A new guide to my visits to churches in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire

The Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Since moving to Stony Stratford in Milton Keynes on my retirement at the end of March 2022, I have enjoyed visiting many churches, church buildings, and religious centres in Stony Stratford and the Milton Keynes area, and I have been writing about them and photographing them.

As the weeks turned to months and the months became years, the number of churches and religious centres I have visited in Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire, and further afield in the neighbouring counties of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, continues to grow, so that in time it became difficult for some readers to find these postings on this site.

An earlier posting that offers a guide to these places has become cumbersome to edit, and so this posting offers fresh links to these and similar postings, and a guide to churches and similar places in Oxford and Oxfordshire is to follow in the days ahead.

As I write about more churches and religious buildings, I intend to update this guide to my postings, indicating the date of the latest update at the end of this page, and to provide a link in the toolbars on the front page of this blog.

The tower of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalen in Stony Stratford … originally a chapel-of-ease for the parish of Wolverton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Milton Keynes:

1, The Church of Christ the Cornerstone, Central Milton Keynes (7 December 2022) and here (21 May 2026)

Bletchley:

2, Saint Mary’s Church, Church Green Road, Bletchley, Church of England (16 December 2023)

3, Whaddon Way Church, Church of England and Baptist (13 November 2023)

4, Water Eaton Church Centre, Drayton Road, Bletchley, shared by Saint Frideswide’s Church (Church of England) and Spurgeon Baptist Church (16 January 2024)

5, Queensway Methodist Church (15 November 2022)

Bradwell:

6, Bradwell Abbey (5 April 2022)

Calverton:

7, All Saints’ Church, Calverton (11 September 2022), and here (16 April 2022)

Crown Hill:

8, The Oak Chapel, Crown Hill Crematorium, Milton Keynes (5 August 2026)

Downs Barn:

9, The Cross and Stable Church (12 June 2022)

Eaglestone:

10, The Chapel and Quiet Room, Milton Keynes University Hospital (20 March 2024)

Fishermead:

11, Trinity Church and Centre, Fishermead (13 June 2026)

12, Chinese Overseas Christian Mission, Fishermead (10 June 2026)

Furzton:

13, Church of the Servant King, Dulverton Drive (12 March 2025) and here (11 February 2026)

Great Linford:

14, Saint Andrew’s Church, Great Linford (25 May 2022) and here (3 November 2022)

15, The Old Rectory, Great Linford (17 November 2022).

16, The former Congregational Chapel, Great Linford (17 November 2022)

Middleton (Milton Keynes Village):

17, All Saints’ Church, Milton Keynes Village (29 January 2023)

New Bradwell:

18, Saint James Church (22 May 2022)

19, New Bradwell Gospel Hall, Caledonian Road (27 March 2023)

Newport Pagnell:

20, Saint Peter and Saint Paul (5 May 2022)

21, Saint Bede’s Roman Catholic Church (30 May 2022)

22, Newport Pagnell Methodist Church (11 May 2022)

23, Newport Pagnell United Reformed Church (7 May 2022)

24, (former) Tickford Priory (4 May 2022); see also here (19 May 2025)

25, Former Baptist churches, Newport Pagnell, 30 May 2022

Olney:

26, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Olney (13 April 2025)

27, Olney Baptist Church (12 April 2025)

Shenley Church End:

28, Saint Mary’s Church (15 October 2022)

29, ‘Glastonbury Thorn’, Shenley Church End (15 November 2025)

Stantonbury:

30, Christ Church, Stantonbury (8 January 2025)

31, Saint Peter’s Church (ruins), Stantonbury (9 January, 2025)

Stony Stratford:

32, Saint Mary and Saint Giles (27 March 2022), and here (18 April 2022)

33, Saint Mary Magdalene (Church of England), church tower and church ruins (11 April 2022)

34, Saint Mary the Virgin (Church of England), former parish church (28 March 2022)

35, Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Ambrosios and Saint Stylianos (10 May 2022)

36, Saint Mary Magdalene Roman Catholic Church (14 April 2022)

37, Stony Stratford Methodist Church (20 April 2022)

38, Stony Stratford Community Church, Baptist (20 April 2022)

39, Stony Stratford Evangelical Church (Congregationalist) (20 April 2022)

40, Saint Paul’s former school chapel (13 April 2022) and here (29 June 2026)

41, Saint Peter’s (the Old Cross Keys), former church hostel or hospital (29 June 2026)

42, The former rectories in Stony Stratford (29 May 2022)

43, Calverton Limes, former home of two generations of Percevals, rectors of Wolverton Saint Mary, Stony Stratford (28 December 2022)

Walton:

44, Saint Michael’s Church, Open University campus, Walton (14 November 2022).

