Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 72, Sunday 20 July 2025, Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V)

Christ in the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus … a panel in the Herkenrode glass windows in the Lady Chapel in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and today is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V, 20 July 2025). Later this morning, I hope to present at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.

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.

Christ in the home of Mary and Martha … the East Window in Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Watford, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 10: 38-42 (NRSVA):

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41 But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary by Diego Velázquez (1630)

Today’s Reflection:

Saint Luke’s story of the meal that Jesus has with his friends Mary and Martha is not found in the other synoptic gospels, and the only other parallel is in the Fourth Gospel, where Jesus visits Mary and Martha after the death of Lazarus.

So the meals Jesus has with Mary and Martha must be understood in the light of the Resurrection, which is prefigured by the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

For many women, and for many men too, the story of the meal with Martha and Mary raises many problems, often created by insights that may not have been possible to have at the time when Saint Luke’s Gospel was written.

Our approach to understanding and explaining this meal very often depends on the way in which I understand Martha and the busy round of activities that have her distracted, and that cause her to complain to Jesus about her sister’s apparent lack of zeal and activity.

These activities in the Greek are described as Martha’s service – she is the deacon at the table: where the NRSV says ‘But Martha was distracted by her many tasks,’ the Greek says: ἡ δὲ Μάρθα περιεσπᾶτο περὶ πολλὴν διακονίαν (‘But Martha was being distracted by much diaconal work, service at the table’).

Quite often, when this story is told, over and over, again and again, it is told as if Martha is getting stroppy about having to empty the dishwasher while Mary is lazing, sitting around, making small talk with Jesus.

Does Martha see that Mary should only engage in kitchen work too?

Does she think, perhaps, that only Lazarus should be out at the front of the house, keeping Jesus engaged in lads’ banter about the latest league match between Bethany United and Jerusalem City?

Is Jesus being too dismissive of Martha’s complaints?

Or is he defending Mary’s right to engage in a full discussion of the Word, to engage in an alive ministry of the Word?

Martha is presented in this story as the dominant, leading figure. It is she who takes the initiative and who welcomes Jesus into her home (verse 38); it is she who offers the hospitality, who is the host at the meal, who is the head of the household – in fact, Lazarus isn’t even on the stage for this scene, and Mary is merely ‘her sister’ – very much the junior partner in the household.

Yet it is Mary, the figure on the margins, who offers the sort of hospitality that Jesus commends and praises.

Mary simply listens to Jesus, sitting at his feet, like a student would sit at the feet of a great rabbi or teacher, waiting and willing to learn what is being taught.

Martha is upset about this, and comes out from the back and asks Jesus to pack off Mary to the kitchen where she can help Martha.

But perhaps Martha was being too busy with her household tasks.

I was once invited to dinner by people I knew as good friends. And for a long time I was left on my own with the other guest as the couple busied themselves with things in the kitchen – they had decided to do the washing up before bringing out the coffee … the wife knew that if she left the washing up until later, the husband would shirk his share of the task.

But being left on our own was a little embarrassing. Part of the joy of being invited to someone’s home for dinner is the conversation around the table.

When I have been on retreats, at times, in Greek Orthodox and Benedictine monasteries, conversation at the table has been discouraged by a monk reading, usually from the writings of the Early Fathers, from the Patristic writings.

A good meal, good table fellowship, good hospitality, are not just about the food that is served, but about the ideas and words shared, heard and listened to around the table too.

One commentator suggests that Martha has gone overboard in her duties of hospitality. She has spent too much time preparing the food, and has failed to pay real attention to her guest.

On the other hand, Mary has chosen her activity (verse 42). It does not just happen by accident. Mary has chosen to offer Jesus the real hospitality that a guest should receive. She talks to Jesus, and real conversation is about both talking and listening.

If she is sent back into the kitchen, then – in the absence of Lazarus, indeed, in the notable absence of the disciples – Jesus would be left without hospitality, without words of welcome, without conversation.

Perhaps Martha might have been better off if she had a more simple lifestyle, if she prepared just one dish for her guest and for her family – might I be bold enough to suggest, if she had been content for them to sup on bread and wine alone.

She could have joined Mary in her hospitality, in welcoming Jesus to their home and to their table; they could have been in full communion with one another.

In this way, Martha will experience what her sister is experiencing, but which she is too busy to notice – their visitor’s invitation into the hospitality of God.

One commentator, Brendan Byrne, points out the subtle point being made in this story:

‘Frenetic service, even service of the Lord, can be a deceptive distraction from what the Lord really wants. Luke has already warned that the grasp of the word can be choked by the cares and worries of life … Here the cares and worries seem well justified – are they not in the service of the Lord? But precisely therein lies the power of the temptation, the great deceit. True hospitality – even that given directly to the Lord – attends to what the guest really wants.’

Saint Augustine’s Church, Mambong … illustrating reflections on ‘Diversity in Sarawak’ in the USPG prayer diary this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 20 July 2025, Trinity V):

The theme this week (20 to 26 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Diversity in Sarawak’ (pp 20-21). This theme is introduced today with these reflections:

The Revd Canon Prof Patrick Comerford – Former Professor of Theology and retired parish priest in the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe, Church of Ireland. Following five weeks travelling throughout the Diocese of Kuching in East Malaysia, Canon Patrick writes:

“Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, is the largest of the 13 states in Malaysia, spanning 48,000 square miles and about 3 million people. The Anglican presence on Borneo dates from 1848, when Thomas McDougall arrived in Kuching at the invitation of the Rajah of Sarawak. The chancel of Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching, was built by SPG (USPG) to mark more than 100 years of links between the diocese and SPG. A plaque above the lectern reads: ‘Borneo Mission Association, 1909-2015, For its memorial look around you.’

