Friends of St Mary's

 

 

St Mary's, seen from the east.

Sunday, September 18th (2011), sees the official launch of the Friends of St Mary’s, during the Songs of Praise which starts at 4 pm in the parish church: all are welcome.

The ‘Friends’ is a charity whose funds are used solely for the maintenance, beautification and upkeep of this Grade 1 Listed building and its churchyard. St Mary’s, unusually large for a village church, contains the internationally-known monuments of the 16th and 17th Century Earls of Rutland and their de Roos forbears, as well as a wealth of gargoyles, stained glass (some medieval), hatchings and the faint remains of an enormous medieval ‘doom’ painting. Its 210-foot high spire is visible for miles, earning it the popular title of the “Lade of the Vale”. The extensive churchyard is also notable for its wealth of monuments and tranquil setting by the River Devon.

In keeping with the Friends’ aim of looking after this beautiful building, one of the top 100 churches in England according to a recent report, the Bottesford Local History Society is pleased to be able to contribute to promoting the Friends and its fund-raising activities.

If you want to join the Friends or learn more about their plans, please download their leaflet (this is a PDF file which requires Adobe Reader). There are also a Standing Order and Gift Aid forms which can be downloaded: these are both in MS Word 2003 format.