If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Parish church, 15th century. Includes the de Grey family mausoleum (HER9836).

Full Description

<1> Ministry of Housing and Local Government, 1960, Ampthill Rural District: Provisional List of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest, Ref 1882/11/A (Unpublished document). SBD10800.

Early C15 with grey mortuary chapel of 1605, enlarged early C18. Important series of momuments from 1680 to 1859.

<2> Nikolaus Pevsner, 1968, The Buildings of England: Bedfordshire and the County of Huntingdon and Peterborough, pp. 91-92 (Bibliographic reference). SBD10533.

Of ironstone. All probably of between 1440 and 1489 and already a de Grey, Earl of Kent. W tower with higer stair-turret. Embattled nave and aisles. Rood stair-turret. Big Perp s doorway. Perp arcades of three bays. The slender piers have standard mouldings. The chancel arch corresponds. The whole E end is taken up by the de Grey Mausoleum or Mausolea, a whole series of rooms, oddly unreligious in character. The earliest is of 1614, the others are supposed to have been complete by 1705, although the latest room to be filled is all c19. - BENCHES. Perp, the ends buttressed. - GATES to the de Grey Mausoleum. Large, wrought iron, C18. - BRASSES (N wall). Alianora Conquest +1434, a good 29 in figure, headless - Mrs Waren + 1544, a 17in figure.
The DE GREY MAUSOLEUM is one of the greatest store-houses of monuments in England. A pity that it somehow has the storehouse feeling. Few of the many tombs are of the very best quality. The earliest is the brass to Henry Gray +1545, a 27 in figure. - Then follows the monument for which the first room was built: Henry Grey, fifth Earl of Kent, +1614 and wife. Alabaster. Two recumbent effigies. Tomb-chest and back panel. - Next to this, and far more noteworthy, Henry, ninth Earl, erected 1658. Two recumbent white marble effigies. White and grey back wall with two allegorical female figures still entirely in the Nicholas Stone Mannerism. - Of about the same date (w wall) Lady Elizabeth Talbot, erected 1653. Large, very fine reredos-type monument without figures. Open segmental pediment. Ionic columns, and garlandshanging parallel with them. - Lady Jane Hart, dated 1673. White semi-reclining figure. Black and white monument with garlands l and r. Inscription with drapes. Open pediment with shield and garlands. The rest of the mausoleum has a centre, a N, an E, and a s room. In the centre two similar memorials: Lady Amabell de Grey +1727 and Lady Anne de Grey + 1730. Both without figures. - In the N room Anthony de Grey, Earl of Harrold. 1726 by Dowyer. Semi-reclining white figure in Roman dress on a big black sarcophagus. - Also Henrietta de Grey +1716 and Henry de Grey +1717. Identical monuments with steep pyramidal background and semi-reclining effigies. Both white, both very young. - Lady Mary Gregory. Simple. With urn on pedestal. - In the E room the masterpiece: Henry de Grey, Duke of Kent, and two wives, 1740. Designed (and signed) by Edward Shepherdand the effigy of the duke attributed to Rysbrack. To his r a little lower the first wife. No effigy of the second. Very fine back wall with inscription panels. - Opposite Philip, Earl of Hardwicke, +1790. By Banks. Mourning woman seated on the ground by an urn. - IN the s room Henrietta Frances, Countess de Grey, +1848. BY Terence Farrell, 1853. Very large, with an obelisk back. Relief of the covered coffin and the ground in the shallowest relief, tragic, fate-like figures. Up against the obelisk an angel carrying her soul to heaven. - Thomas Philip de Grey, Lord Lucas, +1859. By Matthew Noble. Effigy, white and asleep. - The de Greys' mansion was Wrest Park.

<3> National Monuments Record, NMR Photographs (Photograph). SBD10708.

List of images held by the NMR

<4> Richard Marks, 1974, A Short History and Guide to Flitton Parish Church (Bibliographic reference). SBD11322.

The church itself is of fifteenth century date and seems to have been built in one campaign. The work was probably paid for by Edmund Lord Grey of Ruthin (1440-90), as the spandrels of the porch entrance originally bore shields bearing his arms. The present shields are blank. The only subsequent addition was the large mortuary chapel of the Greys of Wrest Park which contains some very fine funeral monuments. The oldest is a brass of a man clad in armour commemorating Henry Grey, who died in 1545. Nearby is buried another Henry, fifth in the line of earls of Kent, who was laid to rest in 1614. His alabaster effigy and that of his countess Mary still retain much, albeit faded, original colouring, and contrast with the marble monument to the twelfth earl and his two wives. Many other members of the family lie here, and the burials of a number of their household retainers are recorded in the parish registers.

