140th Anniversary Celebration
"A Walk Through Time"
THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN, Woburn in Bedfordshire was
designed by the architect Henry Clutton and built
between 1865 and 1868 for William, 8th Duke of
Bedford. From 22 to 26 May 2008, in order to
celebrate its 140th anniversary, the church held a
Flower Festival entitled 'A Walk Through
Time'.
This website has been created by a visitor to the
festival and includes photographs taken during that
visit. Acknowledgement is given to the creators and
sponsors of St Mary's Church website from which the
following edited description of the church has been
taken. The official website of the church may be
accessed here.
Henry Clutton had just finished another church for
his patron at Tavistock on the Russell estate
there. It was an equally grand conception in the
Romanesque style. Clutton was a student of French
medieval architecture. He had previously won a
design competition for a cathedral at Lille
although his plan was never carried forward to the
construction stage.
St Mary's was originally built with a tall spire
which had to be dismantled for safety reasons in
1890. A crypt for the internment of ducal family
members was also constructed but the Russells have
continued to use the family vault at Chenies in
Buckinghamshire.
The interior has the hallmarks of a French
cathedral, with its lofty lines, slender pillars
and single vaulted roof. At the eastern end of the
south aisle there is a stained glass window
depicting St Francis of Assisi standing among the
birds and flowers of the Woburn Abbey estate. It
commemorates the life of Mary, Duchess of Bedford
from 1865 to 1937, a lady 'whose work was in the
hospitals, whose delight was in the birds'. Mary
built and ran a cottage hospital at Maryland in
Woburn where wounded soldiers were treated during
the First World War. She was among the early
aviatrixes and failed to return after her aircraft
went missing on a flight over East Anglia.
In the village is all that remains of the medieval
church of Woburn. While modern St Mary's was under
construction much of it was demolished except,
particularly, for the elegant tower which had been
restored by Blore in 1830. Today it houses the
'Woburn Heritage Centre', a museum of local life
and history. The church pictured in 1910 (right)
presents much the same appearance today.
For the first page of festival photographs please
click here.