Church of St Mary, Kings Walden, Hertfordshire

The parish church of ST. MARY, lying to the west of King's Waldenbury, is faced with flint; the dressings are of stone. The chancel and north vestry are tiled, and the rest of the church is roofed with lead. The nave and tower have embattled parapets. The church consists of a chancel, nave and aisles, south porch, north vestry and west tower.

The original church, dating from the late 11th or early 12th century, probably consisted of a nave and chancel only, now represented by the present walls of the nave, in which the nave arcades were inserted and the aisles added about 1190. The chancel as it now stands probably preserves the plan of that which was built in the 13th century, but has been very much altered. About 1380 the west tower was added, and in the 15th century the clerestory was made and the aisles were partially or wholly rebuilt. The north vestry, of brick, was built early in the 17th century, and the south porch is of the 19th century, when the walls of the whole church were refaced externally and the chancel and aisles were partly rebuilt.

All the windows in the chancel have been renewed. There are a few 15th-century stones in the east window and in the west window of the south wall. Both these windows are of three lights with tracery. There are possibly also a few original stones in the east window of the south wall, which is a lancet. In the chancel is a double piscina of the 13th century. The screen is 15th-century work, with two two-light upper panels with tracery on each side of the central opening. It has a cornice and 'Tudor-flower' cresting. The whole screen is much patched and thickly painted.

The chancel arch is of the early 14th century, and has two chamfered orders and half-octagonal responds, moulded capitals and half-octagonal jambs. The nave arcades are of three bays, of late 12th-century date, with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders. The columns are circular and have capitals of scalloped, trefoil and water-leaf designs. The clerestory has three three-light windows with low two-centred heads on either side, of which the tracery is restored. At the level of the responds of the chancel arch the door to the former rood-loft opens in the east end of the north wall, and is now partly blocked. Two large carved corbels which support the eastern truss of the roof are of the 15th century.

The north aisle has three windows—one at each end and one in the north wall. The last is of three lights and has a four-centred head. The west window is a single trefoiled light. Almost the whole of the exterior stonework and the windows themselves have been renewed. The north door, to the west of the north window, is of the 14th century much restored.

The difference between the height of the bases of the north and south arcades, and the position of the steps from the doorway, indicate that the floor of this aisle has been lowered.

On the east wall, to the north of the east window, is an image bracket, much defaced. On the north wall, at the north-east, is a piscina with a square head. A few 15th-century timbers remain in the roof.

The south aisle extends eastwards beyond the line of the chancel arch and formerly communicated with the chancel by a doorway at the north, which is now blocked. The east window and the south-east window are of three lights, of the 15th century, much restored, and the south-west window, of the same date, and also much restored, has two lights. The south door is also of the 15th century, and has a four-centred arch in a square head with tracery in the spandrels. It is of two moulded orders. At the east end of the aisle, in the north spur wall, is a locker, with a rebate for a door. There is also a late 14th-century piscina, with a cinquefoiled head, in the south wall at the east end. The roof of the aisle is of the 15th century.

The north vestry, of early 17th-century date, has Gothic wooden window frames. It contains a 17th-century oak chest.

The west tower is of three stages, with an embattled parapet and a projecting stair-turret at the south-east corner. It has buttresses, very badly weathered, at the angles, in pairs at the north-west and south-west, and single at the north-east, at the junction with the nave. The tower arch is of the end of the 14th century, and has two chamfered orders. It is two-centred and the jambs are shafted. In the west doorway is an old door. The west window and the four bell-chamber windows are all of two lights, of the late 14th century, with tracery and pointed heads, and all are repaired.

The monuments in the chancel are: a brass, consisting of an inscription only, is to Sybil wife of Robert Barber, 1614, and a mural monument in alabaster, dated 1613, to Timothy Sheppard. In the north aisle are two mural tablets, one to Roland Hale, 1688, and one to Richard Hale, 1689.

The bells are six in number, and of these three—the first, fourth and fifth—by an unknown founder are dated 1627. The second is dated 1629. The third and sixth are by John Warner & Sons.