

Plans were drafted in the early of 20th century to build a new, larger chapel on the site of Hanslope Treasures Shop, the building next to chapel. John Rose, who owned the property, sold it to the chapel at low cost for this purpose. However, the plans were abandoned when a number of Methodists in Hanslope people moved north to Derbyshire for employment. The kitchen and water toilets were added in the 1950s.

The rear of the Methodist Church in Hanslope … the church celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1978 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The church celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1978. After the anniversary celebrations, a restoration scheme was undertaken, when a solid floor was put in and the pews were sold and replaced by chairs, some bought with a legacy from Mrs Winifred McTavish. Later the floor was carpeted thanks to a legacy from Miss Lottie Hawkes enabled.

The Garden of Prayer and Remembrance behind the church was opened on 27 May 2018, thanks to a bequest from the Revd Phyllis Brock (1931-2014).

The Methodist minister in Hanslope is the Revd Dr Kofi Tekyi-Ansah, and other ministers serving the church include the Revd Margaret Goodall, the Revd Barbara Winner and the Revd Stephanie Hibberd. Sunday services are at 10:30 am, with Holy Communion on the first Sunday of the month.

The Garden of Prayer and Remembrance behind the Methodist Church opened in 2018 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Gospel Hall on Gold Street, Hanslope, faces onto Market Square and was originally built in 1809 as a Strict and Particular Baptist Chapel. The Baptist Chapel was founded by Thomas Hindes, who donated the site for the chapel stands. He died on 10 July 1844. The building continued to be used as a Baptist chapel into the 20th century.

The present Brethren group using the Gospel Hall can be traced back to 1883, when John Orr-Ewing from Weston-Super-Mare hired a small room in a Church of England Mission Hall in Long Street, Hanslope. Because the room was small, his supporters decided to find a site to pitch a Gospel tent. Joseph Gregory, who lived near to what is now the entrance to Saint James’ Close, agreed to a tent being pitched in his orchard in June 1883, and for ten weeks a group of four men preached in the ten night after night: John Orr-Ewing, Edward Stack, John Brunton and Charles Moreton.

The tent was taken down at the end of 1883 and weekly meetings continued to be held at 43 High Street until 1914. Other visiting preachers at this time included Walter E Willey of Ealing, London, and a Mr Horton who travelled by train from Berkhamstead to Castlethorpe each Sunday morning and made the return journey each Sunday evening. Other visiting preachers included Arthur Lawes (1851-1928), Luther Rees who was once a heavyweight boxer, and JM Shaw.

On Bank Holiday Monday, August 1908, the assembly held its first all-day conference in a tent belonging to Arthur Lawes opposite Green End Farm, Hanslope, the home of the Slade family.

Gold Street Gospel Hall was built as a Baptist chapel in 1809 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Baptist Chapel was in an empty and derelict state by 1913, when was sold at auction in the Watts Arms, Hanslope, to William Slade for £150. His brother Richard Slade bought the pews for the hall for £5. The first gathering in the Gospel Hall was a conference on Saturday 4 August 1914, the same day that World War I started.

William Slade sold the hall in 1923 to a trust, and the assembly continues to meet in the same building in Gold Street to this day. Its external appearance remains largely unchanged, although the old vestry and external lavatory at the rear were demolished in the late 1970s to make way for a large ante-room with a kitchen area.

There was further restoration and refurbishment in 1984-1985 when five new windows were installed, the entrance area was redesigned, new toilets installed, the wooden floor in the main hall was replaced with a concrete floor and a new pulpit was installed. The front doors were subsequently replaced in 1987.

The chapel or hall celebrated its bicentenary in 2009, when a new separate kitchen was installed, as well as new toilet facilities, a new heating system, new lighting and new chairs.

The Baptist chapel was in an empty and derelict state when it was bought by William Slade in 1913 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint James the Great Church, the parish church in Hanslope, has the tallest spire in Buckinghamshire

The spire of Saint James the Great Church in Hanslope, at 57 metres, is the tallest church spire in Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I was writing yesterday about my stroll around the village of Hanslope in Buckinghamshire, about 6.4 km (4 miles) north of Stony Stratford. I particularly wanted to see the parish church in Hanslope, Saint James the Great, with its tall church spire. The spire is the most prominent feature of the village and the tallest in Buckinghamshire, and it can be seen for many miles across the surrounding countryside.