During my stay, I worshipped regularly in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral but also went on a whirlwind tour of various churches and chapels, mission stations and schools, throughout the Malaysian state of Sarawak. I was led by Father Jeffry, who leads churches in the mission area of Mambong. He was a most genial host. It was a privilege to see his ministry and mission, in urban and rural settings. Sarawak is a richly diverse place with Indigenous people groups, including the Iban and Bidayuh, making up almost half the population.

It was good for me to see at first-hand that the legacy of SPG and USPG’s work in the past has led to a truly incarnational local diocese. Sarawak is in a unique position to become a model for interfaith harmony and dialogue and for cultural and ethnic diversity and co-operation,” Patrick concluded.

The USPG prayer diary today (Sunday 20 July 2025, Trinity V) invites us to pray:

Lord God, we pray for the Church of the Province of southeast Asia, the Diocese of Kuching, and for the ministry and mission of the bishops, including the Right Revd Danald Jute, Bishop of Kuching and Brunei since 2017.

The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour 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:

Grant, O Lord, we beseech you,
that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered
by your governance,
that your Church may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God,
send down upon your Church
the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who minister the gospel
your countless gifts of grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘Diversity in Sarawak’ is the theme in the USPG Prayer Diary this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

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 Easter 2025: 44, Monday 2 June 2025

‘But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (John 16: 13) … the Risen Christ above Sir Ninian Comper’s baldacchino in the Chapel in Pusey House, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (20 April 2025) and continuing through Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday next Sunday (8 June 2025). Yesterday is the Seventh Sunday of Easter (Easter VII).

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.

‘But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (John 16: 33) … Charles Stanley Peach (1858-1934), Christ superimposed on the plan of a Church, 1910. Pencil and watercolour with gold paint on paper, 1300 × 750 mm

John 16: 29-33 (NRSVA):

29 His disciples said, ‘Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.’ 31 Jesus answered them, ‘Do you now believe? 32 The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. 33 I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’

‘But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (John 16: 33) … the Crucifixion and the Ressurection depicted in windows in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

As I was saying in my reflections yesterday, we are, in some ways, caught in the church calendar in an in-between time, between Ascension Day, last Thursday [29 May 2025], and the Day of Pentecost next Sunday [8 June 2025].

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (John 16: 29-33), we continue reading from the ‘Farewell Discourse’ when Jesus talks with the Disciples at the Last Supper about their future and the future of the Church after he leaves them.

The disciples now claim to understand exactly what Jesus is talking about, although it seems they really do not. It is not until later that they grasp the meaning of his words fully.

In the coming days, they will be scattered in all directions and leave Jesus alone as he faces death. In the years ahead, they will be scattered abroad, and they too will face persecution and death. But they are to take courage, for Christ has conquered the world and overcome evil in the world. The disciples and we can share in his peace and in his victory: ‘I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (verse 33).

The term ‘Christus Victor’ has become an influential phrase through Christus Victor by the Swedish bishop and theologian Gustaf Aulén (1879-1977), first published in Swedish as Den kristna försoningstanken (The Christian Idea of the Atonement) in 1930, and in English as Christus Victor in 1931.

Aulén reinterpreted the classic ransom theory of atonement, which says that Christ’s death is a ransom to the powers of evil that had held humankind in captivity. It is an understanding of the atonement until the time of Anselm of Canterbury. What became the satisfaction theory of atonement or penal substitutionary atonement sees Christ’s suffering as paying the penalty for human sin, and continues to dominate western theological thinking, particularly among ‘conservative’ evangelicals.

The concept of Christus Victor (‘Christ the Victor’) as a description of Christ’s triumph over evil and death through his death and resurrection, emphasises God’s victory over the forces of sin and darkness and highlights Christ’s role as the cosmic liberator, rescuing humanity from the bondage of evil and restoring a relationship with God.

The Christus Victor view has its roots in early Patristic teachings, and the Eastern Orthodox Church still holds to the view of the atonement put forward by Irenaeus and that is called ‘recapitulation’, in which Jesus became what we are so that we could become what he is.

For Irenaeus, the ultimate goal of Christ’s work of solidarity with humanity is to make humankind divine. Of Jesus he says, he ‘became what we are, that he might bring us to be even what he is himself.’ These ideas were shared by many other Church Fathers, including Sainr Athanasius, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Saint Augustine and Saint Maximus the Confessor. They have been most influential within the Eastern Orthodox Church, and this Eastern Orthodox theological development out of the recapitulation view of the atonement is called theosis (‘deification’).

Aulén argues that theologians have incorrectly concluded that the early Church Fathers held a ransom theory of atonement. Aulén argues that the Church Fathers’ theory was not that the crucifixion is the payment of a ransom to the devil, but rather that it represents the liberation of humanity from the bondage of sin, death and the devil. As the term Christus Victor (Christ the Victor) indicates, the idea of ‘ransom’ should not be seen as some sort of business transaction, but more in the terms of a rescue or liberation of humanity from the slavery of sin.

He sees the concept of Christus Victor as uniting Christ and his Father at the Crucifixion in a subversive condemnation of the unjust powers of darkness, a drama and a passion story in which God conquers the Powers and liberates humanity from the bondage of sin: ‘The work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil.’

The Christus Victor theory is becoming increasingly popular with both paleo-orthodox evangelicals because of its connection to the early Church Fathers, and with liberal Christians and peace churches because of its subversive nature, seeing the death of Jesus as an exposure of the cruelty and evil present in the worldly powers, and the resurrection as a triumph over these powers.

The Christus Victor theory has also influenced liberation theology in Latin South America, as well as feminist and black theologies of liberation.

‘I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (John 16: 33).

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (John 16: 33) … a window in the funeral chapel in Saint Joseph’s Church, Singapore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 2 June 2025):

The new edition of Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), covers the period from 1 July to 20 November 2025. The theme in the prayer diary this week (1-7 June) is ‘Volunteers’ Week’ and was introduced yesterday by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary invites us to pray today (Monday 2 June 2025):

Gracious God, thank you for calling us in your mercy to be your saints. Set us apart for a life filled with your Spirit, that we may be a blessing to others.

