St Mary’s Church is Norman in origin and consists of a chancel, nave, western tower and south aisle. It contains nine stone effigies which represent five generations of the de la Beche family. The large size of the family members has led to them being known as the ‘Aldworth Giants’. The family lived at the now defunct La Beche Castle in the parish and held many high offices at Court. Unfortunately many of the effigies were vandalised by Cromwell's men during the Civil War in the 17th century. Many of the knights are missing the lower part of their legs, noses and arms, no doubt the easiest parts to break off. They were probably seen as a symbol of royalty by the parliamentarians, although many churches were ransacked in the same period.
After you have admired the tree, you will need to go into the church to see the effigies for which the church is known. What year was Sir Robert knighted? ABCD What year was Sir John sent to the tower? EFGH And when was he pardoned? JKLM
The cache location is at N 51° (A+B) (G-H). (C-A) (K-F) (D+E) W 001° J (E+J) . K (L+M) D
You can make this a circular walk by following it with In the Presence of Giants 1 and 2.
This cache was formally Aldworth Giants, but is now one of the popular Church Micro series.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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