Saint James the Great is an unusual building, with external arcading. It is a Grade I listed building and is very large for a village church, probably because of the area’s links with the Earls of Warwick.

The tower at the west end has a crocketed spire, pinnacles and flying buttresses. It was built with a bequest from Thomas Knight, Rector of Hanslope in 1395-1414 and was originally 61 metres (200 ft) high. But it was destroyed by lightning in 1804 and was rebuilt to the slightly lesser height of 57 metres (186 ft). The spire is topped by a weather vane of a hound with an arrow through its foot, recalling an incident when William Watts was saved from an attacking dog when he was India.

The present Church of Saint James the Great in Hanslope dates from 1160 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Hanslope may have had an earlier church, and one sources suggests the Saxon church was to the south of the village, east of the present Park Road, near Ivy Farm. The present church dates from 1160 when William Maudit, lord of the manor of Hanslope and a royal treasury official, applied to the Bishop of Lincoln for permission to pull down an earlier church and build a new one.

Through marriage, the manor continued to be held by the Earls of Warwick until the last earl, ‘Warwick the Kingmaker,’ was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. During those years, the church was added to and rebuilt, including the aisles, tower and spire, making it exceptionally large for a mediaeval village church. But there is little evidence of further building after the manor reverted to the Crown.

The church is dedicated to Saint James the Great, one of the 12 apostles, who was reputedly buried at Santiago de Compostela. By the 12th century, Santiago ranked alongside Rome and Jerusalem as one of the great destinations of mediaeval pilgrimage, and many of the churches dedicated to Saint James the Great and may have been along the pilgrim routes or the Camino.

A mark in the stonework over the entrance at the north porch is said to be a symbol indicating the church was connected with these mediaeval pilgrimages.

A mark on the north porch is said to be a symbolise the mediaeval pilgrimages to the shrine of Saint James the Great in Santiago de Compostela (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The parishes of Castlethorpe and Hanslope were combined in the 14th century, when Castlethorpe was no longer able to support its own priest.

Henry VIII sold the advowson or the right to appoint the rector or vicar, along with the glebe lands and tithes in 1546 to the mayor, sheriffs, citizens and commonality of Lincoln.

Inside Saint James the Great, looking towards the chancel and the east end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The main body of the church in Hanslope, from the east window to the west door, is 41.5 metres (136 ft) long, and it is 18.5 m (61 ft) wide, and the spire is 57 m (186 ft) high. The architectural historian Sir Niklaus Pevsner says that both aisles are remarkably wide for their date, as was the Norman nave before the aisles existed.

The 12th century church was probably about the same size as the present chancel and nave, from the east window to the tower, without the aisles. The rounded Norman arch between the chancel and nave suggests that the original building included the nave. However, the only remaining parts of a Norman building are in the chancel, and it too has seen much rebuilding.

There is evidence of rebuilding the east and north walls of the chancel as early as the 13th century. The north and south aisles were added in the 13th century, along with the chapel dedicated to Our Lady and Saint Benedict, the east wall was rebuilt, and the north aisle was extended to meet the chapel.

An extra bay was added to the west end of the south aisle in the 14th century.

The tower and spire were built in the 15th century, the north aisle and nave were rebuilt, and the nave arcades and clerestory and the north and south porches were added.

After lightning destroyed the spire in 1804, it was rebuilt, though some 6 metres shorter. The west end of the south aisle may have been rebuilt at that time, and other changes introduced at then included an organ and candle-light in the brass chandeliers. New pews were introduced in 1810-1811 and the Watts gallery and vault were built at that time.

The internal walls were once covered with mediaeval biblical paintings and other decorations (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The church was in poor repair by the 19th century when it was heavily restored by the architect George Edmund Street (1824-1881) in 1864-1865.

More repairs and rebuilding were carried out by John Oldrid Scott (1841-1913) in 1904-1905. The floors were lifted, and wall paintings, believed to date from the 15th to 17th centuries, were removed from the north and south aisles and over the chancel arch. The finds during this work included the holy water stoup by the north entrance, which was unblocked, and the piscina near the altar in the south aisle.

The internal walls were once covered with mediaeval biblical paintings and other decorations. Some may have been vandalised during the Cromwellian period, and much of the remaining painting was removed when plaster was taken from the walls during refurbishments in 1904-1905.

