An early C14 church with the addition of a clerestory in C15. The tower rebuilt in the C18.

At the beginning of the C11 Badby and the neighbouring village of Newnham belonged to Evesham Abbey. After the dissolution of Evesham Abbey in 1539, the manor that comprised Badby and Newnham was given to Edmund Knightley of Fawsley.

The eastern window in north aisle retains glass c1500 containing the Arms of Evesham Abbey, the Royal House of Tudor, and a monogram of Thomas Newbold Abbot of Evesham from 1491-1514.

A memorial window to those that died in the 1914-18 war features St. George and St. Michael. The pedestal of the font is C15 whilst the bowl is late Victorian. A mid C20 window memorial window depicting King david and Cecilia is dedicated to William Warner.

The chancel east window contains Victorian stained glass set into a C14 frame. The south aisle east window, by Ward & Hughes, is dated 1881 and was installed during the Victorian restoration.

Tags: stained glass, tower

St. Nicholas parish church has a Decorated style (C14) west tower, the remainder of the church is in the Perpendicular style of the mid C15. The chancel was rebuilt in the early C19 and is of brick rendered in cement to imitate limestone ashlar blocks.

The red sandstone font is from the early C13, cauldron shaped with carvings of two green men and foilage.

The tower arch has inner half-round shafts and half-octagon capitals. The electric clock in the tower was installed in 1947 as a memorial to those that died in the second world war. The south east aisle window was installed in 1919 by the village at a cost of £100. It is a first world war memorial and “Thanksgiving for Victory”, dedicated to the memory of Howard Drinkwater and William Hakesley.

The three light Arts and Crafts east window, by Caroline Townshend, contains an image of St. Nicholas, the central light is a “Salvator Mundi”. The other light has an image of Mary Magdalene, the village previously being owned by Magdalen College Oxford.

The north aisle has two memorials the first is to to George Watson (d1674). The inscription reads:

In the coast of Guiney George Watson son of Thomas Watson of Willoughby (and one of his Majesstes Captains at sea) departed this life July ye 15 anno D. 1674 aetatis suae 45 and gave to ye poor of Willoughby ye profit of £50 for ever to be distributed as by a decree in Chancery is sett forth.

Death hath contrould a Captain bold Yet loss of life is gain Especially when charity For ever doth remaine.

The Willoughby charity was founded in 1437 by Margaret Hayward by a grant of land worth £20. In addition the charity was endowed by William Flavell (1496) and John Brooke (1536). This bequests were added to by George Watson (1647) and Bridget Freemantle (1773). By 1812 the income from the charity was £515 a year.

The second memorial is to Thomas Clerke (d1687), and his wife(d1669). Behind the organ is a table tomb dedicated to another Thomas Clerke (d1663). The tomb itself is mostly obscured by the organ works.

Tags: arts and crafts, Caroline Townshend, font, nicholas, stained glass, tower, war memorial

The parish church of St. Andrew stands next to the Bede House which in 1602 housed 12 bedesmen (those employed to pray for the soul of their benefactor) and two women, all free of lunacy, leprosy or the French pox. The house itself is C15 and a former Palace of the Bishops of Lincoln.

St. Andrew is C14 and was rebuilt in C15 . Stylisticly it is Perpendicular with a Decorated tower.

Inside the west door there are two medieval stone coffin covers. The curch also has some rare acoustic jar made of clay that are inserted high up in the wall of the chancel.

The floor of the chancel has two brass monuments. The earliest is a 2ft 7in memorial to Helyn Hardy (d1486). She wears a veiled head-dress, mitten sleeves, belt and cordon, which was the habit of a widow who has taken vows of chastity.

Next to it is a memorial with two 3ft figures dedicated to Edward Watson (d1520) and his wife. Edward Watson was Surveyor-General to the Bishops of Lincoln, and his descendants became owners of Rockingham Castle.

Following the Reformations churches were permitted to place the altar at the east end of the church or, as the puritans preferred, in the centre of the chancel or nave.

In 1633 Archbishop Laud decreed that the altar should be at the east end and railed off from the chancel.

The altar rails at St Andrew are dated 1635 and surround the altar on all four sides – a compromise between the two factions.

The south wall of the chancel has a three seat sedilia and piscina. The C15 wooden chancel screen has painted flowers and traces of painted saints on lower panels.

The east window is dated 1870 and is a memorial to John and Elizabeth Clarke. The central four panels have representations of the Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. The lower panels are from the old testament.

The square font is made from the local ironstone and sits on a modern base. The font covering is Jacobean and early C17.

Tags: brass, rood screen, stained glass, tower

The Domesday book records that there was a small Saxon church occupying this site where the current nave is. At that time the land was owned by the saxon Lord Harold of Sudeley who mainly owned land in Gloucestershire.

The present church is built of Hornton stone and dates from the early C12 through to C13, the oldest parts being the Norman doorways in the South and North. In the C12 the Sudeley family founded the Augustinian monastery at Arbury donating some of the land at Burton Dassett to it.

Cut into the hillside the chancel slopes upwards ten feet above the nave. The altar which is almost level with the capitals of the arcade arches.

For many years the plain cylindrical bowl of the font was abandoned in the churchyard. Now replaced inside the church it is thought to be C15 but its date is uncertain. The base and stem are modern.

The carved capitals of the north arcade pillars are no later than the late C13 and include hounds, rabbits, dragons, and other mythical creatures.

Much of the original medieval plaster of ‘daub’ mixed with lime, and chopped straw and cowhair survives. It was painted with bright murals which after 100s of years of being whitewashed over, and covered with ornamented texts they are starting to reappear. The medieval wall painting above the chancel arch depicts two censing angels the Virgin and St. John which are C14. These are painted over an earlier C13 "Doom" (Last Judgment).

The window in the north transept has images of the Three Magi.

Tags: carving, font, fresco, norman, tower