The building occupies a central position, on a raised mound, in the village. It is believed that a Saxon church stood here but no evidence has been found. In the 12th century Wymeswold church had connections with Beauchief Abbey, Sheffield.

In the 13th century a more notable church was built and traces of this remain; but by the 14th century the stone was badly decayed. It was in the 14th century that the present church was built and much of the present fabric, including the tower and knave, dates from then. A fine spire was struck by lightning in 1783, damaging it so badly that the remains had to be removed the safety's sake.

In the 15th century the clerestory, chancel and aisles were rebuilt in Perpendicular style. S.P. Potter, the Victorian historian of Wymeswold, noted "in the muniments of Beauchief a record that one Matilda de Clay contributed to this rebuilding. Her name is presumably perpetuated in Clay Street". (This is contentious – at the south end of Clay Street were fields known as Clay Close and Kiln Close, suggesting a more prosaic derivation.)

1220 is the first day to the institution of a vicar. At this time Beauchief Abbey held the advowson (right to appoint vicars). The advowson later passed to Trinity College, Cambridge. Many priests were non-resident, holding office elsewhere or at the College.

Far Street with St Mary's church and old cottage by Stockwell Stores, taken between about 1908 and 1918. 
The Wymeswold school log books have an entry for 1908 stating that the children were taken to see the pinnacles shortly before they were installed on the top of the tower.  
The timbers from the cottage to the left of what is now Stockwell Stores were used to keep a bonfire alight at the end of the Stockwell all day and all night on Armistice Day, November 11th 1918.

In 1835 the Rev Henry Alford was offered the living of St Mary's. When he took up residence he was the first incumbent to live in the village since 1776. Not unnaturally he found decay everywhere. He enlisted the help of friends from College days, especially that of the architect, August Welby Pugin, to 'restore' the church. It was a very thorough job, done in the Gothic manner. Pugin restyled the north porch, the room over it, and designed the furniture, the pews, the roof of the nave, a new font, light fittings, windows and sedilia in the south-east window recess of the chancel. Very little escaped his attention. The medieval rood screen, which earlier been moved because of decay, was replaced by one of his own design in the altered chancel arch. A small section of the old screen can be seen on the baptistry wall. The lych gate was also built (in the Gothic style) and a new school.

Interior of St Mary's church

Henry Alford built a new vicarage (now Alford House) on the outskirts of the village. He was brilliant scholar and musician, now best remembered for his hymns, chiefly 'Come, ye thankful people, come', for harvest time. He moved to London 1853, as minister to Quebec Chapel and in 1857 was made Dean of Canterbury. He was there until his death in 1871.

From 1955 to 1959 another restoration took place at the guidance of the Rev Lawrence Jackson. He was a keen antiquarian with a specialist interest in ecclesiastical architecture. The walls had been trued in Pugin's time by the current customer of floating Roman plaster onto rubble. This had bulged alarmingly from the walls, due to water seeping under from the decayed roofs; damp, rot and fungus had spread rapidly. Other improvements were made as well. The north aisle Lady Chapel was created. Riddel posts and scarlet dorsal curtains were added to the main altar. In the 1970s damp and rot reared their head again and repairs were required. Currently very extensive repairs renovations and renovations are need to the lych gate, tower and fabric of the church. [By 2002 this had been completed.]

The stained-glass windows are from Pugin's time and window commemorates Dean Alford's son who died as a child.

The lych gate after an army container lorry reversed into it, July 1996.
It has since been fully restored.

The Church Plate.

St Mary's has a silver flagon and paten of 1705, a gift (according to Potter) presented by Dame Katherine Yorke, relict of – 1. William Leake, esq., Seargeant at Law, 2. Sir William Yorke of Lessingham, Linc. Knt'. St Mary's also has 'a silver cup used as a chalice' hallmarked for London 1512–13.