They included three paintings over the east window in the south aisle, traces of a painting over the chancel arch, traces of a painting above the entrance to the rood loft, a cross in blue on a white ground on the north side of the chancel arch, a large wall painting over the Easter sepulchre arch in the south aisle, and a large painting of angels and other figures on the north aisle wall over the sepulchral arch.

The chancel is the oldest part of the church, dating from the 12th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The chancel is the oldest part of the church, dating from the 12th century, with many later additions. The east window has fine 14th century intersecting tracery. The stained glass made in 1893 by Percy Bacon of London commemorates Diana Caroline Monk, and the five lights depict the Nativity, Christ with the elders in the Temple, the Crucifixion, Christ before Pontius Pilate, and the baptism of Christ by Saint John.

The sedilia on the south wall are the dominant feature of the chancel. Beside them is an aumbry once used to hold the Communion elements and the sacred vessels.

There is a 12th century priest’s doorway into the chancel in the south wall. The two-light stained-glass window in the south wall depicting the Sermon on the Mount was made by William Worrall (1831-1911) of London in 1884.

The east window with 14th century intersecting tracery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Chapel of Our Lady and Saint Benedict is a 13th century addition on the north side of the chancel. It has been a vestry, but now is used as a Sunday school room. Pevsner dates a north window there and in the room to the west to the late 13th century. In the south-east corner is a richly carved piscina with a fluted basin.

A doorway has been inserted into the north chapel and there is an aumbry to the west of it. Over the doorway to the chapel is a 12th century window in round-headed Romanesque style, with an external lintel carved with radial leaf motifs.

A chantry was founded in 1324 to say masses in the Chapel of Our Lady for the soul of Thurstan Keswick or de Hanslap, who was the vicar of Hanslope in 1300, but was abolished in 1547 during the Tudor Reformations.

Troughton’s Chapel takes its name from the Troughton family who held the manor of Castlethorpe in the early 17th century. The north wall in the chancel also has a late 13th century arch opening into Troughton’s Chapel, the extended east end of the north aisle, now cut off by the Watts tomb. A new oak screen and doors were installed in 2010.

The only remaining part of the original 12th century nave is preserved in the Norman Romanesque chancel arch (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The only remaining part of the original 12th century nave is preserved in the Norman Romanesque chancel arch. The stair turret at the south-east angle of the nave dates from the later 15th century. It provided access to a rood screen above the chancel arch, of which the only trace now is the loft doorway in the south side of the arch.

The last traces of wall paintings can be seen near the rood screen door above the south side of the arch, where there is a remnant of a painting of the Warwick badge with a bear and ragged staff.

The pulpit is probably 18th century, and Pevsner dates it to ca 1800. During the refurbishments in 1905, an older font was reworked to form a pedestal for the pulpit.

The memorial to Lewis Rees and his two wives, Elizabeth and Agnes, in front of the chancel arch (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Above the chancel arch two hatchments of the Watts family flank the coat of arms of King William IV. In front of the chancel arch, a grave slab with the figures of a man and two women is a memorial to Lewis Rees who died in 1523 and his two wives, Elizabeth and Agnes. The words coming from the mouths of the women say: Sancta Trinitas unus Deus, Miserare nobis, ‘Holy Trinity one God, have mercy on us.’

The altar at the east end of south aisle is a memorial to the dead of two World Wars. The stained glass window (1921) over the altar by Percy Bacon (1860-1935) shows Saint George, Saint Michael and Saint Alban. The arched piscina in the north wall beside to the altar was excavated during the 1904-1905 works.

The stone arch with a symbolic tomb chest inserted into the wall of this aisle is thought to be an Easter sepulchre, where the Resurrection would have been re-enacted in mediaeval times. The Communion Host would have been ‘buried’ on Good Friday and removed at the first Mass of Easter.

The 15th century south porch is now used as a kitchen. In the west window of the south aisle is a group of encaustic, or inlaid, tiles, made in the late 15th century.

The window over the altar in the south aisle shows Saint George, Saint Michael and Saint Alban (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

A window depicting Saint James the Great at the west end of the north aisle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The east end of the north aisle is dominated by the 18th century burial vault of the Watts family, landlords of Hanslope for 150 year. William Watts, who made his fortune in India, bought the manor in 1764. His grandson, Robert Jenkinson (1770-1828), 2nd Earl of Liverpool, was Prime Minister in 1812-1827.

The west end of the north aisle has a stained glass window depicting Saint James the Great. The gilt-framed Lord’s Prayer, Creed, and Ten Commandments nearby were originally placed on each side of the rood screen, although it is not known when the rood screen was removed.