Wavendon:

45, Saint Mary's Church, Wavendon (11 September 2024)

Willen:

46, Saint Mary Magdalene (26 May 2022)

Wolverton:

47, Holy Trinity Church, Old Wolverton (19 April 2022)

48, Saint George’s Church, Wolverton (9 April 2022)

49, Woverton Methodist Church, Church Street (24 January 2023)

50, West End United Church, Church Street (24 January 2023)

51, former United Reformed Church (Congregational Church), Wolverton (26 February 2023)

52, Wolverton Evangelical Church, former Emmanuel Hall (25 January 2023)

53, Wolverton House, birthplace of Archbishop John Habgood of York (23 January 2023)

54, Urban Farm, Windsor Street, church-run project in Wolverton (10 July 2026)

Woughton-on-the-Green:

55, Saint Mary’s Church, Woughton (21 March 2024)

The Chantry Chapel of Saint John the Baptist … the oldest surviving building in Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Other parts of Buckinghamshire:

Addington:

56, Saint Mary the Virgin, Addington (30 November 2025)

Aylesbury:

57, The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Aylesbury (14 September 2022)

58, Aylesbury Methodist Church (11 January 2026)

59, (former) Congregational Church, High Street (14 September 2022)

60, Friends’ Meeting House (Quakers), Rickford’s Hill (14 September 2022)

61, New Tabernacle Church of God, Rickford’s Hill (14 September 2022)

62, The Prebendal House, Aylesbury (5 August 2025)

Buckingham:

63, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Parish Church (31 May 2022)

64, The Chantry Chapel of Saint John the Baptist (31 May 2022), and here (5 November 2025)

65, Saint Bernardine’s Roman Catholic Church, Chandos Road (6 November 2025)

66, former Franciscan seminary and church, London Road (18 July 2026)

67, The Old Meeting House, former Independent or Congregational chapel, Well Street (18 November 2025)

68, The Radcliffe Centre, former Congregational and United Reformed Church, Church Street (16 November 2025)

69, Salvation Army Citadel, Moreton Road, previously Primitive Methodists, Baptists (16 November 2025)

70, Well Street United Church, Methodists, URC and Baptists (16 November 2025)

71, Barton’s Chantry and Hospital, Church Street (9 June 2022)

72, Prebendal manors and houses, Buckingham (8 June 2022)

73, Saint Rumbold’s grave and legends, Buckingham (6 June 2022)

74, The Mitre Inn, Mitre Cottage on Mitre Street, Buckingham (25 November 2025)

Castlethorpe:

75, Saint Simon and Saint Jude Church (26 October 2025)

76, Castlethorpe Methodist Church (27 October 2025)

Gawcott:

77, Holy Trinity Church, Gawcott (23 November 2025)

78, Gawcott Methodist Chapel (24 November 2025)

Hanslope:

79, Saint James the Great Church, Hanslope (2 November 2025)

80, Hanslope Methodist Church (3 November 2025)

81, Gold Street Gospel Hall (former Baptist Chapel), Hanslope (3 November 2025)

Maids Moreton:

82, Saint Edmund’s Church, Maids Moreton (9 November 2025); see also here (11 November 2025) and here (12 November 2025)

83, The Old Rectory, Maids Moreton (8 November 2025)

Padbury:

84, Saint Mary’s Church, Padbury (14 December 2025)

85, The Old Chapel (former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel), Padbury (14 December 2025)

Seer Green:

86, Holy Trinity Church (18 January 2026)

Winslow:

87, Saint Laurence’s Church, Winslow (6 September 2022)

88, (former) Congregational Church, Horn Street (7 September 2022)

89, Keach’s Meeting House, Bell Walk (7 September 2022)

90, Winslow Tabernacle, the former Baptist Chapel off High Street, Winslow (8 September, 2022)

Bedfordshire:

Bedford:

1, (former) All Hallows’ Church, Church Square (8 August 2024)

2, Bunyan Meeting Church (Baptists, Congregational, URC), Mill Street (4 August 2024)

3, Holy Trinity Church, Bedford (1 August 2024)

4, (former) Howard Chapel (Congregational, URC), Mill Street (5 August 2024)

5, Saint Cuthbert’s Church, Bedford (31 July 2024)

6, Saint Paul’s Church, Bedford (29 July 2024)

