St Mary's Church, Twyford


St Mary's Church, Twyford is a Church of England parish church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the village of Twyford, Hampshire.

History

The village's first Saxon church is mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1088. A Norman church replaced it in the 12th century – this was extensively rebuilt in 1402. In Thomas Moule's English Counties, the church is referred to as "a vicarage, value £12 12s. 8d., in the patronage of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In the chancel is a mural monument, with a bust, by Joseph Nollekens, in memory of Dr. Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St. Asaph, who died in the year 1788." A square-headed perpendicular window was added to the church around 1520 and a barrel organ in 1838, replaced by a J. Walker pipe organ in 1867.
Population expansion led to the construction of a replacement church to designs by Alfred Waterhouse, completed in 1878 – this used the Norman building's columns, the 1520 window and the 1402 church's east window, clerestory windows and priest's entrance to the vestry's north side. A new stained glass design was placed in the west window in 1965 and new parish rooms were built below a new gallery at the church's west end in 1995.