page_title: Aldbury
section_title: Parish Church
hierarchical_section_title: Aldbury / Notable buildings / Parish Church
caption_attribution_description: English: The Pendley Chapel, Church of St. John the Baptist, Aldbury, Hertfordshire - detail of the monument with recumbent effigy of Sir Robert Whittingham (d.1471) showing his feet resting on a reclining wild man covered in delicately sculpted curly hair and holding a "ragged staff" (as in the heraldic badge of the Earls of Warwick)
context_page_description: Aldbury is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, near the borders of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the Bulbourne valley close to Ashridge Park. The nearest town is Tring. Uphill from the narrow valley are the Bridgewater monument and the Ashridge estate. It is noted for its picturesque setting and has been referred to as a "chocolate-box" village due to its traditional appearance.
context_section_description: The Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist is of Early English style. In 1203 the church was granted to the Canons of the Priory of St. Mary, Missenden by William de Brocland.  Parts of the chancel and nave are 13th century in origin, thought to be part of an older Romanequse church which was enlarged in the 14th century. The church was restored in 1866–1867 by W. Browning, who removed two Romanesque arches from the north arcade of the nave and dressed the exterior in flint rubble masonry and totternhoe Stone.
  The church is noted for the Pendley Chapel, also known as the Verney Chapel, an ornate memorial chapel which is located at the east end of the nave. It was installed here in 1575 but its origins are much older; Edmund Verney had the tomb moved here from the dissolved monastery of Ashridge and enclosed it in an ornate stone parclose screen, also brought from Ashridge. The floor is covered in medieval encaustic tiles. The small chapel contains a carved stone recumbent tomb of Sir Robert Whittingham (d.1471), a nobleman who was slain at the battle of Tewkesbury (illustrated below). He is depicted in plate armour lying next to his wife. At his feet lies a wild man, a mythical creature covered in hair, and a hind lies at his wife's feet. On the wall is a later monument to Sir Richard Anderson (1635-1699) of Pendley Manor and to his wife Elizabeth (1631-1698), sister of George, Viscount Hewwett. The Anderson are represented as a pair of busts surrounded by marble pilasters surmounted by a segmental pediment.
  The church also contains memorials of the Hides and Harcourts, families who left charities to the poor of the parish.
caption: The Whittingham tomb Wild Man
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