7, Saint Peter de Merton Church, Bedford (30 July 2024)

8, (former) Panacea Society, Albany Road and Castle Road (28 July 2024)

9, sculpture of Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, Bedford (3 August 2024)

Dunstable:

10, The Priory Church of Saint Peter, Dunstable (31 May 2026)

11, Christ Church, West Street, Dunstable (2 June 2026)

12, Dunstable Baptist Church at Saint Mary’s Gate, Dunstable (2 June 2026)

13, Dunstable Methodist Church, the Square, Dunstable (2 June 2026)

14, Saint Mary’s Church (Roman Catholic), Dunstable (1 June 2026)

Leighton Buzzard:

15, All Saints’ Church, Leighton Buzzard (17 August 2025)

16, Trinity Methodist Church, North Street (14 January 2026)

17, (former) Wesleyan Church, Hockliffe Street (14 January 2026)

18, Hockliffe Street Baptist Church (14 January 2026)

19, (former) Lake Street Baptist Chapel (14 January 2026)

20, Friends’ Meeting House (Quakers), Leighton Buzzard (31 August 2025)

Linslade:

21, Saint Barnabas Church, Linslade (24 August 2025)

Luton:

22, Saint Mary’s Church, Church Street, Luton (7 June 2026)

23, Bury Park United Reformed Church (12 January 2026)

The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and Saint Thomas of Canterbury on Barrack Road, Northampton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Northamptonshire:

Cathedrals:

1, The Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate and Saint Thomas of Canterbury (Roman Catholic), Barrack Road, Northampton (5 February 2023)

Northampton:

2, All Saints’ Church, Northampton (6 February 2023)

3, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Sheep Street (7 February 2023)

4, Saint James’s Church, Saint James’s Road (8 February 2023)

5, Saint John’s Church (former), Bridge Street (9 February 2023)

6, Saint Peter’s Church, Marefair (9 February 2023)

7, Christ Image Assembly, Wellington Street (11 February 2023)

8, Friends’ Meeting House, Wellington Street (11 February 2023)

All Saints’ Church in Yelvertoft … Henry Comberford was the rector in 1546-1560 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Northamptonshire:

Badby:

9, Saint Mary’s Church (20 September 2023)

Blisworth:

10, Saint John the Baptist (7 September 2024)

Crick:

11, Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, Church Street (23 March 2023)

Deanshanger:

12, Holy Trinity Church, Deanshanger (22 March 2025)

13, Possible site of a monastery, Deanshanger (22 March 2025)

Lamport:

14, All Saints’ Church (6 May 2024)

15, Isham family chapel (6 May 2024), and the Lamport Crucifix (4 May 2024)

Long Buckby:

16, Saint Lawrence’s Church (4 April 2023)

17, Long Buckby Baptist Chapel (4 April 2023)

18, Long Buckby United Reformed Church (4 April 2024)

Old Stratford:

19, Memorial Hall, Old Stratford, venue for some evening services, Deanshanger parish (22 March 2025)

Passenham:

20, Saint Guthlac’s Church (21 April 2022), and here (8 June 2025)

Roade:

21, Saint Mary’s Church, Church End, Roade (9 September 2024)

22, Roade Baptist Chapel (9 September 2024)

23, Roade Methodist Church (9 September 2024)

Shutlanger:

24, Saint Anne’s Chapel-of-Ease (4 September 2024)

25, The Monastery, the former Parles and Comberford family chapel (4 September 2024)

26, (former) Wesleyan Methodist Chapel (8 September 2024)

Stoke Bruerne:

27, Saint Mary the Virgin (3 September 2024) and here (5 September 2024)

28, the Old Chapel, (former) Wesleyan Methodist Chapel (8 September 2024)

Towcester:

29, Saint Lawrence’s Church (20 March 2025)

Watford:

30, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church (11 March 2023)

Yelvertoft:

31, All Saints’ Church, Yelvertoft (20 March 2023)

The Quaker Meeting House at the north end of Wellington Street in Northampton (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Other Religious Traditions:

Synagogues in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire:

Bedford:

1, Jewish Bedford (12 July 2024) and here (9 August 2024)

Bletchley:

2, Bletchley: Bletchley Hebrew Congregation (1 December 2023)

Dunstable:

3, former synagogue, Watling House, 123 High Street North, Dunstable (5 June 2026)

4, former synagogue, 132 Luton Road, Dunstable (5 June 2026)

5, former synagogue, Poynters Road, Dunstable (5 June 2026)

Great Linford:

6, Milton Keynes and District Reform Synagogue, Great Linford (25 November 2022)

Luton:

7, Luton United Synagogue, Dunstable Road, Luton, and Jewish Luton (5 June 2025)

8, Luton Town Hall, venue for occasional Jewish services, 2001-2009 (5 June 2025)

9, 5 Moor Path, the first-ever synagogue in Luton (5 June 2025)

10, former synagogue, Bury Park Road (5 June 2025)

11, former synagogue, 51 John Street, Luton (5 June 2025)

Northampton:

12, Northampton Hebrew Congregation, Overstone Road (10 February 2023)

13, the Mediaeval Synagogue, Sheep Street (3 February 2023)

Wolverton:

14, The Wolverton United Synagogue Membership Group, or the Haversham Jewish Community, New Bradwell and Haversham (24 March 2023)

Mosques:

1, Fishermead: the Islamic Centre Milton Keynes, Fishermead Boulevard (12 June 2026)

2, Wolverton: The Central Jamia Mosque, Church Street, Wolverton (11 March 2024)

3, Luton: Islamic Cultural Centre, Bury Park Road (5 June 2025)

Buddhists:

1, Japanese Peace Pagoda, Willen, 24 May 2022

Other traditions:

1, The Tree Cathedral, Milton Keynes, 3 August 2022

The Peace Pagoda on the shores of Willen Lake was built in 1980 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Last updated: 30 August 2026

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 37, Friday 30 January 2026

‘The earth produces of itself’ (Mark 4: 28) … fields at Shutlanger Road in Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire (Photographs: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This is the last week in the 40-day season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation on Sunday (2 February 2025). This week began with the Third Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany III, 26 January 2025).

The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Charles, King and Martyr (1649). 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, 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.

‘The seed would sprout and grow’ (Mark 4: 27) … a mulberry tree in Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 4: 26-34 (NRSVA):

26 He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27 and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’
30 He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’

Mulberry Street in Whitechapel … welcomed 400 refugees who had been trafficked by boat in 1764 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

Chapter 4 in Saint Mark’s Gospel is the ‘parables chapter,’ recalling parables that make this chapter the central teaching section of this Gospel. Christ is in a boat beside the sea teaching a very large crowd who are listening on the shore (see Mark 4: 1-2). In this morning’s Gospel reading (Mark 4: 26-34) at the Eucharist, Christ describe the ‘kingdom of God’ by explaining the parable of sower scattering seed on the ground, which we read earlier this week, in the hope and expectation of the harvest (verses 26-29) and of the mustard seed that grows into a great tree (verses 30-32).

We may ask why Christ decides to talk about a mustard seed, or in Saint Luke’s Gospel about a mustard seed and a mulberry tree (Luke 17: 5-6), rather than, say, an olive tree. After all, as he was talking in the incident in today’s Gospel reading, he must have been surrounded by grove after grove of olive trees.

But, I can imagine, he is also watching to see if those who are listening have switched off their humour mode, if they have withdrawn their sense of humour. He is talking here with a great sense of humour, using hyperbole to underline his point.

We all know a tiny grain of mustard is incapable of growing to a big tree. So, what is Christ talking about here? Because, he not only caught the disciples off-guard with his hyperbole and sense of humour … he even wrong-footed some of the Reformers and many Bible translators who make mistakes about what sort of trees he is talking about in the Gospels.

The story of how mulberries were reintroduced to England over 400 years is a tale of how investors were wrongfooted, yet also leads to another story of how the churches helped to care refugees in London in the 1760s.

Mulberries were first introduced to England by the Romans and were commonly used for making mediaeval ‘murrey’ (sweet pottage) as well as for medicinal purposes. They were reintroduced in the early 17th century when James tried to establish native silk production in 1607-1609 when around 10,000 saplings were imported and distributed by William Stallenge and François Verton through local officials at six shillings for a hundred plants, less for packets of seeds.

The commercial project failed, black mulberries (morus nigra) being acquired rather than the white (morus alba) that silkworms tend to favour. But one of these mulberry plantations gave its name to Mulberry Street, a short quiet back street in Whitechapel, with the tall bell-tower of Saint Boniface, the German Roman Catholic Church, at one end.

There was a second mulberry garden close by, across Whitechapel Road in Mile End New Town, north of what is now Old Montague Street and east of Greatorex (formerly Great Garden) Street. Land to the east of that south of Old Montague Street appears also to have been similarly planted. Spitalfields was already at the beginning of the 17th century a centre of silk throwing and weaving.