The box pews were replaced in the early 20th century and oak pews were installed in 1929. More new oak pews were installed in 1958-1959 and the pews were moved in 1998 from a conventional aisle arrangement to the present central altar configuration.

The 19th century font was moved to its present position in 1999 from a central position at the rear of the nave.

The etched glass internal door at the north porch was designed by David Peace and executed by Sally Scott in 1999, who also completed glass work at Christ the Cornerstone in Milton Keynes. It was a bequest from two parishioners, Frank and Edith Brownsell.

There are eight bells in the tower, regularly rung by a team of Hanslope bellringers.

The ‘priest’s door’ into the chancel on the south side has ornate stone carving (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Outside, the church has many interesting features, including a carving of the bear and ragged staff of the Earls of Warwick on the north-west corner of the tower.

The ‘priest’s door’ into the chancel on the south side has ornate stone carving. This doorway is an example of late Norman work, with an arch with moulded bases and decorated capitals, flower and leaf motifs and a bold chevron pattern. The pillars along the chancel walls are an unusual feature in a Norman church.

On the north side, toward the east end, is a gargoyle in the form of a man laying on his side, with the spout over his shoulder, and wearing an embossed belt and a short apron. On the south side, above the aisle roof, is a large gryphon-like carving.

The Old Rectory beside Saint James the Great Church in Hanslope (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

• The Parish Priest is Father Gary Ecclestone SSC, who is supported by Father Robin Carter SSC. The Sunday services in Saint James the Great, Hanslope, and Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Castlethorpe, are: 9:30, Sung Mass, Castlethorpe; 11:15, Sung Mass, Hanslope; 5 pm, Evening Prayer, Castlethorpe, second and fourth Sundays. Mid-week Masses are at 5 pm in Castlethorpe on Wednesdays and 9:30 in Hanslope on Thursdays.

Autumn colours at Saint James the Great Church on a rain-soaked morning in Hanslope (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

An autumn ramble around Hanslope, with its thatched cottages and stories of prize fights and a murder

Autumn colours on the Village Green in Hanslope in north Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

I am continuing to enjoy exploring the neighbouring villages and towns that are close to Stony Stratford, exploring their history and legacy, architecture and churches. One of the great gifts from the early town planners and architects who had a vision for Milton Keynes over half a century ago was that each satellite town or village should retain its own identity and character.

Some days I just hop on a bus at random to see where it brings me and to enjoy seeing the unexpected. Recent morning escapades have included Roade in Northamptonshire and Addington in Buckinghamshire, as I continue to search for houses designed by Stony Stratford’s great architect of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Edward Swinfen Harris.

One recent morning , after breakfast, I took the 33 bus from Wolverton to Northampton and hopped off at Hanslope. The village, with a Village Green and Village Pond, is about 6.4 km (4 miles) north of Stony Stratford, a similar distance from Newport Pagnell and about 13 km (8 miles) north of Central Milton Keynes. The northern parish boundary is part of the county boundary between Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire.

Green Manor and the 57 metre spire of Saint James the Great, the tallest in Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

I particularly wanted to see the parish church in Hanslope, Saint James the Great, with its tall church spire which is the most prominent feature of the village. It is the tallest in Buckinghamshire and can be seen for many miles across the surrounding countryside. It was originally built in the early 15th century and was 61 metres (200 ft) high. It was struck by lightning in 1804 and collapsed in 1804 and it was rebuilt to the slightly lesser height of 57 metres (186 ft).

Hanslope probably takes its name from the Old English name for a slippery or muddy place belonging to Haema, or possibly ‘hemmed-in land at the slope’. This name has evolved over the centuries, and even in the 18th and 19th century, the variants in use included Anslapp, Hanslapp and Hanslape.

Hanslope Park, about half a mile south-east of the village, was once the manorial estate of the village. Hanslope was included in the grant of land to by William the Conqueror to Winemar of Flanders. It eventually passed by marriage to Maudit family, whose seat was at Hanslope Castle.

William Maudit built what is now the chancel of Saint James the Great Church. His son Robert Maudit sided with the barons against King John. When King John was in Northampton in 1215, he ordered Faulke de Breaute and his mercenaries to besiege and raze Hanslope Castle, and it was never rebuilt.

King John gave Hanslope Manor to Breaute and then to Hugh de Neville. Later, in 1217, Henry III gave to Henry de Brailof, but after he was attainted as a traitor Hanslope was restored to the Maudit family.

