Published in Windlesora 24 (2008)
©WLHG
Old Windsor Church, built in 1218 on the site of an earlier Saxon church, has long been a landmark for the people of the village, though owing to its position near the river, like other Thameside churches it was probably more important as such to travellers by water rather than by land.
To the village people however the church was for many years the main focus of village life. The tower, like the main body of the church is Norman, but during the eighteenth century when Old Windsor first became a residence of choice for many gentlefolk, the tower was topped by a cupola. At this time Mr Richard Bateman and others planted many trees around the church area-among those recorded are elms, firs, walnuts and larches-and some of these survive to the present day. The path to the main door of the church was edged by larch trees, some of whose stumps remain. Two new larch trees and a walnut tree planted recently along with several other native trees are doing well.
In 1826 it was apparent that ‘the church accommodation was quite unequal to the wants of the parishioners’. It was proposed that the ringing chamber should be put upstairs with a vestry below, and that the gallery, which dated from 1696 should be enlarged to hold 140 children, with a door from the tower. This work took place, and the church now contained 33 pews (not to be raised, curtained or railed) and 70 free seats. A barrel organ, which played The Old Hundredth and a dozen other tunes, was installed to serve instead of the orchestra. The only problem was the need to employ a beadle to control the children!
The church had a stone porch used for weddings, churchings and absolutions and, inside, a semi-circular altar rail, a three-decker pulpit and many hatchments an monuments. However, by 1863 renovations were needed and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott produced a comprehensive plan, which was approved and paid for by public subscription.
He built on a vestry to the north side of the church, removed the gallery, brought the ringers down to the ground floor again (for which at least one current ringer is mightily grateful) and replaced the stone porch by a wooden one. This last change aroused some criticism parishioners felt that their history was destroyed. The cupola was replaced by an elegant shingled spire which has however over the years been at risk from the weather and the activities of woodpeckers.
Inside the church all the woodwork was replaced, although when money ran short the west end was left incomplete and the screen there was only installed in 1872. The interior of the church was painted with flowers and other patterns and the west wall painting of the Annunciation was done in 1874. The vicar, Mr Harwood’s passionate desire to have the east wall decorated with a painting of the Resurrection did not, perhaps fortunately, come to fruition.
The church was redecorated in 1964 and the remaining crumbling paint was removed, leaving only the west wall painting. Since then several restoration campaigns have seen the replacement of much of the stonework around the windows and on the tower. When the spire was being re-shingled recently the steeplejack commented that it seemed incomplete and should really have a cross on top of it. As we had been fortunate in the matter of grants for the work, we commissioned a cross and this was fixed up in the hope that Old Windsor church will continue to be a landmark for many years to come.
Windsor Local History Group 