The mulberry garden in Whitechapel became a market garden and then a pleasure ground, and was used of for a few weeks in 1764 as a temporary asylum for refugees. A tented camp was set up for around 400 deceived and destitute refugees from the Palatinate and Bohemia who had been abandoned on what they had thought was a journey to Nova Scotia. With local fundraising and charitable efforts, initiated primarily by local churches and clergy, the refugees eventually left and found homes in South Carolina.

Housing development in the area began in the 1780s and 1790s. The Mulberry Tree public house once stood on the north side of Little Holloway Street, while Union Row later became Mulberry Street.

Why did Christ refer to a mustard seed and a mulberry or sycamine tree, and not, say, an olive tree or an oak tree?

Christ first uses the example of a tiny, miniscule kernel or seed (κόκκος, kokkos), from which the small mustard plant (σίναπι, sinapi) grows. But mustard is an herb, not a tree. Not much of a miracle, you might say: tiny seed, tiny plant.

In Saint Luke’s Gospel, he then mixes his metaphors and refers to another plant. Martin Luther, in his translation of the Bible, turned the tree into a mulberry tree. The mulberry tree – both the black mulberry and the white mulberry – is from the same family as the fig tree.

As children, some of us sang or played to the nursery rhyme or song, Here we go round the mulberry bush. Another version is Here we go gathering nuts in May. The same tune is used for the American rhyme Pop goes the weasel and for the Epiphany carol, I saw three ships.

Of course, mulberries do not grow on bushes, and they do not grow nuts that are gathered in May. Nor is the mulberry a very tall tree – it grows from tiny seeds but only reaches the height of an adult person.

It is not a very big tree at all. It is more like a bush than a tree – and it is easy to uproot too.

However, the tree Christ names in Saint Luke’s Gospel (Greek συκάμινος, sikámeenos) is the sycamine tree, which has the shape and leaves of a mulberry tree but fruit that tastes like the fig, or the sycamore fig (συκόμορος, Ficus Sycomorus).

Others think the tree being referred to there is the sycamore fig (συκόμορος, Ficus Sycomorus), the big tree that little Zacchaeus climbs in Jericho to see Jesus (Luke 19: 1-10).

The sycamine tree is not naturally pollinated. The pollination process is initiated only when a wasp sticks its stinger right into the heart of the fruit. In other words, the tree and its fruit have to be stung in order to reproduce. There is a direct connection between suffering and growth, but also a lesson that everything in creation, including the wasp, has its place in the intricate balance of nature.

Whether it is a small seed like the mustard seed, a small, seemingly useless and annoying creature like the wasp, or a small and despised figure of fun like Zacchaeus, each has value in God’s eyes, and each has a role in the great harvest of gathering in for God’s Kingdom.

Put more simply, it is quality and not quantity that matters when it comes faith and love.

Mulberry Hall at 17-19 Stonegate, York, dates from 1434 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 30 January 2026):

The theme this week (25-31 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Connections That Last’ (pp 22-23). This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections from Paula de Mello Alves, a Brazilian lawyer and theologian, Executive Secretary of the Southern Diocese, and former co-leader of the Anglican Communion Youth Network (ACYN).

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 30 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord, we celebrate the connections built in ACYN. May these relationships carry encouragement and strength to all corners of the Anglican Communion, near and far.

The Collect:

King of kings and Lord of lords,
whose faithful servant Charles
prayed for those who persecuted him
and died in the living hope of your eternal kingdom:
grant us by your grace so to follow his example
that we may love and bless our enemies,
through the intercession of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal God,
who gave us this holy meal
in which we have celebrated the glory of the cross
and the victory of your martyr Charles:
by our communion with Christ
in his saving death and resurrection,
give us with all your saints the courage to conquer evil
and so to share the fruit of the tree of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Willow trees by the Monastery Lakes in Shutlanger, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Christmas 2025-2026: 21, Wednesday 14 January 2026

Jesus heals Saint Peter’s Mother-in-Law … a stained-glass window in Saint John the Baptist Church, Blisworth, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 40-day season of Christmas continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation (2 February). This week began with the First Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany I, 11 January 2026), with readings that focus on the Baptism of Christ.

The snowy, wintery weather of the last week or so forced the cancellation of the choir rehearsals in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, last Wednesday. But I am going to miss this evening’s rehearsals as we go to a funeral today, the first of two funerals in two days. 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, 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.