Earl Row, off Market Square, remembers the Earls of Warwick, who began the market in Hanslope in 1293 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Hanslope was part of Salcey Forest in the Middle Ages and Hanslope Park was originally a mediaeval deer park. Before he died in 1222, Robert Maudit laid out a great park in the parish, and remnants of the park survive in Hanslope.

William Mauduit (1221-1268) eventually became the 8th Earl of Warwick in 1253 through an intricate line of descent, and the titles and estates then passed from his sister, Isabel Mauduit, to her son, William de Beauchamp (1237-1298), 9th Earl of Warwick.

The Earl of Warwick received a charter in 1293 for a weekly market in Hanslope on Thursdays and a three-day annual market on the eve, day and morrow of the feast of Saint James the Great (24, 25 and 26 July). This explains the name of Earl Row, off Market Square, running behind High Street and Gold Street.

Maltings Farmhouse, one of the oldest houses in Hanslope, dates from 1624 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The manor and titles continued to be held by successive Earls of Warwick in the Beauchamp family and for another 200 years or so. Richard Neville (1428-1471) became the 16th Earl of Warwick through marriage, and he is remembered ever since as Warwick the Kingmaker. He was the wealthiest and most powerful English lord of his day and one of the leading figures in the Wars of the Roses. He switched his allegiance during the wars, and was instrumental in deposing two kings, Henry VI and Edward IV.

Warwick the Kingmaker was killed in battle at Barnet in 1471, and Hanslope Manor was given to his son-in-law Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III. After Richard was killed at Bosworth Field in 1485, Hanslope was restored to the Dowager Countess of Warwick. She surrendered Hanslope to the crown, and in 1550 it was granted to the future Queen Elizabeth I.

Hanslope Manor was one of the properties given in 1604 to the former Princess Anne of Denmark, after her husband became James I of England in 1603. Although she never lived there, it provided her with a private, personal income, and the lodge and barns were repaired in 1608.

Silent Night Cottage and Christmas Cottage, a pair of symmetrical thatched cottages on Gold Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Queen Anne died in 1619, and Hanslope Manor passed to her son, the future Charles I. His trustees leased it to Sir Kenelm Digby, John Digby and Isaac Penington, and Charles I later gave the manor to Admiral John Penington (1584-1646) in 1628.

The old manor house of Hanslope was fortified but appears to have been destroyed by fire. After the Caroline restoration, it passed to Sir Thomas Tyrell, a prominent judge, in 1663. The Tyrell family sold the manor in 1707 to Gervase Pierrepont (1649-1715), a grandson of Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston and MP for Appleby (1698-1705). He was given titles in the Irish and British peerages in 1702 and 1714, and when he died in 1715 the estate passed to his nephew Evelyn Pierrepont (1665-1726), Duke of Kingston.

The Watts family acquired Hanslope Manor in 1764 and remained until the 1930s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Evelyn Pierrepont (1711-1773), 2nd and last Duke of Kingston, sold the manor in 1764 to William Watts, who had served in India under Clive as Governor of Fort William in Bengal. Watts had amassed a fortune and he was buying Hanslope Manor when he died in August 1764. The sale was completed on behalf of his son Edward Watts, who was born in Calcutta in 1752 and was still a minor.

The Watts family continued to live at Hanslope Manor for almost 200 years, and they commissioned Humphry Repton to landscape the estate grounds in the 1790s.

Edward Hanslope Watts married Sophia Edith Selby Lowndes of Bletchley, one of the ‘Eight Belles of Bletchley’, in 1868. Watts was shot and murdered by his gamekeeper William Farrow as he was on his way home from Saint James Church on Sunday 21 July 1912.

Auspiciously, the second reading that Sunday was from the Acts of the Apostles and included a reference to murderers. Watts was shot in the head and died immediately; Farrow then shot himself.

The widowed Sophia Watts lived on at Hanslope Park until she died in 1930. Her daughter Irene and husband Mark Poore took over until Mark Poore died in 1931. Irene remarried and her son Robert Poore-Watts sold Hanslope Park to the Hesketh Estates.

Hanslope Park was acquired by the War Office in 1941 and became the home of the Government Communications Centre. It provides electronics and software to support government communication needs and is closely linked with British intelligence agencies.