The Colours

The colours of the 504 (County Nottingham) Squadron are laid up in St Mary's Church. This shows their badge and motto, 'Vindicat in Ventis', and commemorates their participation in the Battle of Britain 1940, France and the Low Countries 1940, Home Defence 1940–42, Atlantic 1941–2, Arnhem, Fortress Europe 1942–44, Normandy 1944 and France and Germany 1940–45. All details are beautifully embroidered, including the borders of the red rose with white centre, the leek, thistle, shamrock and interwoven oak leaves on a pale blue background. An eagle surmounts a pole.

There are also British Legion flags and the Roll of Honour commemorating the dead of the 1914–18 and 1939–45 wars.

The Church Bells.

There are six bells in the tower, All cast by Thomas Osborn of Downham Market in 1795 and tuned and rehung by John Taylor & Co. of Loughborough in 1937.

In 1783 there were only four bells and these were much damaged when the spire was struck by lightning. According to an agreement dated 4th August 1742 (now in Leicestershire Record Office) between Thomas Hedderley of Nottingham, bellfounder, and the churchwardens, Hedderley undertook to recast the third bell and 'uphold the same sound and tunable' for a year and a day for the cost of 20 shillings per hundredweight. The ring was increased to six bells in 1795.

According to The Church Bells of Leicestershire of 1876 the daily bell was rung at 5 a.m. during the summer months and at 6 a.m. in the winter, also at 6 p.m.. Tradition says that the parish clerk formerly received the proceeds of a close of land for performing this duty. He now receives, according to this book, £1/10/– per annum in lieu.

The Leeke Memorial

Judge William Leeke was Lord of the Manor of Wymeswold in the mid-17th century. There is a large Baroque wall monument to his memory with a lengthy Latin inscription. In translation this reads:

Here is laid William Leeke Esquire, Serjeant at Law;

Who, content with having deserved higher honours, not only refrained from seeking them, but firmly put them aside when freely offered to him; being already by ancient lineage, by tried loyalty, by untarnished honour, by unrivalled knowledge of jurisprudence and devotion to study, Sufficiently Illustrious.

None knew better than he how to unlock the recesses of all English law; and he had a skill quite his own in drawing forth from the statutes of realm, from the roll of judicial decisions, and from long-established usage, their very innermost meanings.

To clients both high and low he ever brought a most welcome aid as counsel, through his clear-sighted judgement and his faithful zeal;

Wherein he made it is chief aim to draw together rival suitors to a peaceable agreement, and to earn the gratitude of all men.
So, endearing himself to Prince and people, he carved for himself a way to a higher degree of dignity, yet all unwillingly on his part; since, having been raised by King Charles the Second to the exalted Bench of Ermined Judges (1679) he immediately resigned that splendid office, setting the rare example of the most singular moderation, as one who so little depending on Fortune, having never at any time hoped her favours, so he had no need of dread the want of them.

Died the 9th day of October 1687, in the 57th year of his age.

His wife Catherine, and his only daughter Catherine, as sorrowing mourners, have placed this marble to his memory.

[This monument originally stood in the chancel but was moved under the tower during Pugin's restoration.]

Originally published in ‘A Portrait of Wymeswold’ 1991.

Copyright Wolds Historical Organisation.

Holy Trinity, Barrow-upon-Soar

Regular Services are held at 10.30am each Sunday.

Holy Trinity is a Grade II listed 12th century church in the centre of the village of Barrow-upon-Soar with a seating capacity of approximately 300 people. A recent extension on the north side of the church provides enhanced community facilities as well as much needed kitchen and toilet facilities for the church.

Google map link to LE12 8HP

St Mary’s, Walton le Wolds

Regular Services are held at 08.30am on first and third Sundays.

St Mary’s was built in 1739 on the site of the earlier St Bartholomew. It is a simple brick structure consisting of west tower, nave, chancel and vestry. The chancel was restored in 1856 and the rest of the building in 1877 so that it now has the internal appearance and feel of a Victorian church.

 Located at LE12 8HY

Regular Services are held at 09.15 each Sunday.

There has been a church in Prestwold for many centuries and some of the present building is over 600years old. Today St Andrew’s Church continues to serve the villages of Burton on the Wolds, Hoton, Prestwold and Cotes. We provide a focus for friendship and community and also seek to help wider society through our support to a wide range of charities both local and national.