Jesus Heals Simon Peter's Mother-in-Law … a panel in a window in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Mark 1: 29-39 (NRSVA):

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ 38 He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ 39 And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus heals Saint Peter’s Mother-in-Law … a stained-glass window in Saint John the Baptist Church, Blisworth, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

This morning’s Gospel reading at the Eucharist (Mark 1: 29-39) is the story of Christ healing Simon Peter’s mother-in-law.

There are four parts in this morning’s Gospel reading:

1, Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law (verses 29-31);

2, Jesus heals many other people, including people with diseases and people who are exorcised of demons (verses 32-34);

3, Jesus retreats to a deserted place to prayer but is ‘hunted’ out by Simon and his companions (verses 35-38);

4, Jesus returns to preaching in the synagogues in Galilee (verse 39).

Most people Jesus meets in the Gospel stories are unnamed, so that many of the women he heals are not named too. Indeed, in the healing stories told of men, only Lazarus and Malchus are named. But the high priest’s servant Malchus is only named by John (John 18: 10), and not in the synoptic gospels. Mark refers to blind Bartimaeus, but this is a reference only to the name of the blind man’s father and not the name of the blind man himself (see Mark 10: 46).

In all the Gospel stories in which Jesus heals women, the women too are anonymous. In today’s Gospel reading, even Simon Peter’s mother-in-law remains unnamed, and she is identified only by her relationship to Simon Peter. Indeed, there is no reference at all to her daughter, Simon Peter’s wife.

All three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, tell this healing story (see Matthew 8: 14-15; Mark 1: 29-31; Luke 4: 38-40). Matthew says Jesus ‘touched’ the woman's hand, Mark say he ‘grasped’ it, and in Luke he simply ‘rebuked the fever’. Mark says the house was the home of Simon and Andrew, who both interceded with Jesus for the woman. Luke alone says she had a high fever.

The healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law is the first story of physical healing in Saint Luke’s Gospel, and it follows immediately after the first story of spiritual healing, of an unnamed man in the synagogue in Capernaum. In Saint Mark’s Gospel, this story follows immediately after the calling of the first disciples, Andrew, Peter, James and John. In all three synoptic Gospels, the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and of a demon-possessed man trigger a wave of sick and possessed people being brought to Jesus.

Mother-in-law jokes illustrated many seaside postcards and were part of the stock-in-trade of comedians in the 1960s and well into the 1970s. Those mothers-in-law were never named, and the jokes served to emphasise the domestic role – perhaps servile role – of women in homes and families in those days.

But mothers-in-law were also mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, wives, nieces and daughters; they had careers, hopes and ambitions, fears, illnesses, and sufferings; they had love and emotions; and they had names … none of which were acknowledged in those postcards or comic sketches.

Those attitudes were reinforced by many of the ways in which I have heard men in the past interpret this morning’s reading. Yet a closer reading of this story shows that it does not reinforce a woman’s place as being servile or secondary, the ‘complementarian’ view offered by some commentators who claim they are ‘conservative evangelicals.’

It is not a story about a woman taking a late Saturday morning weekend sleep-in on her bed, and then getting up ‘to make the tea’.

The verb for serving, διακονέω (diakoneo), used in verse 31 in reference to this woman means to wait, attend upon, serve, or to be an attendant or assistant. Later, in Acts and other places in the New Testament, it means to minister to, relieve, assist, or supply with the necessaries of life, or provide the means of living, to do the work of the διάκονος or deacon (see I Timothy 3: 10, 13; I Peter 4: 11), even to be in charge or to administer (see II Corinthians 3: 3, 8: 19-20; I Peter 1: 12, 4: 10).

The word describing this woman’s service also describes the angels who minister to Jesus after he is tempted in the wilderness (Mark 1: 13; Matthew 4: 11), the work of his female disciples (Luke 8: 1-3), and describes Martha of Bethany when she serves while her sister Mary sits at Jesus’s feet and learns, before Jesus specifically affirms Mary’s choice (Luke 10: 38-42).

Most significantly, this word describes Jesus himself, when he explains to his disciples that ‘whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many’ (see Mark 10: 43-45).

Being healed is not just about personal relief but also about being restored to a place where one can serve and contribute to the community. The Book of Common Prayer describes God as the one ‘whose service is perfect freedom,’ and this is modelled by Peter’s mother-in-law. Her response to Jesus healing her is a model not just for women but for all Christian service.

In the kingdom, serving is not women’s work, it is the work of each and every one of us.

