Windsor Parish Church

Transcript

Parish Church location unaltered over the ages

WINDSOR Parish Church or, to give it its full name, The Parish Church of John the Baptist, has occupied the same site since the mid-12th Century – though the medieval church was demolished in 1820 and was rebuilt by 1822.

The 1822 church is the building which stands today in the High Street.

The old medieval parish church was thought to be built by c. 1130 but was certainly built by 1180. In 1190 the Church of St John the Baptist at New Windsor and its chapels at Old Windsor were given to Waltham Abbey by Richard II.

Waltham Abbey held the church until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1535. At Dissolution, Windsor Parish Church became the property of the Crown.

From an analysis of 15th and 16th-century wills and from other sources, it appears that there were many altars in the church besides the high altar. The guild or brotherhood of the holy and undivided Trinity had its altar within a chantry chapel; a will of 1503 also mentions the altars of our Lady of Pity and of St Clement.

The church also had a low central tower, which by 1479 had a clock. In the 16th century, a wooden structure was added to the tower, which contained bells and had a spire.

In 1711 a ring of eight bells was given by Samuel Masham, Cofferer to Queen Anne. The bells were cast by Richard Phelps of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Only three of the original bells survive today; the others were recast in 1822 after the parish church was rebuilt. In 1930 the bells were re-hung by Messrs Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

By the beginning of the 19th Century the church was said to be in a bad state of repair. An illustration of the medieval church in 1817 by the antiquary John Chessell Buckler can be found in my newly published book, Vanished Windsor.

In 1818 it was decided that a new church should be erected, and the architect Charles Hollis was employed to design the new church and the old medieval church was demolished in 1820. The new church was built by Robert Tebbott and James Thomas Bedborough.

The superstructure for the church was constructed in iron. The church was consecrated on June 22 by the Bishop of Salisbury. In 1870, the chancel and apse were added by the noted church architect Samuel S Teulon. HRH Princess Christian and 70 clergy attended the opening. The chancel screen was added in 1898 and was presented by Queen Victoria as an act of thanksgiving for her 60-year reign as Queen.

The parish church continues to this day to function as the centre of religion for New Windsor and its environs.

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