Holy Cross & St Mary - Quainton - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

The church is unusual as it has a double dedication, The Holy Cross is an early symbol of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem.

The church itself 14th Century but underwent a lot of restoration in Victorian Times

This is taken from www.Quainton.net the village website

It will be immediately apparent to the visitor with some interest in the subject that this is a 14th-century building of the so-called Decorated period of Gothic architecture, admittedly much restored in Victorian times. There are no semi-circular Norman arches or Early-English lancet windows in Quainton church - and yet there were rectors long before 1340, the approximate date of the earliest remaining architectural evidence.

There was probably a township of sorts at what was later called Quainton during Roman times since a Roman road forms the northern boundary of the parish. However it did not receive its present name until after the Anglo-Saxon invaders occupied this part of the country in about 620. Being incapable of recognising British or Roman names they gave most places names in their own language. "Quainton" is formed from two elements, "cwên" meaning queen and "tûn" meaning farmstead or estate, later to become town.

There were many regional "queens" in seventh-century England and Quainton was no doubt originally the estate of one of them. Certainly by the time of Edward the Confessor in the eleventh century that part of the parish now called Doddershall was held by Woolward, a man of Queen Edith, according to the Victoria County History.

The Norman-French family of Malet were benefactors to the wider church and also, no doubt, to whatever church existed from the Saxon period in Quainton. They were lords of the manor from 1066 until about 1348, the year when the Black Death reduced England's population by about a third, when the estate was split up between the co-heiresses on the death of its last male member.

William Malet (or Mallet) was seigneur of Graville in Normandy and fought with distinction at Hastings, being made responsible for the burial of King Harold. He acquired the manor of Quainton but died in 1071 after going north as sheriff of York to complete the Norman Conquest of England. His son Robert Malet endowed a Benedictine monastery at Eye in Suffolk.

It seems likely, with their military background and support for the Hospitallers, that the Malets were Crusaders, perhaps accompanying King Richard "the lionheart" to the Holy Land in 1189. They adopted the badge of pilgrims to the Holy Land as their coat of arms and made bequests of land and tenements to the monastic Order at their commandery in the adjoining manor at Hogshaw. The Hospitallers are credited with rebuilding Quainton church in c.1340 and also erecting the preaching cross on the village green.

No architectural evidence remains of the church prior to this rebuilding - for all we know it might have been a wooden structure and even on a different site. However, we do know from diocesan records that Geoffrey Mansor had been presented to the benefice over a century earlier, on 1st April 1224 by Harvey Malet, Knight, who is said to have recovered the advowson, or right to nominate the rector, from the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem.

The Malets were followed by Thomas and Isabel de Missenden who bought back the separate parts of the fragmented manor between 1348 and 1353. They obtained a licence in 1353 to endow a college of priests with the intention of making the church collegiate and appropriating it to the use of the college. In that year they probably rebuilt the chancel, lengthening it eastward to include a choir, widening it on the north side and adding a vestry. For whatever reason the collegiate plan did not proceed.

Further major enhancements were carried out in the 15th century when the arcades were heightened, a clerestory added and a bell tower, south porch and north chapel were built.

In considering the development of the church, one must not overlook the changes which took place as a result of Henry VIII's break with Rome, the subsequent Reformation, the Protestant revolution and the destruction of almost everything which related to the Catholic past. In particular, the view of the altar was opened up to the public with the removal of the wooden screen and the Great Rood from beneath the chancel arch although some of the painted panels were fortunately preserved and moved to their present position in the north aisle.

Unfortunately, the valuable plate of Quainton church was confiscated in 1553, as it was from all churches during the short reign of Edward VI, and removed to the Jewel House at the Tower of London for melting down. John Piers, the rector at the time, was Quainton's most distinguished churchman, later becoming Archbishop of York.

By the nineteenth century the church was in a sorry state. Mr William White, the ecclesiastical architect of Wimpole Street, London, was commissioned to undertake a major restoration. He reported that the chancel had become a complete ruin, incapable of repair, the columns in the nave were leaning dangerously to the south and the walls and roof were seriously inadequate. The general clutter and gloom in the chancel from large monuments and restricted natural light was also out of keeping with Victorian tastes, as were the box pews, triple-decker pulpit and Jacobean woodwork of the nave.

A new chancel was built on the old foundations with stonework fashioned to the pattern of the original 14th-century construction based on fragments found within the walls. The ceiling was replaced with a massive, open hammer-beam roof and a large east window was installed. All the large monuments were removed to the nave aisles and tower.

The nave arcades, which had gone seriously out of the perpendicular, were forced back into their upright position, the clerestory rebuilt and a new massive, tie-beam roof fitted. Galleries which ran the length of the north aisle and across the face of the tower were removed and the aisles were progressively rebuilt incorporating the early windows in their original positions. The work was completed and the church was reopened for worship in October 1877.

Date the Church was built, dedicated or cornerstone laid: 01/01/1340 Age of Church building determined by?: Church website If denomination of Church is not part of the name, please provide it here: Church of England If Church holds a weekly worship service and "all are welcome", please give the day of the week: Sunday Indicate the time that the primary worship service is held. List only one: 6:30 PM Street address of Church: Church Street Quainton Aylesbury, Bucks England HP22 4AP Primary website for Church or Historic Church Building: [Web Link] Secondary Website for Church or Historic Church Building: [Web Link] If Church is open to the public, please indicate hours: Not listed

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