James Tissot ‘The Healing of Peter’s Mother-in-law’ (La guérison de la belle-mère de Pierre), 1886-1894 (Brooklyn Museum)

Today’s Prayers (Wednesday 14 January 2026):

The theme this week (11-17 January 2026) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Gaza Crisis Response’ (pp 18-19). This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update from the Diocese of Jerusalem.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Wednesday 14 January 2026) invites us to pray:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for signs of hope like Walid’s recovery. May your Spirit empower continued acts of compassion, courage, and skill, even in the face of immense need.

The Collect:

Eternal Father,
who at the baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord of all time and eternity,
you opened the heavens and revealed yourself as Father
in the baptism of Jesus your beloved Son:
by the power of your Spirit
complete the heavenly work of our rebirth
through the waters of the new creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Heavenly Father,
at the Jordan you revealed Jesus as your Son:
may we recognize him as our Lord
and know ourselves to be your beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Christ Healing Peter’s Mother-in-Law … a fresco in Visoki Dečani Monastery, a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Kosovo and Metohija, 12 km south of Pec (© Copyright: Blago Fund Inc)

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

Hallowe’en tales of nuns and a ‘Grey Lady’ haunting a former Comberford home in the Monastery in Shutlanger

The Monastery in Shutlanger … the main house on the Parles and Comberford estate near Stoke Bruerne in the 15th and 16th centuries (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Tomorrow is Hallowe’en, and in previous years I have entertained myself be retelling ghost stories associated with the Comberford family.

Frankly, I am a sceptic when it comes to ghost stories. I am much more in fear of the real spectres that haunt our world today, including wars and mass killings in the Middle East, Ukraine, Russia, Sudan and Yemen, the rise of the far-right across Europe and racism and antisemitism around the world, and the consequences of Donald Trump’s return to office as President in the US, or the run-down and neglect of the NHS, the institutional lack of compassion for refugees and asylum seekers, and the rise of an ugly far-right nationalism in both Britain and Ireland.

These are the real, living ghosts in my world today.

In previous years I have recounted three ‘ghost stories’ that remain with me from childhood: two from family stories – the three knocks at the door at Comberford Hall, and the ghost of Emily in the Moat House, Tamworth; and one from school days – the foxes baying at night on the lawn in front of Gormanston Castle.

In recent months, I have heard what has the semblance of a ghost story – should I say, I have heard the skeleton or bones of what may be another ghost story – that may have links with another Comberford family home.

Since moving to Stony Stratford, on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire over 3½ years ago, I have visited a number of places in Northamptonshire that have associations with the Comberford family, including Watford, Yelvertoft, Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger and Wappenham. The shadow of a ghost story I heard in recent days comes from the small village of Shutlanger in Northamptonshire, which has a Comberford family connection dating from the 15th and 16th centuries.

William Comberford was entrusted with the Northamptonshire estates of Margaret Catesby, the widow of John Parles (1419-1452), when she died in 1459. Those estates included lands in Watford, Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger and Wappenham, and her daughter Johanna Parles became William Comberford’s ward. Johanna was a wealthy heiress, and in time she married William’s son and heir, John Comberford (1440-1508).

This marriage added more land and wealth to the Comberford family estates. Their son, Thomas Comberford, sold much of the former Parles estates, including almost 400 acres in Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger, Alderton and Wappenham, to Richard Empson of Easton Neston. But the Parles family had a lasting influence on the fortunes of the Comberford family, reflected even in the changes made to the Comberford family coat of arms over the generations.

The small village of Shutlanger is a mile west of Stoke Bruerne, half-way between Northampton and Stony Stratford. Shutlanger was neither a parish nor a lordship in its own right, and in the Middle Ages it had neither a church nor a manor house.

Two houses in the village became part of the story of the Parles and Comberford families and the history of the manor in Shutlanger: the Monastery on Water Lane has been identified as the home of the Parles family in the early 15th century, although it was first built in the 14th century; and the Manor House on Showsley Road has been a guest house until recently.

The entrance porch to the Monastery in Shutlanger has an ecclesiastical appearance (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Robert Parles of Watford, Northamptonshire, bought the estate in 1364 and their family continued to live in Shutlanger for almost a century, until John Parles died in 1452. The Manor of Watford and the Parles estates in Shutlanger and Stoke Bruene descended to his daughter Joan Parles, who married William Comberford.

The Comberford family continued to own these estates, including Shutlanger for over half a century until most them were sold in 1504, although the Comberford family held some its other interests in Northamptonshire for another 60 years, including the Comberford Manor in Watford and the advosom of Yelvertoft. When Thomas Comberford sold the Comberford Manor in Watford to Sir John Spencer in 1563, the Comberford family interest in Yelvertoft parish came to an end.

