Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

A HISTORY OF ST MARY’S, THE PARISH CHURCH 112 These same villagers also say that the tower, five feet thick at its base, at one time stood separately from the main building. The inside eastern wall of the tower has buttresses and an exterior drip moulding; and the north arcade meets a buttress with a straight joint showing that the arcade came later and that it joined the tower, which stood alone for a period during the rebuilding process. It is also interesting to note the outline, on the interior tower wall, of the old lower nave roof, and that the huge fifteenth century archway has been set into the earlier tower Viewed from the chancel the tower is offset to the north, or more properly, the church is offset to the south! The lower courses of the tower date to the fourteenth century and when the south aisle and arcade were added in the 1430s they presented no problem and matched nicely to the tower. However when the north aisle and arcade came to be built it was probably realised that these would subside into the soft ground adjacent to the Palace moat (being dug around the same period in the 1480s), so they were constructed several feet south of their intended site. Likewise, it was proposed to widen the chancel to the north, but this was not done, for the same reason. We are left however, with the peculiar sights of the northeast exterior buttress supporting a non-existent wall and the east window lights squeezed together on the north side. In co-operation with Bishop Gray, his prebend John Depyng was busy rebuilding the chancel. Depyng, a lawyer, seems to have been the constant in the church work undertaken throughout his eighteen years here. And it may have been he who encouraged the Bishop and his successors to improve St Mary’s. Around 1434, John Depyng inserted the large bright windows into the old Norman chancel walls, raised the walls to their present height and re-roofed the chancel, adding the superbly carved heavenly choir holding Psalters (possibly showing Psalm 101) and tablets. There are still traces of the original paint on these 580-year-old choristers, although their wings are 1930s replacements. John Depyng recorded his efforts in the east window. His inscription was still visible in the eighteenth century, as parts of his stained glass inscription remained: ‘Hanc cancellum fieri fecit …. Deping, hujus Ecclesiae Prebendarius AD MCC……..’ (which may be rendered as ‘[John] Depyng, Prebend of this Church AD MCC[… ...] caused this chancel to be made.’ In this same year 1434, Jan Van Eyck painted Giovanni Arnolfini and Giovanna Cenami (popularly known as The Arnolfini Marriage ), a fascinating portrait of a wealthy medieval couple. If one looks closely (binoculars are useful for this) at the carved wooden figures in the corners above Buckden’s chancel arch, it is plain to see that their clothing is very similar to the Arnolfini couple. Even then, Buckden’s patrons were keeping up to date with the latest fashions from the Continent. The font with flower display during Festival or Feast Week Bishop Alnwick’s arms