St Mary the Virgin - A 12th century church

Church fund-raising event!
White Elephant Sale, Saturday February 23rd in the Village Hall, 2pm until 4.30pm.
The event is being held to raise funds for a new set of bell ropes for the Church of St Mary the Virgin.  Work on repairing and refurbishing the Church tower should start in the Spring.  This will give us a new bell-ringing floor and a better space for our bellringers to ring from.  The current set of bell ropes is worn out; one rope has already frayed and broken off.  A new set of bell ropes comes at £198 per rope plus VAT and we have five bells to ring.
Come along and check out what's for sale!  Refreshments will be served.
Lottery award!  The PCC is pleased to announce the award of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.  This is for urgent repairs which are needed for the Tower, its roof and internal structure, and for the roof of the church porch.
An important part of the grant conditions is to develop the Heritage display in the church and make the church history, which is interwoven with our village history, available and accessible to as many people as possible.
A further condition is to include the community in this development of our heritage project.  We held an Open Weekend at the Village Hall on February 3rd and 4th from 2pm to 4pm to allow as many people as possible to see the scope of the work that the grant will cover.  We are looking for support for the project in many ways: helping with research, the technical aspects of the project, information, photographs, stories, ideas.

St. Mary the Virgin - Appeal for Funds for urgent repairs to the Woodville Tower and Memorial tomb of John Woodville, great grandfather of Elizabeth Woodville.

 Woodville Tower and Tomb

Urgent repairs are required to the roof of the Woodville Tower; portions of the lead have slipped exposing the roof timbers to the weather. Some of the lead on the roof show dates 0f 1692, 1743 and 1744.

While this work is being carried out we plan to refurbish the tower by:

  • Replacing the existing wooden ladders, which give access to bell chamber, with modern safety ladders.

  • Replacing a rotton wooden floor the bell chamber.

  • Putting in a new floor above the ground floor for the bell ringers to ring from.

  • The existing vestry can them be moved to the ground floor of the bell tower

The John Woodville tomb was moved from a central position in the church to the back of the West end of the church in the 19th century. This end of the church suffers greatly from damp, our 12c century church has no foundations, and as a consequence the stonework has suffered over the last 100 years.

The tomb is listed by Churchcare as one of the top 100 church treasures in U.K.  Churchcare is fund raising for the restoration of these treasures and has started work on the restoration process when funds have been donated .

By moving the vestry to the tower the tomb can be moved back to a central position in the church.

You can make a donation directly to the church funds through our Paypal account.  Just visit paypal and use our paypal@grafton-regis.co.uk email address.
Read about the visit of the Bishop of Peterborough in April 2014

Detailed History of St Mary the Virgin Church
Church Bells and Bell Tower

We welcome young, old and everyone in between, and we welcome worshippers of all faiths. Join us for a cup of coffee and a chat after the service.  Our monthly church services are held on the 3rd Sunday of each month at 11 a.m.

We celebrate Holy Communion, Morning Service, and Festival services throughout the year. For the younger members of the congregation we hold a Sunday school group while the main service is taking place.

For further information or if you have any queries, please email the Church Warden.

                                              Chancel


St Mary the Virgin ChurchChristenings, Marriages and Funerals
For information regarding Christenings, Marriages or Funerals please contact the Rector of the Parish andrealwatkins@hotmail.co.uk



Grand Union Benefice
St. Mary the Virgin at Grafton Regis is one of five churches in the Grand Union benefice. The benefice consists of the parishes of: Blisworth, Milton Malsor, Stoke Bruerne and Shutlanger, Alderton and Grafton Regis.

The services for each church are published in Grass, the church magazine and available on their website. 
Grass is the original church newsletter for the parishes of Grafton Regis, Alderton and Stoke Bruerne with Shutlanger, hence the name.  The Rector of the Parish is the Rev'd Andrea Watkins.

 Brief history of the Church
 The original building on the site of St Mary the Virgin was built in the Norman times and is recorded as early as 1189. Very little remains of the original building as it has been extended, built up and generally tinkered with through the centuries.



                

For further information or if you have any queries, you may email the Church Warden.
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