Sir Richard Empson’s purchase of the former Parles and Comberford estate from the Comberford family in 1504 was one of a number of purchases he made in Shutlanger as he built up a large estate centred on his mansion at Easton Neston.

The estate passed with Easton Neston to Richard Fermor, and Sir John Fermor of Easton Neston held a court for what was described as his Manor of Shutlanger in 1554. After his death in 1571, however, the family’s estate in Shutlanger ceased to be regarded as a manor. The ‘Manor of Shutlanger’ remained for generations in the hands of the Fermor family – later the Fermor-Hesketh family and Earls of Pomfret.

The 14th century house in Shutlanger later known as the Monastery is on Water Lane on the south-east edge of the village. It became known as the Monastery through a supposed association with the Cistercian nunnery of Sewardsley in Easton Neston.

The house become the capital messuage, the principal house or equivalent of a manor house, of the Parles estate, and was the home of the Parles family by the early 15th century.

The house has an almost complete medieval roof structure and a two-storey entrance porch. This seems to have been added to the main building, which appears to date from the first half of the 14th century, although the windows in the south elevation of the main range, and also the porch, perhaps date from the late 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century. The house was modernised in the 17th century by inserting a staircase in the cross-passage and a fireplace in the service bay.

A chapel licensed in 1411 was on the upper floor of the two-storey entrance porch to the Monastery (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A chapel licensed in 1411 occupied the upper floor of the two-storey entrance porch to the Monastery that appears to be a later addition to the main structure.

The house was surrounded by extensive grounds, with fishponds and a dovecote, while an adjoining close formed a small park, described in the 1540s as 20 acres of coppice known as Parles Park. The family name was still recalled in the 18th and 19th centuries in a field known as Parles Park.

The Monastery later became a farmhouse on the Fermor estate. It was included in an exchange between the trustees of the 5th Earl of Pomfret and the 5th Duke of Grafton in 1844. When the Grafton estate in Shutlanger was sold off in 1919, the Monastery was bought by the sitting tenant and remodelled as a private house.

The Monastery extended to 3½ bays, including a two-bay hall, with a half-bay below the spere truss containing the cross-passage and a service bay beyond. An east solar or parlour bay was demolished.

The Monastery was first listed Grade I in 1951 and was restored in 1965. In recent years, it was the premises of Monastery Stained Glass, dealers in antique stained glass and panels of glass from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. But when I visited it recently it seemed to have returned to use as a family home.

Whether the house was every a monastic house or the residence of nuns and linked with the Cistercian nunnery of Sewardsley in Easton Neston is a matter of conjecture or even speculation. But it has given rise to this evening’s Hallowe’en story.

Norman Barford Ridge and his wife Lilla (nee Underwood) inherited the Monastery and the surrounding lands from his aunts in the 1950-1960s. Before Norman and Lilla moved in, a fire had ruined the roof and they set about renovating the house.

Their youngest son, who was away at school at the time, stayed with his parents at the Monastery during school holidays, and later when he was working he would stay with his parents in the Monastery on family visits. His bedroom was at the top of the staircase in the former chapel above the front entrance. Later he would describe how he had heard steps on the broad stone stairs in the middle of the night.

There were other stories too about the hauntings in the Monastery, from an underground tunnel that supposedly ran between the nuns’ residence and the main house, to a ‘Grey Lady’ who appeared before and often wreaked havoc with a number of people who visited.

After Lilla died, Norman moved to Bury St Edmunds, and the Monastery was bought by Charles Henry Wigley and his wife. Charles Wigley was a Dan Air pilot who flew out of Luton. His hobby was working with stained glass, and when he retired he worked full-time with stained glass, selling his works all over the world.

Norman Ridge’s daughter and sons continued to visit the Wigleys regularly and all three returned to the Monastery in association when their father’s funeral about 30 years ago. The Wigleys generously showed the Ridge children and grandchildren around the Monastery and the stained glass studio.

Hallowe’en is the eve of All Hallows or All Saints Day (1 November) and two nights before All Souls’ Day (2 November). They both celebrate the lives of holy people and faithful Christians. There is nothing spooky and shiver-inducing about either feastday or its commemorations.

But it is good to remember family members from the past, to give thanks for them and to remember the Comberford family links with some of the villages near here 500 years ago.

A reminder at Lichfield Cathedral this week of the true meaning and symbolism of Hallowe’en (Photograph: Hugh Ashton, 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)