Royal Connections

Having arrived back at St Paul's Walden from our bluebell walk through Hitch Wood, we paused a while and had a drink from our flask while sitting on a bench in the churchyard. We had a bit of time to spare so we thought we'd have a quick look inside the church.

Now, logic would tell you that the church in St Paul's Walden would be called St Paul's. It makes sense - but this is England so take nothing for granted. Our long and complex history can twist anything into unlikely conundrums. And so it is here.

This is All Saints' Church (of course!). You see, the village used to be called Abbots Walden and was owned by the Abbey at St Albans. But, when Henry VIII did away with the monasteries he granted the lands here to the dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. The village thus became St Paul's Walden.

The nearby mansion of St Paul's Walden Bury has been owned for some centuries by the Earls of Strathmore and Lords of Glamis, the Bowes-Lyon family, of whom the most famous member was Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. (And that's the only royal connection on this blog on Coronation Day). Lets have a peek inside the church.

It all looks much more elegant and tidy than I remember from a previous visit a few years ago. The reason is that pale green pews now exist where once there was a sea of scruffy wooden chairs. They nicely complement the highly unusual English Baroque screen which may well have been designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, the architect responsible for several of London's churches. 

Up on the wall there's a memorial to Violet Hyacinth Bowes-Lyon, the first child of Lord and Lady Glamis, who sadly died at just seventeen months of age, before her younger sister, the Queen Mum, was born. Young Elizabeth was certainly baptised here, but there's much uncertainty about where she was born. However on the census of 1901 her birthplace was recorded as St Paul's Walden. Surely you can't forget where your daughter was born just a year beforehand!

There are several of these ornate candelabra in the church.

And up above there's a painted ceiling which is the work of George Bodley - a man who crops up all over the place on this blog as he decorated many churches and college buildings in Cambridge during the Victorian era.

There's a whole set of these stained-glass windows too.

This is the Hoo Chapel, set to the south side of the Chancel. So that's where some of those wooden chairs have gone.

High up on the wall, looking rather neglected and forgotten is a memorial to Henry and Dorothy Stapleford, dating from the early seventeenth century. Peeping out from behind her mother is a young girl carrying a skull, presumably a child who died in infancy.

My brother, Les, pointed out some of the old chairs in various parts of the building. He seems to have a thing about chairs and benches and often suggests that I should do a post about all the places we sit down on our rambles! We didn't dare sit on these however.

And here's the view looking back from the Chancel towards the Nave, through that ornate screen.

Out in the churchyard is this simple obelisk which commemorates the 100th birthday of the Queen Mother. And so we say farewell to the church at St Paul's Walden. It always seems to be open during daylight hours and is well worth a visit.

Take care.