Stafford House, built in the 17th century by Sir Robert Stafford and Lady Jane Stafford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Hanslope has one grade I listed building, 33 grade II listed buildings, including the Methodist Chapel and the Gospel Hall, and one scheduled monument.

Other listed buildings include:

• Green Manor on Market Square: once a pub known as the Green Man Inn, and now a private house.

• Stafford House: built in the 17th century and named after Sir Robert Stafford and Lady Jane Stafford, became a workhouse supported financially by Lady Pierrepont.

• Maltings Farmhouse: one of the oldest houses in the village, with the date 1624 set in stone on the façade.

• Silent Night Cottage and Christmas Cottage: a pair of symmetrical thatched cottages on Gold Street with an interesting pair of names and dating from the late 17th or early 18th century. They were originally approached from High Street along a long path between the gardens that are now part of the Cock Inn. The houses have been turned around so that their main entrance is on Gold Street.

• Horseshoe Cottages, with a thatched roof and gentle curve, once a terrace of four cottages built in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Watts Arms, at the north end of the High Street, where the prize fighter Alexander McKay died in 1830 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Watts Arms at the north end of the High Street, was built ca 1820, and was first licensed in 1821. It was owned by the Watts family and probably replaced the Royal Oak at the other end of the High Street, demolished in 1819.

In a prize fight at Salcey Green on 2 June 1830, Alexander McKay (1804-1830), the champion of Scotland, fought Simon Byrne (1806-1833), an Irishman known as ‘The Emerald Gem’, at Salcey Green. The fight went on for 47 rounds, McKay was defeated and he was taken to the Watts Arms, where he died the next day.

His grave in Hanslope churchyard has an epitaph with a telling lesson in rhyme:

Strong and athletic was my frame,
far from my native home I came
and bravely fought with Simon Byrne
alas, but never to return.
Stranger take warning from my fate,
lest you should rue your case too late.
If you have ever fought before,
determine now to tight no more.

Simon Byrne was arrested some days later catching the boat from Liverpool to Dublin and charged with McKay’s murder. At his trial in Buckingham, Byrne was defended by three barristers and five solicitors. The jury took 10 minutes to return a verdict of Not Guilty.

But Byrne’s triumph was short-lived. Three years later, he fought James ‘Deaf’ Burke in a fight that went 99 rounds and lasted three hours and 16 minutes. Byrne died three days later after the longest recorded prize fight. Today, the village sign includes a depiction of McKay, poised for a bareknuckle fight.

The village sign includes a depiction of Alexander McKay, poised for a bareknuckle fight (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Other distinguished residents of Hanslope include the clockmaker Joseph Knibb (1640-1711), who retired from London to Hanslope in 1697. He acquired Green End Farm and continued to make clocks in Hanslope. Green End Farmhouse was a scheduled monument, but was demolished in 1954.

Walter Drawbridge Crick (1857-1903) from Hanslope was an amateur geologist and palaeontologist who published with Charles Darwin. Crick was born at Pinion End Farm in Hanslope on 15 December 1857, and first went into business in Northampton as a shoemaker. He corresponded with Darwin in the 1880s, and their letters are part of the Darwin Correspondence Project.

He was the grandfather of the Cambridge Nobel molecular geneticist Francis Crick (1916-2004). Alongside James Watson, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, Crick played a crucial role in deciphering the helical structure of the DNA molecule.

Horseshoe Cottages, with its thatched roof and gentle curve, once a terrace of four cottages built in the 17th and 18th centuries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Hanslope has been part of Milton Keynes since 1973 and is in the Milton Keynes North constituency. It won the title of ‘Best Kept Village in Buckinghamshire’ in 2016.

The West Coast Main Line between Euston and Glasgow passes about 1.6 km (1 mile) west of Hanslope. But there are no train stations at Castlethrope, Hanslope or Roade, and the stations nearest to Hanslope are Wolverton and Milton Keynes Central.

There are many other attractive villages that I have been visiting these weeks, including Castlethorpe, Addington and Padbury, and I realise there are so many more to visit and to explore. Meanwhile, more about Saint James the Great Church in Hanslope and its tall spire, and about the chapels in Hanslope in the days to come, hopefully.