The Collect:

O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

Eternal God, giver of love and power,
your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world
to preach the gospel of his kingdom:
confirm us in this mission,
and help us to live the good news we proclaim;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Risen, ascended Lord,
as we rejoice at your triumph,
fill your Church on earth with power and compassion,
that all who are estranged by sin
may find forgiveness and know your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

‘But take courage; I have conquered the world!’ (John 16: 33) … a window in Saint Peter and Saint Church, Watford, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

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

A return visit to Tickford Abbey in search of the Comberford family’s lost links with Newport Pagnell

Tickford Abbey was built with the ruins of Tickford Priory … a reminder of Comberford family links with Newport Pagnell and Tickford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

Since moving to Stony Stratford over three years ago, I have been fascinated to find how the Comberford family had so many links with these parts of north Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

These links have included a share in the Manor of Watford, and a manor and properties in the neighbouring villages of Stoke Bruerne, as well as some high-profile engagement with Church life in this area.

As a judge and the Bishop of Lincoln’s commissary, John Comberford held the courts of the Archdeacon of Buckingham, probably from 1497 until at least 1507, and he died in 1508. At the time, the Bishop of Lincoln was William Smith, previously Bishop of Lichfield, where he had re-founded Saint John’s Hospital in Lichfield.

The connections between Smith and the Comberford family were far-reaching, for in 1507 John Comberford, as patron, presented the bishop’s nephew, also William Smith, as Rector of Yelvertoft. Later, John Comberford’s grandson, Canon Henry Comberford (1499-1586), Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral, was appointed Rector of Yelvertoft by his brother Humphrey Comberford in 1546.

John Comberford had acquired extensive interests in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire through his marriage to his father’s ward, Johanna or Joan Parles, the only daughter and heir of John Parles of Watford Manor and of Shutlanger Manor, near Stoke Bruerne, five miles south of Northampton.

Quite separately, John Comberford’s father, Judge William Comberford, had bought properties in Newport Pagnell and Tickford in 1470-1471. I was reminded of these connections on a recent afternoon when I was in Newport Pagnell and Tickford. When I first visited Tickford three years ago, it was a dull and dreary afternoon. So, I decided to revisit Tickford Abbey last Friday and to recall once again the Comberford family links with Newport Pagnell that go back almost six centuries, to 1442 or earlier.

A sign for Newport Pagnell close to Tickford Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Newport Pagnell is one of the towns in north Buckinghamshire that have been absorbed into Milton Keynes. Newport Pagnell is separated from the rest of Milton Keynes by the M1, and the Newport Pagnell Services was Britain’s second motorway service station.

Newport Pagnell is first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086 as ‘Neuport,’ an Anglo-Saxon name meaning the ‘New Market Town.’ The suffix ‘Pagnell’ was added later when the manor passed into the hands of the Pagnell or Paynel family.

This was the principal town of the ‘Three Hundreds of Newport,’ and at one time Newport Pagnell was one of the largest towns in Buckinghamshire, with the assizes of the county held there occasionally.

William Comberford (ca 1403/1410-1472), along with Humphry Starky and Thomas Stokley, was granted lands and other properties in Newport Pagnell and Tykford (Tickford), Buckinghamshire, by Geoffrey Seyntgerman (St Germain), in 1471-1472. By then, William Comberford was in his 60s, but already he had substantial property and political interests in the area.

From 1442 or earlier, William was a key political ally of Henry Stafford (1402-1460), Earl of Stafford and later 1st Duke of Buckingham. Stafford was the key political figure in Buckinghamshire at the time, and they shared a political ally in John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury.

William was an important landowner in south Staffordshire in the mid-15th century, with land in Comberford, Wigginton and Tamworth, and he was also a trustee of the manors of Whichnor, Sirescote and other estates. He built Comberford Hall, a new house at Comberford, between Tamworth and Lichfield, in 1439. He may also have been one of the early members of the Comberford family to own the Moat House on Lichfield Street, Tamworth.

Three years after he built Comberford Hall, William Comberford became one of the two MPs for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, on 27 March 1442, on the nomination of the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He was a judge and one of the Duke of Buckingham’s retainers, and h e remained an MP until 3 March 1447.

William was first appointed to the Staffordshire bench in 1442, and was a Justice of the Peace (JP) until 1471. He became an attorney for the Duchy of Lancaster in the Court of Common Pleas in 1446. Soon afterwards, through the patronage of the Duke of Buckinghamm he became the second protonotary or chief clerk in the Court of Common Pleas.

The Duke of Buckingham was killed at the Battle of Northampton on 10 July 1460. Nevertheless, Comberford continued to play an important role in the political, civil and judicial life of Staffordshire. In addition, as ‘Will’s Combford,’ he was admitted to membership of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John in Lichfield in 1469, along with Ralph FitzHerbert, father-in-law of William’s grandson, Thomas Comberford.

From 1452, William Comberford’s ward was Joan Parles, the daughter of John Parles (1419-1452) of Watford and of Shutlanger, near Stoke Bruerne, five miles south of Northampton and about 13 miles north-west of Newport Pagnell, Stony Stratford and Milton Keynes.

Roses seen on Tickford Street, Priory Street and Priory Close … John Comberford bought out the lands, tenements and rents in Newport Pagnell and Tickford in 1487 (Photographa: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Joan Parles came of age in 1461 and she later married William’s son and heir, John Comberford (ca 1440-1508). The marriage was so important for the Comberford family, both politically and financially, that the Parles coat-of-arms, with its cross and five red roses, was quartered with the Comberford arms, and sometimes even substituted for the arms of the Comberford family.

