st peter's and st paul's
shiplake church history
St. Peter and St. Paul’s occupies high ground with views over the Thames Valley. The south aisle of the building, now the Lady Chapel, formed the original church with the Tower separate. Both date from c.1140. The central nave was added in the following century. There are many points of special interest.
The Lady Chapel: The main entry to the church is through this chapel, it being the original church. The altar is a memorial to the men of Shiplake who lost their lives in the First World War. To the right of the altar is the 12th century piscina. Near the entrance door is a small brass plaque, once in the floor below, which dates from c.1540. The 19th century font is a copy of a Norman font at Iffley, Oxford.
The Nave: Only one stone pillar remains, the others being made from chalk, probably dug from the quarry below the church. The carvings on the stone pillar date from the 13th century. The pulpit is believed to be of Jacobean origin and from All Saints, Dorchester (Dorset) having been given in memory of the second Baron Phillimore.
The Sanctuary: The reredos, in alabaster, dates from the 1869/70 restoration of the church. A canopied chair, used by the Bishop, is considered to date from the 15th century and is believed to have belonged to an abbess in Northern France.
The Windows: Shiplake’s mediaeval glass is also of French origin and came from the ruined Abbey of St. Bertin in St. Omer, having been rescued from the Abbey during the French Revolution and buried for safe keeping. The glass was later disinterred and some purchased by the Rev. John Boteler of Henley for his friend the Rev. Arthur Howman, the then Vicar of Shiplake. More was purchased in 1830 and gradually the pieces were leaded together and installed in the church. The mediaeval glass is seen in the east window above the high altar, in the south east window of the chancel, and in the east and west windows of the Lady Chapel.
The Church Plate includes an Elizabethan chalice and Communion plate from the late 16th century.
The Bells: The earliest mention of Shiplake’s bells is in an inventory dating from the reign of Edward VI (1547-53) when there was a ring of three bells, and by the time of the marriage of Tennyson there in 1850 they numbered five, which increased to a ring of eight bells in 1902 in commemoration of Queen Victoria’s long reign.
A newly cast ring of 8 bells was installed in early 2010. The new bells, cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, are in an iron frame, just over 1m lower in the tower, and in the key of G#. The tenor weighs 9cwt 15lbs, Six of the old bells were transferred to rings in five other churches
Carved high above the ladder inside the tower is a monk's head. This, together with the small external door high up on the east side of the tower, probably dates from the days when priests supplied by Missenden Abbey, used the tower for a lodging.
The church has a good sized Vestry which is currently used by the Sunday Club children during the service and for coffee after services. There is also a priest’s vestry.
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