Google map link to LE12 5SH

St Mary’s, Wymeswold

Regular services are held at 11.15am on Sundays.

St Mary’s Parish Church sits on rising ground at the centre of Wymeswold village. It is a Grade I listed medieval building which also contains a substantial body of work by Pugin. The organ was completely restored a few years ago and there is a good set of bells, rung before every service by our dedicated team of bell-ringers.

Google map link to LE12 6UF

St Andrew’s Prestwold

This beautiful old church, parts of which date back to Norman times, lies in the grounds of Prestwold Hall. Access is from the B675 road past Doric columned entrance lodges, and along a rhododendron lined drive where it stands almost hidden by trees. The first view is of the 14th century west tower with its decorated masonry frieze visible below the battlements. The Nave is mid 18th century and was rebuilt in the perpendicular style in 1890. The Chancel houses a very fine collection of monuments to the Packe family. St Andrew’s is the mother church of the chapels at Burton-on-the-Wolds, Cotes and Hoton, although only the latter re-mains and is now closed for worship and converted to a residence.

Medieval Prestwold

Prestwold and the surrounding villages have Saxon origins (Wolds meaning wood easily cleared for settlement). The first documentary evidence of settlement is in the Doomsday Survey of 1086 AD, where 4 tenants-in-chief held manorial rights from the King, principally Hugh de Grentemaisnil (Earl of Chester), then Durant Malet, Robert de Jorz and Geoffrey de Wirce. More interestingly are the residents under tenants, the successive families of de Preswold, Poutrel, Nevill, Nele and Skipwith. As a monument to the Neles in Tugby church shows the coats of arms of de Prestwold and Poutrel, this suggest that the Neles were descended from the earlier owners of Prestwold. In 1228 Anketin de Prestwold gave the advowson (Right of Appointment of Priest) of Prestwold church and its chapels with 30 acres of land to the Priory and convent of Bullington, Lincolnshire. This was held despite many acrimonious challenges from their descendants until the dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. Part of the Prestwold inheritance passed to John Poutrel of Cotes by marriage to Elias de Prestwold’s daughter in 1254. Poutrel’s held this until 1349 when it

passed through the female line via Walter of Gotham’s wife, Maud Poutrel, and their daughter and heir married one of the Nevills who were connected with Prestwold until 1445. The line then passed to Sir Richard Nele of Shepshed who married Isabel the heir of William Ryddynes of Prestwold.

Prestwold In More Modern Times

After the death, in 1486, of Sir Richard Nele, a King’s judge under five sovereigns, the line continued until Francis Nele died in 1560. His widow, Jane, married Sir Henry Skipworth, owner of the manor of Cotes, Preswold and Burton, whose grand-son later supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War. After fines and sequestration by Cromwell, the estate was sold in 1653 to Sir Christopher Packe, late Lord Mayor of London, a supporter of Cromwell. Following restoration of Charles II , he withdrew to his Cotes Hall, and since the mid 18th century at the newly rebuilt Prestwold Hall. The name Hussey was brought into the family and the lineage has now changed to Packe Drury Lowe

Prestwold Church Restorations

In 1743/44, the church underwent a general repair/rebuilding when most of its architectural beauties were destroyed, so only the tower and a low door and window to the south side of the Chancel remains. In 1846 the church had a clock and 5 bells, and was restored in 1890 by Hussey Packe under the direction of Sir Arthur Bloomfoed, when the Nave was entirely rebuilt in perpendicular style. At this stage the three deck pulpit, box pews and organ over the West door and gallery were removed and an oak ceiling and pews installed. A steeply pitched roof replaced the original low one. Photographs of the church taken long after the 1890 restoration show the tower with pinnacles on the 4 corners of the battlements subsequently removed. In 1989 extensive repairs were carried out, especially to the roof, with general refurbishment elsewhere by the Manpower Services Agency. In 1994 the bells, now 8 in number were rehung. The clock is the striking type with no external clock faces.

