St Mary the Virgin in Mortlake was built in 1543, replacing a 14th century church closer to the river on the site of what was a 20th century brewery and is 21st century flats.
Some stone from the earlier church was used in the construction of the tower which was extensively restored in 2012. When I went last week with two dipsy Norfolk Terriers (Candy & Floss) I didn’t notice much of interest. Yesterday my guides were wise Reginald (spaniel) and savvy Stella (terrier). With their assistance and a helping hand from Our Man at the Foreign Office (aka the Church Warden) we explored the churchyard and found the feeblest labyrinth imaginable. The C of E flier exhorted us to take a meditative walk with Christ, or a personal journey, or a traditional Christmas dance to celebrate Christ’s Easter victory. Instead we looked at the Addington tomb in the graveyard and a memorial in the church to Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth, Prime Minister 1801 – 1804. He went on to be Home Secretary for (almost) ten years: unusual then and now. Reminds me of cricketer and Prime Minister, Alec Douglas-Home who narrowly lost a General Election in 1964 to Labour led by Harold Wilson. Subsequently Edward Heath became Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister. Douglas-Home did not sulk, he served as Foreign Secretary
Then there is a bronze plaque for Edward Myles, servant to Prince Henry and Prince Charles. The latter became Charles I. It looks Victorian but Edward is buried in the churchyard. Another famous graveyard resident is John Dee, also commemorated by a new (21st century) tablet.
John Dee devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermetic Philosophy; a way of thinking about double glazing. He was also an advocate of England’s imperial expansion into a “British Empire”, a term he is generally credited with coining. If he had a spare moment he studied sorcery and tried to communicate with angels to learn the universal language of creation. I suppose all this enormous effort left him little time for riotous living which may account for his long life.
The oldest thing in the church is a 15th century font from the original church.
Well, well, Christopher. That takes me back to 1970 when I was researching a sculptor called William Kidwell who later worked in Ireland. I got myself all the way to Mortleke to see Kidwell’s monument inside the church to Francis Coventry. How did Reginald miss that? Evidently it’s still there:
http://www.speel.me.uk/chlondon/mortlakech.htm
Addington was dismissed by Sir Charles Oman in his History of England as a “vapid nonentity”, a phrase that could well describe a number of contemporary politians.
“Pitt is to Addington as London is to Paddington” said wise George Canning. Who thought that vitriol among parliamentarians was something new.
The only Wykehamist to have been prime minister, I believe.