Church of St Mary the Virgin
Parish PriestThe Rev Dr Peter Steddon was licensed as a Team Minister with responsibility for St Mary, Whitchurch-on-Thames and St John, Whitchurch Hill, on 28th April 2003.
Peter is a part-time House for Duty priest, with a time commitment of 2 days a week plus Sundays. These days are, for now, Tuesdays and Fridays, but you may e-mail or leave a voice message on 0118 984 1473 anytime.
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The Church, looking from the south
More views of the church are available in the Photo Gallery.
Useful Links:
Langtree Team Ministry
Oxford Diocese
'If only these stones could talk' people say. That is the point. They can. . . if only we can interpret them. John Slatter in his History of Whitchurch published in 1895, says, 'the present structure is quite modern, having been erected in place of an older building' . On any close scrutiny, that is far from being the whole story. Henry Woodyer, an architect very active in Berkshire in the mid-Victorian period, was responsible for the drastic treatment meted out to St Mary's in 1857. Yet, as will become clear, he did not preside over the entire demolition of the earlier building. There are aspects of the church redolent of earlier, quite different times. Nor, indeed, was he the first to refashion the building according to the latest changes in thought and style. Every deviation of mood or fashion has made its impact, every twist or turn of prejudice or theology. To different degrees, Saxon, Norman, Gothic and Georgian, as well as Victorian, are reflected here. The whole has mellowed with the centuries nevertheless, so that the casual visitor will find a typical country church in which nothing, it seems, is too out of place.
But so far as the people of Whitchurch are concerned, this is a treasure house, as nowhere else the story of this village writ large. A study of this building and the quite remarkable records which go to elucidate its history provide us indeed with a journey through time, the ever changing ebb and flow of an ancient Thameside parish.
Richard Hughes, The Rectory, 8th October, 1998.
- taken from the limited edition book 'St Mary’s Church, Whitchurch-on-Thames – A Journey through Time' by Richard Hughes, Rector of Whitchurch, 1979 – 2000.