District: Milton Keynes (Unitary Authority) Parish: Stony Stratford National Grid Reference: SP 78702 40464 Details 891/1/54 HIGH STREET 12-JUN-53 STONY STRATFORD (Southwest side) PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY AND ST GILES (Formerly listed as: HIGH STREET STONY STRATFORD CHURCH OF ST GILES) II* The tower is late C15. The rest of the church was entirely rebuilt in 1776 by Francis Hiorne of Warwick
MATERIALS: Squared stone with tiles and slated roofs
Late C15 W door, C19 W window and two light tracery windows with transoms in the bell stage
N, S and W galleries carried on shafts copying those in the arcades; the N and S galleries are C19, the W gallery C20. Late C15 tower arch of two moulded orders with shafted responds, largely hidden behind the W gallery
Good C19 font in a Perpendicular style
In the nave a polygonal pulpit with Arts-and-Crafts Gothic blind tracery with an inscription recording its gift as a memorial for WWI.
Probably from the same set, and now in the S aisle, a fine lectern with a delicate buttressed stem and openwork tracery ends; one kneeling bench with vine scrolls; a credence table with openwork front; and a carved timber altar frontal with floral designs
All are probably c.1928. The small trefoiled lower lights in the nave windows have very fine glass of 1889-97 by N H J Westlake
W window by Kempe, 1903. figures of saints in the upper lights of the nave windows came from the former apse, and are mid C19. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES Lychgate of 1928 at the High Street entrance
A church with several priests is recorded in Stony Stratford in the early C13, but it is not clear which was meant, and the earliest surviving fabric at St Giles is the C15 tower
They became independent parishes in the mid C17, but were united in 1742 after St Mary's burnt down
The interior of the church was damaged by fire in 1964, and was restored and reordered, reopening in 1968. SOURCES Pevsner, N., Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (1994), 552-3 VCH Buckinghamshire, IV (1927), 476-482 REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The church of St Mary and St Giles, Stony Stratford, is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * Mid to late C15 W tower, the rest of the church rebuilt 1776-7 by Francis Hiorne of Warwick with a fine Gothic interior including a plaster vault, possessing great spatial quality. * For its interesting construction: an early employment of structural cast iron, enabling a soaring interior to be created. * Excellent glass by Westlake