Meanwhile, Henry Stafford (1455-1483), 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester and later King Richard III, met the uncrowned 12-year-old ‘Boy King’, Edward V, at the Rose and Crown Inn in Stony Stratford on the night of 29 April 1483.

From Stony Stratford, the young King Edward was taken by the two dukes to the Tower of London, and it is there, it is believed, he and his younger brother, ten-year-old Prince Richard, Duke of York, were murdered. Their disappearance has given rise to many of the stories and legends about the ‘Princes in the Tower.’

In 1487, John Comberford bought out Thomas Stokley’s interest in the lands, tenements and rents in Newport Pagnell and Tickford that had been acquired by Stokley and John Comberford’s father in 1470-1471. In 1504, after his wife had died, John Comberford, along with his son Thomas and daughter-in-law Dorothy (Beaumont), sold the former Parles estates in Stoke Bruerne, Shutlanger, Alderton (about 10 miles north of Milton Keynes), and Wappenham to Richard Empson of Easton Neston. The estate then consisted of eight messuages, six tofts, one mill, 200 acres of land, 24 acres of meadow, 100 acres of pasture, 40 acres of wood and 14 shillings rent.

John Comberford died in 1508, but the Comberford family’s interest in lands in the Watford area continued for some decades later, as told by Murray Johnson in his book, Give a Manor, Take a Manor: the rise and decline of a medieval manor.

The Priory of Tickford owned some property in Aston, outside Birmingham that seems to have constituted a rectorial manor. It seems more than coincidental that at the same time John Comberford’s sister Margaret was married to William Holte (ca 1430-post 1498) of Aston Hall. The tomb of their son, William Holte (ca 1460-1514), in Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Aston, displays one of the earliest known heraldic depictions of the Comberford use of the Parles family’s arms, with its cross and five roses, as their own coat of arms.

After the suppression of the priory in 1525, its possessions were said to have included ‘the manor of Tickford in the parish of Aston’, and this manor in Asston was granted to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1532. The estate included the advowson of the vicarage and a pension of 40 shillings from Aston church. The rectorial estate seems to have passed into the possession of the Holte family between 1535 and 1552, and was united with the manor of Aston.

Humphrey Comberford (1496 -1555) of Comberford owned significant estates, including Watford Manor. He left most of his manors to Thomas Comberford (1530-1597), and he specified in his will that his Manor in Watford was to be held by his second son, Humphrey Comberford, from the elder son, Thomas, at an annual rent of one red rose for 60 years. In the event, Humphrey had died unmarried in 1545, before his father’s death. Thomas Comberford the probably sold the manor and lands of Watford shortly after 1555.

Looking from Tickford Abbey across Castle Meadow towards Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church in Newport Pagness (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The name of Tykford or Tickford, which was part of the Comberford property interests in the Newport Pagnell area in the 15th century, is found in Tickford Priory, a mediaeval monastic house in Newport Pagnell.

Tickford Priory was established in 1140 by Fulconius Paganel, the lord of the Manor of Newport Pagnell. The priory belonged to the Cluniac Order, with their French headquarters at Marmoutier Abbey in Tours.

Cardinal Wolsey annexed ‘the superfluous house of Tickford’ and its wealth to Christ Church College, Oxford, in 1524. Later, King James I sold the abbey to his physician, Dr Henry Atkins, in 1621.

Some of the former buildings of Tickford Priory were still standing in the early 18th century, but they were in poor condition. Tickford Abbey was built on the site of the prory ca 1757 for John Hooton, a lace merchant, and much of its fabric is believed to have come from Tickford Priory. It is said members of the Hooton family are buried in a a private vault with the grounds of Tickford Abbey.

The house was altered and added to in the early-mid 19th century and again in 1881-1889 by the Stony Stratford rchitect Edward Swinfen Harris for Philip Butler, JP. Futher internal alterations were made in the late 20th for its use as residential home. Tickford Abbey is now a residential and dementia care home and a Grade II listed building.

Tickford Bridge, built in 1810, is one of the last 21 cast iron bridges in Britain that continue to carry modern road traffic, and is the oldest bridge in Milton Keynes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

As I walked through the grounds of Tickford Abbey that late sunny afternoon, I found myself on Castle Meadow, looking across the River Great Ouse and the Ouzel or Lovat River towards the tower and pinnacles of the parish church, Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

Despite the name of Castle Meadow, historians today debate whether there the evidence for a castle at Newport Pagnell is meagre. Although there are references to Castle Meadow dating back to the 12th century, there is no specific documentary reference to a castle, and there was no castle in Tickford or Newport Pagnell by 1272.

The main house, with whatever remains of Tickford Priory, it is the nearest I can find to any remains of the Comberford properties in late mediaeval Newport Pagnell and Tickford. My great-grandfather, James Comerford (1817-1902), continued to use the Comberford coat-of-arms quartered with the arms of the Parles family on his bookplate.

From Tickford Abbey, I returned along Priory Street to Tickford Street, close to the home of Aston Martin and by the Bull Inn, and continued my afternoon stroll along to Tickford Bridge. It was built over the River Ouzel in 1810, is one of the last 21 cast iron bridges in Britain that continue to carry modern road traffic, and it is the oldest bridge in Milton Keynes. A plaque near the bridge recalls its history and construction, and it is Grade I listed by Historic England.

From there, I continued to walk on into the centre of Newport Pagnell, where I wanted to photograph another building by Edward Swinfen Harris and where we had dinner in Apollonia, the Greek restaurant on High Street.

My great-grandfather James Comerford (1817-1902) continued to use the Comberford coat-of-arms quartered with the arms of the Parles family on his bookplate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Lent 2025: 44, Thursday 17 April 2025, Maundy Thursday

An icon depicting the Last Supper or Mystical Supper seen in a shop on Ethnikis Antistaseos street in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are reaching the climax of Holy Week, the last week in Lent. Today is Maundy Thursday (17 April 2025), known in the Orthodox Church as Great Holy Thursday, and we preparing for Good Friday tomorrow and Easter Day.