Autumn colours at the Village Pond in Hanslope (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The village of Castlethorpe in Buckinghamshire no longerhas a mediaeval castle but is now a conservation area

Autumn colours in Castlethorpe in north Buckinghamshire in yesterday’s morning sunshine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025;click on images for full-screen viewing)

Patrick Comerford

I am continuing to enjoy visiting the neighbouring villages and towns that are close to Stony Stratford, exploring their history and legacy, architecture and churches. One of the great gifts from the early town planners and architects who had a vision for Milton Keynes over half a century ago was that each satellite town or village should retain its own identity and character. Some days I just hop on a bus at random to see where it brings me and to enjoy seeing the unexpected.

I was back in the pretty village of Roade in Northamptonshire last week, visiting a house designed by Stony Stratford’s great architect of the Arts and Crafts Movement, Edward Swinfen Harris. On the bus journeys there and back, I noticed a number of villages I wanted to look at again, as well as Salcey Forest.

So, on two days this week, I took the 33 bus from Wolverton to Northampton and visited Hanslope one morning and Castlethorpe on another. Tuesday next is the Feast of Saint Simon and Saint Jude (28 October), and as yesterday was a bright sunny day, I decided to visit Castlethorpe, where the parish church is dedicated to Saint Simon and Saint Jude and where they preparing to celebrate the patronal festival.

The parish church in Castlethorpe is deidacted to Saint Simon and Saint Jude, whose feastday is 28 October (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Castlethorpe is on the border of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire and has a population of about 1,000 people. Despite its rural location and ambience, it is part of the City of Milton Keynes. It is about 4.8 km (3 miles) north-east of Stony Stratford, 6.4 km (4 miles) north-west of Newport Pagnell and 11 km (7 miles) north of Central Milton Keynes.

Although prehistoric flints and Romano-British metalwork and coins, dating from ca 200 CE, have been found near Castlethorpe village, there is no evidence to confirm an early settlement there.

There may have been a Danish settlement in the area as it was close to the Danelaw. Before the Norman invasion in 1066, the Saxon lord of the manor of Hanslope was Aldene, who had been a member of the bodyguard of King Edward the Confessor.

The grassy mounds of the former motte-and-bailey castle, a complicated system of earthworks north of the church and overlooking the valley of the River Tove (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Castlethorpe is not named in the Domesday Survey in 1086, but it was part of the larger mediaeval manor of Hanslope, which was taken from Aldene and granted to Winemar the Fleming. The castle belonging to the lords of Hanslope was there by the mid-12th century, if not earlier.

The village grew up around the castle, and a settlement of servants and workers developed into Castlethorpe. The impressive humps and hollows around the village, especially near the church, appear to be part of the original castle. The fortification of Castlethorpe may have been strengthened by the Mauduit family who supported the Empress Matilda against King Stephen the civil wars known as the ‘Anarchy’.

The castle survived the ‘Anarchy’ but 70 years later became involved in barons’ revolt against King John. On the king’s orders, Faulkes de Breauté destroyed the castle and took possession of Hanslope Manor. Robert Mauduit eventually regained the manor before he died in 1222 but the castle was not rebuilt.

All that is left today are the grassy mounds of the former motte-and-bailey castle, a complicated system of earthworks that extend over an area of about 10 ha beside the church and overlooking the valley of the River Tove. South Street probably developed later along the line of the outer ditch of the castle. By 1268, the manor had passed to William Mauduit’s nephew, William Beauchamp, who obtained a royal licence in 1291 to fortify his hall and build a new garden court.

The parish church, Saint Simon and Saint Jude, may date back to Anglo-Saxon times, although there is no evidence of a pre-Norman building. The church at Castlethorpe was originally superior to that of Hanslope but Bishop Grosteste changed the precedence ca 1250.

The centre of the village is designated a conservation area, and a large number of traditional old stone cottages still survive.

Elm Tree Cottage on North Street, beside the churchyard and castle mound … the centre of the village is designated a conservation area, and a large number of traditional old stone cottages still survive (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

In the 16th century, the demesne lands of Hanslope Manor in Castle Thorpe, sometimes called Castle Thorpe Manor, were leased first to Thomas Slade, then to Christopher Wren and John Knight, and then to Thomas Butler. Ambrose Butler later transferred his lease to Richard Troughton, before it passed to Thomas Tyrell, later Sir Thomas Tyrrell, in 1626. Tyrell obtained a grant of this manor with all reversions and remainders in 1663. He was buried at Castlethorpe in March 1672.

His son Sir Peter Tyrrell had been given the title of baronet in 1665. The mansion-house occupied by Sir Peter Tyrrell in 1703 adjoined the castle yard, but the greater part had been taken down and the remainder would be converted into a farmhouse.