It was in 2003 that, following years of dedicated fundraising; alterations to the West end of the nave were started. A gallery was reinstated to provide additional seating and access to the adjacent, lowered bell-ringing chamber. A short flight of stairs was constructed to lead into the body of the church. The new West porch is accessed through double doors at the rear of the nave. In addition to these major changes the raised floor of the chancel was extended to include the pulpit and lectern area at the front of the nave and a modern oil fired central heating system was installed with a new boiler room con-structed in a corner of the vestry.

Prestwold church before 1860 looking east. Prestwold church before 1860 looking west.

Church Interior And Monuments

St Andrew’s Church today.

The Chancel

This is maintained by the Packe family and contains a number of memorials to their ascendants. There are rows of carved end family pews on either side. Above the altar is a

beautiful stained glass window, the centre panel depicting the Crucifixion, with scene of the Nativity and Ascension on either side. On the wall behind the altar is a decorative mosaic representing the Paschal lamb. The ancient baptismal font is of fine Italian marble. A family vault lies beneath the chancel and is accessed from the vestry.

Marble effigy of Charles Hussey Packe (died 1842), attributed to Westmacott junior by Niklaus. Photograph by Bob Trubshaw.

The Nave

The chandeliers were originally designed for gas, supplied be a producer gas plant situated at Prestwold woodyard, for the hall, church and local use. More recently until electricity was installed, they were used as candleholders. These are now only lit for the annual carol service. Apart from several hatchments, one transferred from Hoton Church on closure, and an ancient woodwind instrument, the walls are devoid of decoration. There is a handsome carved pulpit and eagle lectern on the south side. The pipe organ, originally hand blown, probably dates from the 1890 restoration. At the western end is a baptismal font renovated and re-sited in 2004.

The Nave once contained a memorial to William Ryddnes and his wife whose daughter Isabel passed on the estate by marriage to Sir Richard Nele, however this has now been removed. There are also some floor slab memorials at the rear of the west porch.

An oak and plaster wall separates the nave from the tower, access to which is through the central double doors.

The West Porch

This was completely restored in 2003. The area beneath the gallery now houses toilet facilities , a refreshment preparation area and storage cupboard.

On the south wall on either side of the memorial to Mr John Noon Esq. are two Rolls of Honour naming those who served in the Great War of 1914. On the opposite side those who gave their lives in World War II are remembered.

The Tower

This is the oldest part of the church generally 14th century, as can be dated from the shape, decoration of the windows and door and the distinctive quatre foil lozenge frieze below the

battlements. The church is known to have existed in some form, on this site, since Norman times. There were until recently examples of identified masonry and artifacts from this period but unfortunately these were lost during previous church repairs. The bell tower now contains 8 bells, 3 of which were added during the 1890 restoration, with the ringing and bell chambers refur-bished and the bells re-hung in 1994. The new year of 2004 saw the bells rung from the newly lowered ringing chamber. This brought the ringers into the body of the church for the first time making them visible to the congregation.

In the Bell Register, the following bell weights (cwt. qtrs. Lbs.) and inscriptions are given:

The Treble (wt 3.1.26) No.2 (3.3.13) and No.3 (5.0.6) were cast in 1890 by J Taylor’s in Loughborough and donated by Hussey Packe. Bells No4 (6.0.11) and No.5 (6.2.11) were the gift of Charles James Packe in 1812, cast by J. Briant and inscribed J.Briant, Hertford, Fedit 1812. No.6 (6.3.14) and No.7 (8.0.16) were cast by J.Briant and inscribed, John Briant Hertford Fecit 1810 and 1809/. The Tenor bell (10.3.18) cast by J.Briant was inscribed The Rev C.J. Packe Rector and E.Gamble and T.Soames, J.Briant Herts, Fecit 1809.

On the south wall are photographs of the church taken prior to the remodelling in 1903. One shows the interior facing east, another the exterior, the third shows the interior facing west as does the fourth, which is taken from a print.

The Vestry

This was built on the North East end of the chancel; it gives access to the Packe family vault via a door and staircase leading below the Chancel. There is a plaque commemorating the 1890 restoration to Hussey Packe.