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The Church Today
Nowadays St
John's Church serves both Moggerhanger and Chalton. The Parish is in a
group with the villages of Cople and Willington and our vicar, the Rev
Lynda Klimas
cares for all three.
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are services every Sunday and the Church building itself is used by the
community as a meeting place and shop. The shop is run by volunteers
and is open Monday to Saturday mornings (10 - 12am) and Tuesday and
Thursday afternoons (3.15 - 4.15pm). Other events such as craft fairs
and coffee mornings are held here too. |
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An extract from the Bedford Times
(7.8.1860) reads:
'This beautiful little church does great credit
to the architect, Mr Slater of London and to Mr Coquest of Kempston,
the builder. It is in the early Norman style, of Kempston stone
elegantly varied with red sandstone from the quarries at Silsoe. The
carving of the capitals and the font are exquisite and the marble floor
and the painted windows in the chancel are very rich.
Mrs Dawkins has
given a large burial ground fenced by a handsome stone wall and is
building an excellent parsonage adjoining and she has endowed the
living with £60 a year to which £40 a year is added
from the revenues from the mother church at Blunham. The internal
fittings and decorations are all in excellent taste. The vestry, belfry
and tower are thoroughly handsome and substantial'.
Points of Interest
The ROOF is open and constructed from oak
grown on the Moggerhanger Estate. The PILLARS
are of Ancaster stone with carved capitals; and arcades are of the same
material intermixed with Harlestone stone.
The APSE
is more highly decorated than the rest of the Church and contains the
mausoleum where Rev'd Dawkins and his wife (who died in 1863) are
buried. In front of the ALTAR is a slab
of Derbyshire marble inlaid with a floriated cross of brass. The space
within the altar rails is inlaid with different coloured marbles.
The three east WINDOWS
(above the altar) are filled with stained glass by Clayton &
Bell of London and are of the Crucifixion, Resurection and Ascension.
Other stained
glass windows, added at a later date, are to the memory of Lucy Emma
Thornton (1860), Caroline Margret Thornton (1881), Harry Thornton
(1885), Jerimiah Titmas (1888), Gertrude Emily Duberly (1898), Louisa M
Dawkins (1907 and 1909), Edward Henry Frederick Dawkins (1912), Arthur
Stephen Thornton (1913), Charles Stuart Thornton and Harry Godfrey
Thornton.
The handsome circular FONT
is situated near the South Door. The ORGAN
was built by Messrs Bevington and was the gift of Colonel William
Thornton. Above the organ is a screen that was fitted to commemorate
the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra bearing the
inscription 'ER 1902 AR'.
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