I awoke this morning to the sound of the church bells from the Cathedral and the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon, having arrived in the Hotel Brascos late last night after a flight from Luton to Iraklion. I am spending these closing days of Holy Week and Easter in Rethymnon, and I am thinking of visiting the villages of Tsesmes and Platanias, on the eastern fringes of Rethymnon later today.

My Easter visit to Crete this year means, of course, I am going to miss the Chrism Eucharist in Christ Church, Oxford, today when the bishops, priest and deacons in the opportunity to renew our ordination vows. But I may visit the cathedral and some churches in Rethymnon, Platanias and Tsesmes during the day. Before this day begins, though, 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.

An icon depicting the Last Supper or Mystical Supper seen in Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 13: 1-17, 31b-35 (NRSVA):

1 Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ 7 Jesus answered, ‘You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ 8 Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’ 9 Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ 10 Jesus said to him, ‘One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’ 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’

12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants[d] are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

31b ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.” 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

The Last Supper depicted in a window in Saint Mary’s Church, Watford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflection:

During Holy Week, we have a series of readings from Saint John’s Gospel, in which Jesus has a very different set of encounters or exchanges each evening.

This evening, the Water for Washing the Disciples feet continues a theme we find throughout Saint John’s Gospel:

• The waters of the River Jordan, at the Baptism of Christ (see John 1: 19-34);

• The water that is turned into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2: 1-11);

• The Water of Life that the Samaritan Woman asks for at Jacob’s well in Sychar (John 4: 5-42);

• The water of the pool in Jerusalem where the paralysed man is healed after 38 years (John 5: 1-18);

• The water of the Sea of Galilee by which the 5,000 are fed (John 6: 1-14);

• The water by Capernaum where Jesus calms the storm (John 6: 16-21);

• The Rivers of Living Water (John 7: 37-39);

• The healing waters of the Pool of Siloam (John 9: 1-12);

• The water Christ cries out for on the Cross when he says: ‘I am thirsty’ (John 19: 28);

• The water that mingles with the blood from Christ’s side when it is pierced after his death (John 19: 32-35);

• The waters of the Sea of Tiberias, where the Risen Christ appears for a third time, after daybreak, and from which the disciples haul in 153 fish (John 21: 1-14).

Why then, in Saint John’s Gospel, does Pilate not wash his hands when he denies all responsibility on his part for the events that are to unfold that Good Friday (see John 18: 38)?

The Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) is best known for his posthumous novel The Master and Margarita, a masterpiece of the 20th century. Here Bulgakov portrays Pilate as a man who is ruthless, yet complex in his humanity. When Pilate meets Christ, he is reluctant but resigned and passively hands him over of him to those who wanted to kill him.

In this novel, Pilate exemplifies the statement ‘Cowardice is the worst of vices,’ and so he serves as a model of all the people who have washed their hands by silently or actively taking part in the Stalin’s crimes.

The actor Richard Boone plays a calm and stern, though, slightly guilt-ridden Pilate in the 1953 film The Robe (1953). There is an interesting touch when Pilate asks again for water to wash his hands, forgetting he has already washed those hands at the conclusion of the trial of Jesus.

When do we forget that we are complicit in the sufferings of others, and when do we deny we are complicit in the sufferings of others?

As Christ washes the feet of his disciples this evening, he calls us out from our complacency and our cosy forgetfulness, and challenges us once again to renew the promises made in the waters of our Baptism, to come again with forgiveness to living and healing waters, to dine and drink with him at the banquet, to have him calm the waters in the storms in our lives, to accept the miracle, to be cleansed by the waters from his side, to walk with him afresh and to join the Disciples in the new promises of the Resurrection.

Christ washes the feet of the Disciples … a fresco on a pillar in a church in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 17 April 2025, Maundy Thursday):

A ‘Holy Week Reflection’ provides the theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel).’ This theme was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Bishop David Walker of Manchester, who is the chair of USPG trustees.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 17 April 2025, Maundy Thursday) invites us to pray:

Lord, on this sacred night, we remember your great love and sacrifice. As you took the bread and broke it, and shared the cup, you gave us the gift of yourself. We thank you.

The Collect:

God our Father,
you have invited us to share in the supper
which your Son gave to his Church
to proclaim his death until he comes:
may he nourish us by his presence,
and unite us in his love;
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 Jesus Christ,
we thank you that in this wonderful sacrament
you have given us the memorial of your passion:
grant us so to reverence the sacred mysteries
of your body and blood
that we may know within ourselves
and show forth in our lives
the fruit of your redemption,
for you are alive and reign, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

God our Father,
your Son Jesus Christ was obedient to the end
and drank the cup prepared for him:
may we who share his table
watch with him through the night of suffering
and be faithful.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethynnon late last night (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

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 Lent 2025: 39, Saturday 12 April 2025

So from that day on they planned to put him to death (John 11: 53) … the Rood Screen in Holy Rood Church, Watford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We have come to the end of Passion Week, and Holy Week begins tomorrow, Palm Sunday (13 April 2025). This evening is also the first night of Passover, which begins at sunset and continues until the evening of Sunday 20 April 2025.

Before today and the weekend begin, 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.

Now the Passover … was near, and many went up … to Jerusalem before the Passover (John 11: 55) … a traditional Seder plate in the Jewish Museum in Bratislava (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John 11: 45-47 (NRSVA):

45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, ‘What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.’ 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all! 50 You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.’ 51 He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. 53 So from that day on they planned to put him to death.

