Church of St Mary

St Mary’s Parish Church stands in the centre of Slough, a red-brick Gothic building designed by John Oldrid Scott and completed in 1878. Queen Victoria gave part of the money, and the church was enlarged again in 1911–13. It is a grade II* listed building, and its churchyard walls and gates share that protection. A grade II war memorial by the west door lists more than 300 names of Slough men who died in the two world wars. The churchyard also holds the graves of local people and links to two church schools nearby. The church’s three-manual Norman and Beard organ has 37 stops and over 2,400 pipes, tuned to French diapason pitch. At its 1912 dedication Sir Walter Parratt, organist and composer, played the instrument. A ring of ten bells hangs in the tower, the heaviest weighing 17½ cwt. One original bell from 1619 remains, the rest cast by Whitechapel Bell Foundry, with two added in 1949 as a memorial gift. Musical concerts are held regularly, often with organ accompaniment. Inside, a 1915 stained-glass window by Alfred Wolmark lets coloured light fall on the nave. The church has hosted funerals, including that of Letty Lind in 1923. Eric Fogg’s lost orchestral work The Seasons was reconstructed and performed here in 2003 to mark his centenary. The building sits between St Laurence’s to the east and St Peter’s to the west within the parish of Upton-cum-Chalvey.