Rushden, St Mary
The Church
This pretty Grade II* listed church comprises a C15th west tower, a C14th nave and a small chancel rebuilt in brick in 1849. The whole church was again restored in brick in 1906–08.
The interior has a stone floor and plastered walls, with corbels. Furnishings include a C15th font in the tower arch with C17th cover, a C17th communion table with turned legs; early C18th communion rails; Royal Arms of George III over the door and Commandment boards, now in the tower space.
There is a memorial tablet on the nave south wall to Sir A. Meetkerte, Flemish ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I, d. 1591, removed from St Botolph’s, Aldersgate in 1754.
Our Work
St Mary’s Church is home to at least three different species of bat—serotines, brown long-eared bats and a pipistrelle species. It is not entirely clear how the bats are using the church, although there are accumulations of droppings in several areas under probable roosting sites between chancel and nave, and in the tower.
The Herts & Middlesex Bat Group helped the church carry out a roost count for the National Bat Monitoring Programme in June 2022.
In February 2023 St Mary's hosted a cleaning workshop led by The CCT.
Rushden Case Study Poster
Upcoming events
If you’d like to contact or find out more about the church, visit the website or their page on A Church Near You