54 Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. 56 They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, ‘What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?’ 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus was should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

‘The Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation’ (John 11: 48) … the ruins of the Roman Temple in Córdoba (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

As we approach Palm Sunday and Holy Week, the Gospel readings at the Eucharist in the lectionary focus on how the plots against Jesus have been escalating in Jerusalem. In today’s reading, the Passover is near, and many people have gone up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves (verse 55).

This morning’s reading (John 11: 45-47) follows the Gospel passage about the raising of Lazarus (John 11: 1-45), the seventh of the Seven Signs in Sait John’s Gospels and a story sometimes associated with last Sunday, the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Lent V), though not read in Years B and C.

Many of the people who have come to Jerusalem are wondering where Jesus is and whether he is coming to the city for the festival (verse 56). But Jesus knows he is not safe and is no longer walking about openly. Instead he has retreated to Ephraim near the wilderness with the disciples (verse 54).

Where do you look for Jesus?

Where do you find him?

Where do you expect to find him?

Do you look for him in the crowds and in the cities?

Do you only look for him at the time of the big festivals, such as Christmas and Easter?

Do you look for him in the wilderness?

Do you take time to be with him on your own, setting aside times for retreat and prayer?

Do you only seek him in the wilderness times in your own life, in anxious moments or times of crisis?

Do you find him among his disciples, in the church and among people whose lives reflect the values of the kingdom of God?

Jesus was about to die for the nation and … not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God (John 11: 51-52) … Station 12 in the Chapel at Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 12 April 2025):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Healthcare in Bangladesh.’ This theme was introduced last Sunday with a Programme Update by Suvojit Mondal, Programme Director for the Church of Bangladesh Community Healthcare Programme in Dhaka.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Saturday 12 April 2025) invites us to pray:

Lord, we lift the people of Bangladesh, where malnutrition and ill health persist, especially among women and children. May your healing touch bring hope and wellness to every family.

The Collect:

Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
delivered and saved the world:
grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross
we may triumph in the power of his victory;
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 Jesus Christ,
you have taught us
that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters
we do also for you:
give us the will to be the servant of others
as you were the servant of all,
and gave up your life and died for us,
but are alive and reign, now and for ever.

Additional Collect:

Gracious Father,
you gave up your Son
out of love for the world:
lead us to ponder the mysteries of his passion,
that we may know eternal peace
through the shedding of our Saviour’s blood,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Palm Sunday:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who in your tender love towards the human race
sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ
to take upon him our flesh
and to suffer death upon the cross:
grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility,
and also be made partakers of his resurrection;
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.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Jesus … went from there to … the region near the wilderness (John 11: 54) … in the sand dunes in Ballybunion, Co Kerry (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

Saint John’s Church, Watford, its 150-year history, and the sad story of the architect and the London actress

Saint John’s Church in Watford was designed by the architect Eley Emlyn White and built in 1891-1893 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

One of the many churches I saw during my recent visit to Watford in Hertfordshire is the Church of Saint John the Evangelist on Sutton Road, and I regret that I was only able to see it from the outside without seeing the interior.

Saint John’s Church in Watford was designed by the architect Eley Emlyn White (1854-1900) of Christopher and White. Saint John’s is a Grade II listed church, recognised for its architectural and historical significance. It is a tall stone Gothic church with rubble stone walls, and its story goes back more than a century and half.

When Saint Mary’s Church in the centre of Watford was being restored extensively in 1871, an iron building was erected as a temporary church. When Saint Mary’s reopened, the iron building was no longer needed and it was moved to Sutton Road in 1873 to become Saint John’s.

The temporary structure could hold a congregation of 450 people, but it had its flaws. The tin roof was notoriously leaky, and local people sought a more permanent solution.

A new building was planned and a foundation stone was laid on 17 July 1891. The church was built in 1891-1893, was consecrated by John Wogan Festing, Bishop of St Albans, on 19 July 1893, and was dedicated to Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist.

The Chancel, High Altar abd reredos in Saint John’s Church, Watford (Photograph: Hertfordshire Churches in photographs)

Saint John’s was designed by Eley Emlyn White of Christopher and White in a style reminiscent of that of John Loughborough Pearson (1817-1897), the architect of Truro Cathedral.

White designed Saint John’s in a Gothic Revival style, characterised by pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and intricate stonework. It has rubble stone walls and an overall slate roof with a slim lead fleche over the chancel arch. There is a four-bay nave, a slightly narrower three-bay chancel, and six bay aisles ending one bay short of the east end. There is a west narthex with a gabled a south-west porch.

There is also a small gabled porch in the south aisle. There are square turrets that are panelled and with steep pyramid caps at each corner of the nave and at the east corner of aisles. The buttresses have set-offs at the aisles, the narthex and the chancel.

The east window has three lancets while the three-light west window has quatrefoils in the head and is flanked by single lancets. The south-west porch has a moulded arch, mouldings dying into piers, and five stepped lancets above the porch are cut across by a string course.

I understand the church is equally impressive, with an open timber nave roof, a stone vaulted chancel and clerestory openings, a large stone reredos and an elaborate, intricately carved timber rood screen, designed by Sir John Ninian Comper. The pipe organ was built by JW Walker & Sons in 1911.

The tower and spire designed by White was never built, and a more modest belfry was erected instead. White’s original plans show the tower and spire would have been more than double the height of the church as it was built.

Over the years, Saint John’s has received many gifts, including fine silver plate, vestments, copes, stations of the cross, crib figures and statues. A notable gift is the statue of the Virgin Mary, which adds to the serene and contemplative atmosphere.

Saint John’s was designed to be a chapel-of ease to Saint Mary’s Church, serving people who lived on the Sutton-Sotheron-Estcourt estate and in the Waterfields area. Saint John’s became a parish church in its own right in 1904. It soon became one of the leading Anglo-Catholic churches.

