page_title: St Mary's Church, Chesham
section_title: Notable graves and memorials
hierarchical_section_title: St Mary's Church, Chesham / Associated buildings and structures / Notable graves and memorials
caption_attribution_description: Memorial to Lollard martyr Thomas Harding in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Chesham, Buckinghamshire
context_page_description: St. Mary's Church is a Grade I listed Anglican church in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and is part of the Diocese of Oxford. Built on the site of a Bronze Age stone circle of puddingstones, parts of the church building date to the 12th century. Remodelled in the 15th and 17th centuries, the church is architecturally a mixture of English Gothic styles. Weakened by additions to the church tower and undermined by burials in and around the church, by the 19th century the building was structurally unsound. The church was remodelled and strengthened in the 1860s by George Gilbert Scott and again in the 20th century by Robert Potter.
  Formerly part of the Diocese of Lincoln, it served what was historically the largest parish in Buckinghamshire, and the church traditionally had two vicars. Initially the advowson was held jointly by a pair of prominent local families, but in the wake of the 12th century civil wars of the reign of King Stephen, the advowsons were granted to the monks of Woburn Abbey and to the Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis in Leicester, each of whom appointed their own vicars to the parish.
context_section_description: The south transept had historically served as the mausoleum for the Cavendish family, who resided at nearby Latimer. During Scott's renovations of the 1860s the transept was opened up to the church and remodelled, and only one Cavendish tomb survives today, that of John Cavendish, son of William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, who had died in 1617 aged 11. Sculpted by John Bolt the Elder of London, the tomb features ornately carved strapwork above a sarcophagus, flanked by black coupled columns supporting small obelisks, and topped by a double-curved roof. The south transept also holds the 1726 pyramid-shaped tomb of Lady Mary Whichcote, wife of Sir Francis Whichcote who at that time owned Chesham Leicester; Mary Whichcote's elaborate funeral bankrupted Sir Francis, leading to his sale of Chesham Leicester to the Skottowe family.
  Richard Bowle (c. 1549 – 13 December 1626), who had recorded and audited the restoration project of 1606, is commemorated by a black marble monument on the north side of the chancel, noting his "faithful service of divers great lords", and that "part of" him "lyeth here".
  On the north wall of the sanctuary is a large memorial to Richard Woodcock, who had served as vicar of both Chesham Woburn and Chesham Leicester from 1607 to 1623. Topped by a large painted bust of Woodcock holding a book, a lengthy gilded inscription in Latin and English describes Woodcock as "Hæreticorum Malleus" ("The hammer of heretics"). Woodcock had been a popular local figure, and at his death the parishioners had taken it in turns to carry the coffin to the church. Near the memorial to Woodcock is a memorial to Nicholas Skottowe erected in 1800. This takes the form of a stone sculpture of a mourning woman kneeling over a sarcophagus, and was described by Pevsner as "[an] interpretation of remarkable tenderness".
  During Scott's renovations of the 1860s, all burials within the church itself were removed. However, during the 1999 renovation, a vault was uncovered near the crossing. The vault was marked by a brass plaque inscribed "The Family Vault of Robert Ward", and was found to contain the coffins of Catherine Julia Ward, wife of novelist and Tory politician Robert Plumer Ward, and of their three-year-old son Charles Robert Ward. The vault has been resealed and remains in place.
  Adolphus Aylward, the vicar from 1847 to 1872 and overseer of the parish restructuring, is commemorated by a brass plaque on the south-west pillar of the tower, and by a Clayton and Bell window in the north-west chancel. Aylward's daughter Julia had died in 1862 aged 15 and is buried in the churchyard; her grave was planted with snowdrops at her mother's request, which still bloom each spring. Julia Aylward is also commemorated by a piece of Burlison and Grylls glass in the lancet window at the west end of the north aisle.
  
  A memorial to Lollard martyr Thomas Harding stands in the churchyard near the south chancel, erected in 1907 by the Protestant Alliance. The base of the cross is inscribed:
  To the glory of God and to the memory of Thomas Harding Martyr of Dungrove Chesham
  Who in fiery trial at the stake laid down his life for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ in this parish on May 30, 1532
  "The noble army of martyrs praise thee"
  "God grant to us all grace to ken well and to kepe well holie writ and to suffer joiefulli some pain for it at the laste."
  "None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself."
  Harding was executed at nearby White Hill and is believed to have been held in St. Mary's parvise prior to his execution. Foxe's Book of Martyrs describes the execution thus: 
  In 1532, Thomas Harding, who with his wife, had been accused of heresy, was brought before the Bishop of Lincoln, and condemned for denying the real presence in the Sacrament. He was then chained to a stake, erected for the purpose, at Chesham in the Dell, near Botely; and when they had set fire to the fagots, one of the spectators dashed out his brains with a billet. The priests told the people that whoever brought fagots to burn heretics wou
caption: Thomas Harding memorial
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