Church of St Mary

The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Ivinghoe stands on the High Street in the Buckinghamshire town. Built in the 13th century, it replaced an earlier church destroyed in 1234 when rebel Richard Siward burned the town and church. Nikolaus Pevsner called it a ‘big and noble church’, with a cruciform plan, central tower and flint walls topped with 19th-century crenellations. The church shows layers of rebuilding from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Surviving features include rose windows, a 15th-century tie-beam roof with carved angels, and medieval brasses in the chancel. John Warner & Sons recast the peal of six bells in 1875, and architect George Edmund Street added Victorian Gothic porches in 1871–72. Inside, the nave has oak pews with poppyhead finials, and a hexagonal Jacobean pulpit. A recessed tomb in the north chancel wall holds an unknown priest’s effigy. The churchyard contains 17th-century headstones and war graves, including those of actor Athole Stewart and his wife.