The carved timber rood screen in Saint John’s was designed by Sir John Ninian Comper (Photograph: Hertfordshire Churches in photographs)

The architect Eley Emlyn White was in partnership with John Thomas Christopher (1829-1910), who lived in Watford for a time. Christopher and White were based at 6 Bloomsbury Square, London, and they had a number of projects in Watford, including alterations to Saint Mary’s Church and new-build housing in Nascot and Watford Heath. Christopher and White also designed Saint Matthew’s church in Grandpont, Oxford; Saint John’s at Watford; and repairs to Saint Anne’s in Siston, Gloucestershire.

Eley Emlyn White was born in 1854 in Hampstead, the third child of John Thomas White, a solicitor and landowner, and his wife Emma (née Eley). His unusual first name comes from his mother’s family; she was connected to the families at Oxhey Grange and Eley Brothers, a still firm of cartridge manufacturers established in the early 19th century.

White spent his early life in Hampstead, and by 1871 the family was living in Watford at Cassio Bridge House. He was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in 1874 to study architecture. He was articled to the established London architect John Thomas Christopher and was also a clerk for a year in the office of the Gothic Revivalist architect William Burges (1821-1881), whose first major commission had been Saint Fin Barre’s Cathedral in Cork in 1863.

White was influenced by Burges’s utopian designs, which included Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch in South Wales.

After practising independently for two years, White travelled for 14 months on a Royal Academy travelling studentship. He was then invited to become John Thomas Christopher’s partner in his architectural business, renamed Christopher and White.

While he was living in Brasted, Kent, White married Mary Evelyn Higins in 1881; she had been born at sea, off Malta, in 1860. The couple lived in Hampstead, before moving to St John’s Wood and later to Gower Street, London. In the same year as his marriage, White designed Innage House at 43-45 Park Road, Watford, for GE Lake. It was an impressive red-brick wide-fronted three-storey house with an arched entrance. Several years later, White designed Saint John’s Church in Watford.

But White’s private life was turbulent, and he and Mary decided to live apart. He left their marital home in the 1890s and moved to lodgings in Cedar Mansions, Kensington.

There he met Marie Gibson, a 21-year-old actress. They met regularly after her night-time theatrical performances at the Empire Theatre and he brought her back to his lodgings, introducing her as his niece to the housekeeper, Mrs Shea, who never believed this. White wanted Marie Gibson to live with him and, although she declined on the basis of impropriety, they continued to meet.

Then, on 2 March 1900, as Marie Gibson was reading a book in his lodgings, White brought out his revolver and shot her in the face before shooting himself in the head. He died instantly, aged 47. The bullet aimed at Marie Gibson entered the book she was reading before hitting her. She survived, but lost an eye, and later said White had threatened to shoot her once before.

White was 47. He left a note apologising to his wife Mary for his behaviour: ‘I do not intend continuing a life I dislike as I am not happy. I am very sorry that I have acted so badly to you, for you were a good little wife.’

A porch at of Saint John’s Church, Sutton Road, Watford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The first priest-in-charge of Saint John’s was the Revd J Henry White, who was the priest-in-charge of the tin church (1873-1893) and then of Saint John’s (1893-1898). His successor, John Manwaring Steward (1874-1937), was priest-in-charge 1898-1904. Later, he joined the Melanesian Mission as a missionary priest, and became the fifth Bishop of Melanesia (1919-1928). He is listed in the Calendar of Saints of the Church of the Province of Melanesia.

Saint John’s Church today is the spiritual home of a thriving community in Watford, offering a place of worship and community close to the town centre. Over the years, it has undergone several restorations, including the cleaning and restoration of the chancel and sanctuary in 1961 and the nave and aisles in 1966. The exterior stonework was restored in 1973 to mark the church’s centenary.

The Revd Corniel Quak has been the Vicar of Saint John’s since last year (20 June 2024). He studied at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford, and before moving to Watford he was Assistant Curate at Saint Saviour’s Church, St Albans.

• Saint John’s has a variety of services and events. The weekly Parish Mass with hymns is at 10:30 on Sundays, and Holy Communion is celebrated every Friday at 10 am. Other activities include Messy Church on the first Saturday of each month from 11 am to 1 pm, a Breakfast Club and Sunday School every Sunday.

The West end of Saint John’s Church, the spiritual home of a thriving community in Watford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Holy Rood Church is ‘a true town church’ on a busy street corner in the centre of Watford

Inside Holy Rood Church, Watford, where John Francis Bentley designed an elaborate and complete set of fittings unequalled elsewhere in his work (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025; click in photographs for full-screen images)

Patrick Comerford

Holy Rood Church, the Roman Catholic parish church in Watford, has been described one of the finest churches of the late 19th century. Simon Jenkins, in England’s Thousand Best Churches, says it is ‘a true town church’.

The church was built in 1889-1890 and stands on the west corner of Market Street and Exchange Road in the Hertfordshire town north of London. It is an outstanding late Gothic revival church and was designed by the architect John Francis Bentley (1839-1902), who also designed Westminster Cathedral, and it is a Grade I listed building.

The church stands on a very tight site corner site in the centre of Watford. It is an exceptional example of what the best church architects were working to achieve at the end of the 19th century. They were seeking a return to a refined, pure Gothic architecture in contrast to the showy products of the High Victorian years. Yet, at the same time, they wanted to provide beautiful furnishings and decoration.

Holy Rood Church stands on a very tight corner site in the centre of Watford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Bentley prepared the Gothic Revival designs for Holy Rood Church at the same time as he was working on his drawings for the very different Westminster Cathedral. The church in Watford is the only church by Bentley that he was able fully to furnish and decorate as he intended, and it remains a very little altered and harmonious building, with fixtures and fittings of the highest quality.