<5> David Baker, Comments & Site Visit notes, 17/10/1973 (Observations and Comments). SBD10964.

No. on map - 7/35

<6> Imperial War Museum - National Inventory of War Memorials Record Sheet, February 1993 (Unpublished document). SBD10682.

War memorial inside church - roll of honour for 1939-1945.

<7> Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service, BCAS Projects and Watching Brief Database, Projects database, No 576 (Archaeological Report). SBD10777.

Relatively compacted layers beneath the loose sub-floor fill may represent the top of archaeological deposits. These may originate from earlier phases of use of the church, or perhaps even pre-date the existing structure. The pier bases of the current fifteenth century building cut through some of these deposits and where visible the bases were examined and recorded.
Disarticulated human remains were recovered from the loose fill below the floor and from a charnel pit cut into this. Although the exact date of this grave clearance could not be established the find of a coffin fitting suggests that some of the cleared graves might have been of sixteenth/seventeenth century date.

<8> Jonathan D Edis, 1995, Funerary Monuments in Bedfordshire, 1485-1625, Vol. 2, p. 16 (Unpublished document). SBD10825.

List and description of funerary monuments in the church and mausoleum.

<9> Department of the Environment, 1985, DoE Mid Beds 55th List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 14/9 (Index). SBD11262.

Parish church. C15. Coursed ironstone rubble with ashlar dressings. Chancel, nave, N and S aisles, S porch, W tower. De Grey family mausoleum (see item 14/10) adjoins to NE, enclosing N and E elevations of chancel. Embattled parapets throughout. Chancel: 3-light E window. Round-headed archway to N elevation gives onto mausoleum. S elevation, rendered and painted to combine with mausoleum, has 2 3-light 3-centred windows flanking pointed-arched doorway. Nave: 3-bay pointed-arched arcades to both sides. Chancel arch in same style. Clerestory has 3 2-light 4-centred windows to each side. Rood staircase to SE angle forms external octagonal stair turret. N aisle N elevation has 2 3-light 4-centred windows to E bays and blocked pointed-archway doorway in square surround to W bay. Single-light window to 'd elevation. S aisle: S elevation has 2 3-light early C16 windows with straight-sided heads. 3-light E window. Pointed-arched S doorway. S porch: pointed arch within square head, the tracery and shields within spandrels reworked C20. W tower: 3 stages, with 4-stage diagonal buttresses to W angles and semi-octagonal stair turret to SE angle. Bell-stage has 2-light windows to each side. W elevation has 3-light window to lower stage. Interior: variety of monuments. To chancel floor is brass to Thomas Hill, receiver general to Earls of Kent, d.1628 aged 101. To N aisle N wall are 2 reset- brasses, one to Eleanor Conquest, d.1434, other to Elizabeth Waren d.1544. To N aisle E wall is brass inscription to Alice Hill, d.1594. Also numerous Cl8 marble wall monuments and floor slabs. Nave and aisles retain original roofs with decorative basses and angels holding shields. Nave retains much original pewing. Chancel N archway to mausoleum contains C18 wrought iron gate with Kent initials incorportated into cresting.

<10> Jonathan D Edis, 1995, Funerary Monuments in Bedfordshire, 1485-1625, Vols. 1 & 2 (Unpublished document). SBD10825.

[no details given]

<11> Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, 73, 1994, pp. 296-300; Bedfordshire Churches in C19: Part 1: Parishes A to G. C Pickford (Ed) (Serial). SBD10681.

C19 descriptions & illustration of church from original records - see volume in Group library.

<12> Chris Pickford, Notes on churches from documents in BLARS, Notes for BHRS (Unpublished document). SBD10801.

Notes compiled for 3 BHRS C19 Church Volume

<13> Council for British Archaeology, 2000, South Midlands Archaeology, Volume 30, Vol. 30, 2000, p. 2 (Serial). SBD14143.

Two separate episodes of archaeological recording were undertaken at the Church of St John the Baptist.

