The Church of All Saints (The Cathedral in the Fields), Church End, Hillesden
Image courtesy of Andrewrabbott [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
(Source: Britain Express)
All Saints’ Church, Hillesden is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Hillesden, Buckinghamshire. It is a superb Perpendicular Gothic church in a quiet countryside location. It is hard to imagine a more peaceful setting than that enjoyed by All Saints church in Hillesden. It is as if the church has wandered off from its siblings during a game of hide and seek, gotten lost, and never found its way back.
The most striking exterior feature is a stair turret above the vestry, surmounted with a pinnacled, openwork crown supported by flying buttresses.
Outside the north porch is a medieval preaching cross sadly defaced. The church is entered through the 15th century embattled north porch. Pause while inside the porch and look up; you will see that the ceiling of the porch is beautifully vaulted in a typical 15th-century pattern of radiating geometric lines.
The north door is thought to have come from Denton House (now vanished) which stood just to the east of the church. The upper half of the door has the faint outlines of a moon, star, and two suns. Perhaps more interesting are the random pock-marks that riddle the door. These are musket holes, made when Hillesden was besieged by Parliamentary troops during the Civil War.
Most of the stained glass of Hillesden church was destroyed by Cromwell's men, with the exception of the east window of the south transept, which retains 16th-century glass depicting scenes from the lie of St Nicholas. The rood screen is worth noting. It is 15th century, restored by George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century.
The chancel contains a lovely frieze of angels at the junction of wall and ceiling, each holding a musical instrument. This is very similar to a frieze in the Beauchamp Chapel at Warwick Castle. In the Lady Chapel, located at the east end of the north aisle, are monuments to the Denton family.
The earliest is an alabaster monument to Thomas Denton (d 1560) and his wife. This is in the shape of a tomb chest with recumbent effigies. Then there is a memorial to Alexander Denton (d 1576) and his wife (d 1574). On the south wall of the chapel is a much later monument to Sir Alexander and Lady Denton (d 1743).
And finally, beside the exterior facet of the south door is an unusual recessed sundial, set into the wall of the porch.
THE HILLESDEN MIRACLE:
On the wall of the chancel, to the right of the east window, is a discolouration, or shadow. Legend says that this shadow does not altar or fade, and cannot be cleaned or painted over. The shape - with some imagination and a good dose of faith - is said to represent the Virgin Mary. Local tales say that in the medieval period monks came to Hillesden to view this 'miracle'.
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Now onto the cache which is not located at the published coordinates. To find it you will first need to do some research online followed by some information gathering at the church.
Online Research:
Thomas Courte was incumbent 158A
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Hillesden was first granted to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford in 1542, and subsequently to the new foundation created by King Henry VIII in 154B.
The pipe organ dates from 1C70 and was built by George Osmund.
At the Church:
Find the lightning conductor near the bat box. It was installed by G&S Steeplejacks Ltd Nr Bath. On the right hand side of the horizontal metal plate there are two digits: 9D
Now find the sundial. Converting letters to numbers in the usual way (where A=1 and B=2 etc, dropping any leading digits), the third letter of the first name is E.
Finally, Richard Cotton - Born August 13th 19F3
The cache can be found a short walk away (which may be muddy in winter) at:
N51° 57.A(B/2)C W001° 00.DEF
The Groundspeak solution checker is given on the cache page but this won't show up on the app so please use the desktop site to access it. Although it shouldn't cause you any problems, there is some barbed wire near GZ so please be careful.
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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.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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