Bentley was born in Doncaster on 30 January 1839. A master of the neo-Gothic and Byzantine Revival styles, his great opportunity was hia commissioned to design Westminster Cathedral in 1894. After deciding on a Byzantine Revival design, he travelled to Italy to study some of the great early Byzantine-influenced cathedrals, including Saint Mark’s Basilica, Venice. Because of illness and an outbreak of cholera in Istanbul, he was unable to complete his tour with a study of the Hagia Sofia. He ended his tour in Venice and returned to London to begin work on Westminster Cathedral.

Meanwhile, Bentley was working at the same time on Holy Cross Church, Watford. The story of the church begins in 1863, when Father George Bampfield hired a room in Carey Place, Watford, to celebrate Mass. That year he bought a plot of land and built a hut with a corrugated iron roof in Upper Paddock Road that became his chapel.

The Catholic population was growing rapidly in Watford at the time, and Bampfield sought a new, larger site nearer the centre of the town in 1882. He built a chapel in Water Lane near the High Street in 1883. This chapel continued in use until Holy Rood church was opened seven years later.

Inside Holy Rood Church, Watford, facing the west end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Francis Fisher had bought land known as the Rose and Crown Meadow from Merton College, Oxford, in 1888. He laid out this land in small plots to be developed as Market Street, Percy Road and Marlborough Road, and sold them by public auction.

Stephen Taprell Holland (1843-1922) bought part of the land to build a new church and part of the land was bought by the Dominican Sisters from Harrow for a school and convent.

Holland was the proprietor of the building firm of Holland and Sons, with offices in Bloomsbury. He had become a Roman Catholic in 1862 and paid for building the church. Bentley, the architect he commissioned to design the church, had been apprenticed to the earlier firm of Winslow and Holland in 1855 and his talent had been recognised at an early age by Richard Holland.

Cardinal Manning of Westminster laid the foundation stone of the new church in 1889 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Cardinal Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892), Archbishop of Westminster, laid the foundation stone of the new church on 29 August 1889. The church opened for worship on 16 September 1890, when the sanctuary, nave, transepts and south aisle had been completed.

Bentley then started work on the tower, baptistry, on the chapel of the Holy Ghost, which was set aside as the chantry for Holland, and on the north aisle. Throughout, the church was furnished according to Bentley’s designs.

Cardinal Herbert Vaughan (1832-1903), Archbishop of Westminster, laid the foundation stone for the tower on 7 May 1894. All the work had been completed by 1900, and the completed church was consecrated by Bishop Robert Brindle (1837-1916), Bishop of Nottingham (1901-1915), on 5 July 1900.

Bentley placed the rood loft with a large rood in the opening between the nave and chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Bentley based his work and designs on late mediaeval architecture, but by no means could he be described as a copyist. There is no conventional chancel arch: instead there is an arch set as high as the roof will permit and a rood loft with a large rood is placed in the opening between the nave and chancel. Below it, there is no chancel screen, yet another device by Bentley to open up the view of the chancel from the nave.

The church has a five-bay nave, with transepts, clerestory, low-pitch roofed aisles, a three-bay chancel with an ambulatory, and a south-west porch.

There are side chapels at the north and south of the east end, and low vestries that extend out to the line of east end. Other details include two octagonal stair turrets.

The north-west tower was built in 1894-1900, mainly in flint and stone, and has panelled battlements.

The chancel, high altar, reredos and east window in Holy Cross Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The church has a large east window (1899) by Bentley, who designed an elaborate and complete set of fittings and stained glass that are unequalled elsewhere in his work. However, the west window is by Burlison and Grylls (1904) and the Stations of the Cross (ca 1910) are by Bentley’s friend NHJ Westlake.

The roof and walls have painted decoration, there are opus sectile or tile panels in the chancel, and a rich and elaborate marble and stone altar and reredos with a tabernacle and altar furniture by Bentley.

Other features include the rood beam across the chancel arch, an oak sedilia, a painted stone piscina and an aumbry, a tile and marble floor, the pulpit and the heptagonal marble font with an oak cover.

Six candlesticks and the cross over the tabernacle were added in 1893. However, four of the original candlesticks were later stolen; the other two are now displayed in the Watford Museum.

Betnley designed every detail, including the opus sectile or tile panels in the chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The pulpit was added in 1893 and two canopied shrines with alabaster statues were added in 1893-1894.

A temporary high altar that had been installed for the opening was replaced in 1899 by the present altar and tabernacle.

Electric lighting replaced the original gas lights in 1899, using the gilded bronze pendants designed by Bentley.

Bentley also designed the presbytery and school buildings beside the church.

When Bentley died on 2 March 1902, he was buried in the cemetery behind Saint Mary Magdalen’s Church, Mortlake. Taprell Holland erected the memorial to Bentley over the south-west door in Holy Rood Church, Watford.

Candles burining in front of the Lady Chapel in Holy Rood Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Major repairs were carried out to the church in 1966 under Denny and Bryan of Watford, including the repair of the decayed Bath stone dressings, and internal decoration and cleaning. At the same time, the solid fuel heating system was replaced with oil-fired heating.

A large winged pelican originally surmounting the tabernacle was stolen about 1978 and replaced with a smaller pelican of inferior design.

A further scheme of refurbishment in 1990 marked the centenary and included flint and stonework and roof repairs by the stonemason Martin Jones. The internal painted surfaces were cleaned and conserved in the 1990s, the church was redecorated, and a new lighting scheme was installed.

More recent work has included the conservation of the sanctuary ceilings, rood beam and cross, conservation work of the sanctuary reredos and spandrels, and of the Lady Chapel altar and paintings. The altar rails and baptistery railings have been restored to their original colour scheme.

The memorials to ST Holland and JF Bentley in Holy Rood Church (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

• Holy Rood Church has six Sunday Masses: 6 pm on Saturday evening; 8 am, 9:30 am, 11 am and 5 pm on Sunday; and a Polish Mass at 2:15 pm.

Holy Rood Church stands on a site bought from Merton College, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)