St Mary Magdalene's, Woodstock
History of St. Mary Magdalene Church
There has been a Church on this site for over eight hundred years. This is a place of history, but it reflects a living, vibrant community. Henry II and Thomas Becket walked together here; Edward, the Black Prince grew up here; Elizabeth I was imprisoned nearby.
Like most ancient buildings, the church has been frequently altered and extended. The parts of the original Chapel of Ease that remain are the Norman doorway and part of the south wall. The church was enlarged in the 13th century and by 1279 the church had a bell tower and a burial ground. The south aisle, the south nave arcade, with its splendid carved capitals, and the two eastern windows were much as they are today. The west door, inside the porch, may also belong to this phase. A chancel was built in the 14th century.
In the early part of the 15th century, the present west porch was built, as were the clerestory windows above the nave and the south window of the chancel. These remain, but a tower in the same “perpendicular” style was later replaced. After the Reformation, St. Mary Magdalene like many other churches, suffered at the hands of the Puritans and the west window containing figures of Henry V and his brothers was broken and later, in 1648, when the church Housed military prisoners in transit, many pews were used for firewood.
In 1664, Charles II gave Woodstock a new Charter and the Borough Council remodelled the interior of the Church to conform with current ideas of worship. In 1678, the Council built a gallery for the use of the Mayor and Corporation above their existing pews near the chancel arch. The pulpit was moved to the centre of the south aisle; worshippers sat in enclosed ‘box’ pews with high sides. There was also a musicians’ gallery at the west end.
The church tower was rebuilt in 1784-6 and, at the same time, the church was enlarged and the north aisle was rebuilt in the contemporary classical style, with an arcade of round arches and a gallery. During the early 1800s there was little interest in the church. At times, it was closed and the rector held services only in Bladon.
The Rev. Arthur Majendie, in 1876, initiated a major restoration. The tall north aisle was replaced. A new aisle, a Lady Chapel, and a vestry were built in the fashionable Gothic Revival style. The Mayor’s gallery was removed and the box pews replaced. A new pulpit was put up to the right of the chancel arch with a lectern on the left. A coloured stone screen was placed behind the altar in the chancel and the windows filled with stained glass. Heating and gas lighting were put in. These changes gave the church much of its present-day appearance.
In the late 1990’s the east end of the North Aisle was reordered to create vestry, office and other facilities. In the early new millennium, the church was again suffering from decay: heating, electrics, lighting and pews were in very poor condition. Three generous bequests had provided £300.000 and a campaign was started to raise the additional funds necessary. In the spring of 2017, the church was closed and work commenced. The works were completed in October 2017 and the results are clearly visible. The installation of the servery and the introduction of chairs made the church more useable and this has resulted in a considerable increase in use of the church by local organisations.
Much more detail about the history and architectural features of the church can be found in ‘A brief history of St. Mary Magdalene Woodstock’ copies of which are available to purchase in church.
Our Church Kneelers
A relatively recent contribution to the history of St. Mary Magdalene Church is the unique collection of kneelers designed and worked during the 1980s. A sub group of The Friends of Woodstock Church was formed and they began to design and work a set of kneelers, eventually numbering some two hundred in total.
The commitment and dedication involved in this project was immense. Each kneeler consists of around 28,000 individual stitches and would have taken at least 70 to 80 hours of concentrated, voluntary work. Together the kneelers represent not less than 20,000 hours of individual work.
Each kneeler is different, some depict biblical themes, local landmarks or personalities while others pay tribute to local or national organisations.
Many of the kneelers were sponsored by way of a memorial and these all have the words ‘In Memoriam’ on the front edge. The initials of the person working the kneeler and the date of finishing can be seen on the ends of each kneeler.
One of these memorial kneelers has a particularly poignant history. Woodstock had its own railway station until 1954. Late in 1898, one of the 517 class of locomotives, number 1473, working on the line was named ‘Fair Rosamund’ after Rosamund Clifford the reputed mistress of King Henry II who installed her near Woodstock. The worker of this kneeler said farewell to her brother when he boarded a train powered by ‘Fair Rosamund’ for active service in France during World War 2 – he never returned.
When work on the church kneelers was completed, the group went on to record the history of Woodstock in a series of wall hangings which remain on display in the Town Hall.
More information about the Woodstock church kneelers:
A leaflet is available in church giving more detail on the church kneeler project.
Elizabeth Bingham’s book Kneelers also includes illustrations of several of the Woodstock Kneelers
Our kneelers also feature prominently on the website of parish kneelers.co.uk
and Woodstock - St Mary Magdalene | Parish Kneelers includes pictures of many of our kneelers