<14> William Page & H. Arthur Doubleday (Editors), 1908, Victoria County History Vol II, Bedfordshire, Vol II pp. 331-332 (Bibliographic reference). SBD13981.

Detailed description of the church.

<15> Bedfordshire Times, £10,000 bid to save old church; 13/2/1976 (Newspaper Article). SBD10544.

A village's 500 year old parish church is in such a serious state of disrepair that it will need more than £10,000 to stop it from becomin a ruin. Much of the stone structure of St John the Baptist Church at Flitton has already been taken down as a dafety measure. The vicar, the Rev. Peter Millam said: "You could move some of the stones by pushing them with a finger."

<16> Unknown, Ampthill News, Nature window marks 21 years of service; 10/10/1978 (Newspaper Article). SBD10587.

A stained glass window in memory of a churchwarden with 21 years service was dedicated at Flitton Parish Church on Sunday. Dr Eric Roberts, who lived at Wardhedges, Flitton, died in 1975 aged 65, and was churchwarden for 21 years.

<17> Council for British Archaeology, 2005, South Midlands Archaeology, Volume 35, Vol. 35, 2005, p. 9 (Serial). SBD14148.

Much of the church's foundation was exposed, consisting primarily of ironstone blocks in a creamy mortar. At the west end of the south aisle under the buttress the foundation was wider than would have been expected. This masonry continued round to support the stair turret.

<18> English Heritage, 1984-1992, GRANTS 1984-1992, A list of repair grants offered by English Heritage to buildings and monuments of outstanding national importance, p. 30 (Bibliographic reference). SBD11635.

Grant of £6341 towards cost of repairs to the north and south aisle windows.

<19> Gentleman's Magazine, 1821, No. 1, pp. 393-395 (Article in serial). SBD10741.

Not remarkable & much..of repair. Some remains of early glass in upper part of aisle windows. 5 monumental chapels. 1 built c200 years ago is collateral with chapel. 4 others of Grecian architecture of c1707.

<20> Bedfordshire & Luton Archives and Records Service Documents, BLARS: Slides 722,724-726, 1590, 1743, 2247-2259 (Unpublished document). SBD10551.

[No details]

<21> Bedfordshire County Council, 1970 - 2000s, HER Photograph Archive, No ref/date (Photograph). SBD10506.

Two black & white images of exterior of church

<22> Bedfordshire County Council, 1970 - 2000s, HER Photograph Archive, F476/6a-22a (Photograph). SBD10506.

Colour images of interior and exterior of church

<23> Bedfordshire County Council, 1970 - 2000s, HER Photograph Archive, F1131/6 + 14 (Photograph). SBD10506.

Photos of brass monument to Charles Grey and brass monument to Alice Hill.

<24> Bedfordshire County Council, 1970 - 2000s, HER Photograph Archive, F1013/6A, April 1993 (Photograph). SBD10506.

Colour image of exterior of church

<25> Bedfordshire County Council, 1970 - 2000s, HER Photograph Archive, PU206/1975 (Photograph). SBD10506.

Black & white images of exterior of church

<26> Bedfordshire County Council, HER Slide Archive, 7713 (Slide). SBD10508.

Colour image of exterior of church, focussed on tower

<27> Bedfordshire Magazine, Vol. 13 No. 98, pp. 54-57 (Serial). SBD10543.

Same as ref (4)

<28> Bedfordshire County Council, Planning Dept File, William Lack: Monumental Brass Repairs and Conservation (Unpublished document). SBD11426.

Report on the condition of the brasses, 20/11/1990

<29> Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service, BCAS Projects and Watching Brief Database, 576 (Archaeological Report). SBD10777.

Relatively compacted layers beneath the loose sub-floor fill may represent the top of archaeological deposits. These may originate from earlier phases of use of the church, or perhaps even pre-date the existing sturcture. The pier bases of the current fifteenth century building cut through some of these deposits and where visible the bases were examined and recorded.
Disarticulated human remains were recovered from the loose fill below the floor and from a charnel pit cut into this. Although the exact nature of this grave clearance could not be established the find of a coffin fitting suggests that some of the cleared graves might have been of sixteenth/seventeenth century date.

<30> Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service, BCAS Projects and Watching Brief Database (Archaeological Report). SBD10777.