Sir Peter Tyrell’s son Thomas Tyrell and grandson, also Sir Thomas Tyrell, succeeded to the title and estate. The last head of the Tyrrell family to live there was Sir Thomas Tyrrell.

When Sir Thomas Tyrell died in 1714, the title of baronet became extinct and the Castlethorpe estate passed to his two daughters, Christobella and Harriet, and their husbands, John Knapp and Francis Mann. Castlethorpe estate was bought soon afterwards by Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, one of the most influential women of her time.

Castle House is all that remains of the much larger house that once belonged to the Tyrrell family from 1626 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Castle House is all that remains of the much larger house that once belonged to the Tyrrell family from 1626 until the early 18th century. It may have been built on remains of the castle kitchens or stables and has been known as Castle House and Castle Yard. At one time in the 19th century it was known as the Dower House, although there is no evidence that it was ever the home of the widowed mother of the head of the family.

The house subsequently passed into the hands of the Dukes of Buckingham and then to their descendants, the Carrington Family, who owned considerable property in Castlethorpe. Later owners included the Carrington family, whose titles included Marquess of Lincolnshire, Viscount Wendover and Lord Carrington.

The house had been divided into several cottages when it was sold by Lord Carrington in 1961 to Patricia St John, one of the tenants. The Edmunds family restored it to a single house once again in the mid-1960s and completely changed the interior design.

The Carrington family are remembered in the name of the Carrington Arms public house at No 1 South Street, which opened in the early 19th century but is now closed.

The former Stores Shop at No 5 South Street forms an unsual street corner (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Inglenook at 2-4 South Street is one of only two houses in the village whose thatch survived the Great Fire of 1905 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Fires in 1899 and again in 1905 destroyed many of the older houses in the village. But Castlethorpe still has one scheduled ancient monument, one grade I listed building, and 20 grade II listed buildings. The listed houses in the village include:

Manor Farm House datwa from the mid-1730s, but may date back further to the mid-16th century. The last resident farmers were the Markham family, and Manor Farm was sold in 1963 in a number of lots.

Elm Tree Cottage is an early 18th century cottage that was probably modernised in 1763 when a second chimney was built and a rear wing was added as a dairy. Since then, it has had several more additions and alterations.

The Stores Shop at No 5 South Street was run by the Gregory family from the late 19th century, and family members included Annie Gregory, a teacher in Castlethorpe School from its opening in 1891 until she retired in 1925. After the fire in 1905, the shop and house were rebuilt in 1908, using stones from the cottages that had been burnt down, and the building remained a shop until 1977. Since then it has been divided into several dwellings.

Castlethorpe First School in the heart of the village is a Victorian building–full of character. It was opened by Lord Carrington on 15 October 1891.

No 45 and No 47 North Street and the Corner House at No 49 North Street date from 1731 and appears to have been built by William Kitelee. In the first half of the 19th century, this was ‘Mr Addison’s School’ where the subjects included English, Latin, Writing, Arithmetic, History, Geography, Mathematics, and ‘the use of the Globes’. Additional fees were charged for Greek, French, Dancing and Drawing.

The Inglenook at 2-4 South Street is a pair of cottages with a thatched roof and dating from the late 17th century. It is one of only two houses in the village whose thatch survived the Great Fire of 1905.

No 12-14 North Street, with three gables, was once two cottages, and seems to have originally been three almshouses, dating from the 17th century and re-fronted in the19th century.

The subjects at ‘Mr Addison’s School’ included ‘the use of the Globes’ and additional fees were charged for Greek, French, Dancing and Drawing (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Hanslope has been part of Milton Keynes since 1973 and is in the Milton Keynes North constituency. It won the title of ‘Best Kept Village in Buckinghamshire’ in 2016.

The West Coast main line between Euston and Glasgow runs alongside the west side of Castlethorpe. But there the train station in Castlethrope closed over 60 years ago in 1964, and the stations nearest to Castlethope, Hanslope are at Wolverton and Milton Keynes Central.

There are many other attractive villages along the 33 and 33X bus routes that I still want to see in the weeks ahead, including Ashton, Hartwell and Grafton Regis.

Meanwhile, more about Saint Jude and Saint Simon Church in Castlethorpe tomorrow, including the ornate Tyrrell family monument, and about the neighbouring village of Hanslope and its tall church spire in the days to come, hopefully.

Autumn leaves at the former almshouse on North Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)