Deposits of both demolition and construction debris were observed. Where visible, the foundations for buttresses appeared to be unusually wide. Furthermore, trenching next to the church did not expose undisturbed geological levels. However, it was not possible to determine whether or not the wall foundations themselves had been built on "made-up" ground.

<31> Northamptonshire Archaeology, 2006, An archaeological watching brief during the excavation of a French drain around the perimeter of the church of St John the Baptist, Flitton, 06/48 (Archaeological Report). SBD12507.

Much of the church's foundation was exposed, consisting primarily of ironstone blocks in a creamy mortar. At the west end of the south aisle under the buttress the foundation was wider than would have been expected. This masonry continued round to support the stair turret. The area by the north side of the tower was not disturbed due to the presence of modern cremations.

<32> Stuart Blythe, Photographs of war memorials taken during systematic recording project, February 1993 (Photograph). SBD12479.

Two colour photographs, one of freestanding granite monument in churchyard and another of oak framed roll of honour inside church.

<33> Gentleman's Magazine, May 1821, Pl. 1, p. 393, Engraving by J. H. Wiffin (Article in serial). SBD10741.

Coloured view of church.

<34> NMR/AMIE, HE NRHE Monument Inventory, 360020 (Index). SBD12367.

15th century parish church. Coursed ironstone rubble with ashlar dressings. Chancel, nave, North and South aisles, South porch, West tower. De Grey family mausoleum (Tl03NE23) encloses the North and East elevations of the chancel.

<35> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Record Cards, OS: TL 03 NE 18 (Unpublished document). SBD10879.

(TL 05933585) St John the Baptist's Church (C of E) (NAT) (OS 1:2500 1972)
The Church of St. John the Baptist, Grade A. Of one build dating from the early 15th century, the only later addition being the de Grey mortuary chapel of 1605, enlarged in the early 18th century, attached to the north side of the chancel. This is "an extremely unattractive building, coated with Roman cement, and quite out of scale with the rest of the structure" (3). It contains an important series of monuments from 1580 to 1859. (DOE (HHR) Ampthill RD Jan 1960 17; VCH Beds 2 1908 331-2 illust Photo; Bldgs of Eng Beds Hunts & P'boro 1968 91-2 (N Pevsner))
The de Grey Mausoleum has been taken into the care of the Directorate of Ancient Monuments. (CBA Arch in Brit 1979 12)
14/9 Church of Saint John the Baptist
23.1.61
GV I
Parish church. C15. Coursed ironstone rubble with ashlar dressings.
Chancel, nave, N and S aisles, S porch, W tower. De Grey family mausoleum (see item 14/10) adjoins to NE, enclosing N and E elevationsof chancel. Embattled parapets throughout. Chancel: 3-light E window.Round-headed archway to N elevation gives onto mausoleum. S elevation, rendered and painted to combine with mausoleum, has 2 3-light 3-centred windows flanking pointed-arched doorway. Nave: 3-bay pointed-arched arcades to both sides. Chancel arch in same style. Clerestory has 3 2-light 4-centred windows to each side. Rood staircase to SE angle forms external octagonal stair turret. N aisle N elevation has 2 3-light 4-centred windows to E bays and blocked pointed-archway doorway in square surround to W bay. Single-light window to W elevation. S aisle: S elevation has 2 3-light early C16 windows with straight-sided heads. 3-light E window. Pointed-arched S doorway. S porch: pointed arch within square head, the tracery and shields within spandrels reworked C20. W tower: 3 stages, with 4-stage diagonal buttresses to W angles and semi-octagonal stair turret to SE angle. Bell-stage has 2-light windows to each side. W elevation has 3-light window to lower stage.
Interior: variety of monuments. To chancel floor is bruss to Thomas Hill, receiver general to Earls of Kent, d.1628 aged 101. To N aisle N wall are 2 reset brasses, one to Eleanor Conquest, d.1434, other to Elizabeth Waren d.1544. To N aisle E wall is brass inscription to Alice Hill, d.1594. Also numerous C18 marble wall monuments and floor slabs. Nave and aisles retain original roofs with decorative basses and angels holding shields. Nave retains much original pewing.Chancel N archway to mausoleum contains C18 wrought iron gate with Kent initials incorportated into cresting.

14/10 The De Grey Mausoleum adjoining Church
of Saint John the Baptist
23.1.61
GV I
Mausoleum. Built 1614 by Henry Grey 5th Earl of Kent, owner of Wrest Park, Silsoe. Extended 1705 to E by Henry Earl of Kent. Structure encased in colourwashed cement render, with brick coping to embattled parapets and shaped gables. Slate roofs. Cruciform plan, encasing the N and E elevations of the chancel of the Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist (item No. 14/9). W block, to N of chancel, is original structure. Externally rather plain, with recessed panels articulating many elevations. W block has 2 3-light windows under flat heads to N elevation, the E one blocked. Interior architecturallyplain.

Monuments include the following:
Henry Grey, 5th Earl of Kent, d.1614. Polychromed alabaster 2 recumbant figures on tomb chest.
Lady Elizabeth Talbot 1653. Polychrome marble wall monument with Ionic columns, open segmental pediment and garlands.
Henry Grey, 9th Earl of Kent, erected 1658. White, black and grey marble. 2 effigies on tomb chest, with 2 Mannerist allegorical female figures to back panel.
Lady Jane Hart, d. 1673. Polychrome marble. Semi-reclining figure. Monument surmounted by open pediment with shield and garlands.
Pair of monuments to Henrietta de Grey d. 1716 and Henry de Grey d. 1717. Grey and white marble. Semi-reclining figures flanked by urns, in front of steep garlanded pyramids.
Anthony de Grey, Earl of Harrold. 1726 by Dowyer. Black, white and grey marble. Large sarcophagus surmounted by semi-reclining figure in Roman military dress.
Henry de Grey, Duke of Kent, and 2 wives, 1740. Black, white and grey marble. Designed by Edward Shepherd. Central sarcophagus surmounted by semi-reclining figure of Duke (thought to be by Rysbrack). To R, semi-reclining figure of first wife. 3 inscription panels.
Philip, Earl of Hardwicke, d. 1790. Grey and white marble, by Banks. Seated mourning woman with urn, in front of obelisk.
Henrietta Frances, Countess de Grey, d. 1848. Black and white marble. 1853 by Terence Farrell. Obelisk-shaped relief showing mourning family around draped coffin, with soul being carried to heaven by angel.
Thomas Philip de Grey, Lord Lucas, d. 1859. Grey and white marble. By Matthew Noble. Recumbant effigy on tomb chest.
The De Grey Mausoleum contains one of the finest series of funerary monuments in the country. (DOE (HHR) Dist of Mid Bedfordshire, May 1985, 3-4.)

<36> John Britton & Edward Wedlake Brayley, 1801, The Beauties of England and Wales, Volume 1, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire (Bibliographic reference). SBD10810.

"FLITTON:
In the church is the memorial of a very singular instance of longevity. On the floor, near the altar, is a figure, in brass, of an honest steward! a true Vellum in aspect. He appears dressed in a long cloak, trunk breeches, great ruff, and large night-cap. His name was Thomas Hill, a receiver-general to three Earls of Kent. His character is recorded in these lines:
Aske how he lived, and you shall know his ende,
He dyde a saint to God, to poore a friende.
These lines men know doe truly of him story,
Whom God hath called, and seated now in glory.
He died May 26, 1601. Aged 12S."

Protected Status:

• Conservation Area: Flitton Conservation Area
• Listed Building (I) 14/9: Church of Saint John the Baptist

Monument Type(s):

• COMMEMORATIVE BRASS (15th Century to 17th Century - 1400 AD to 1699 AD)
• PARISH CHURCH (15th Century - 1400 AD to 1499 AD)
• CHARNEL PIT (16th Century to 17th Century - 1500 AD? to 1699 AD?)
• COFFIN (16th Century to 17th Century - 1500 AD to 1699 AD)
• PLAQUE (18th Century - 1700 AD to 1799 AD)
• WAR MEMORIAL (TRIBUTE) (Second World War to 21st Century - 1939 AD to 2050 AD)

Associated Finds

• FBD3936 - HUMAN REMAINS (16th Century to 17th Century - 1500 AD to 1699 AD)

Associated Events

• EBD1052 - An archaeological watching brief during the excavation of a French drain around the perimeter of the church of St John the Baptist, Flitton (Ref: 06/48)
• EBD688 - St John the Baptist Church, Flitton (Ref: 576)
• EBD689 - Church of St John the Baptist, Flitton

Sources and Further Reading

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.