Sharnbrook Church Repairs and Alterations
Most of the structural history of the church can be found in detail in Bedfordshire Historical Record Society Volume number 79 of 2000 Bedfordshire Churches in the Nineteenth Century: Part III: Parishes S to Y put together by former County Archivist Chris Pickford from numerous sources some held by BedfordshireArchives and some held elsewhere or published.
One of the bells was cast between 1611 and 1617 by Newcombe of Leicester and the ring was remodelled in 1683 when three of the five bells were recast and a new frame was installed. The tenor bell was recast in 1699. The pulpit and reading desk were in use until 1858 and were dated 1636. In 1659 seats in the church were exchanged between the Cobbe and Toller families. The chancel windows were repaired in 1687/8. A 17th century church clock and the rails to the communion table are described in an inventory made in c.1708. The roof of the nave was apparently renewed in the 17th century. There was a fire in the west end of the south aisle in the 18th century.
In 1768 Richard Antonie of Colworth obtained a faculty for a pew in the north east of the church. The faculty papers also give information on other pews in the church. Further pews were erected in 1818 and 1821, one in the south aisle for John Lee of Colworth and another in the north aisle for his servants. A new gallery was opened in 1824. The 1822 terrier indicates that at this date the Royal Arms were hung near the pulpit and the commandments were displayed over the north door.
In 1827 Boissier noted that the roof of the chancel was in poor condition. In 1844 the churchwardens reported that new pews were needed. ‘W.A.’ (John Martin, who wrote a series of articles on Bedfordshire churches) wrote an article on the church in the Northampton Mercury of 30th September 1854 and reported that it had been recently repaired and improved but that it would be further improved by removing the unsightly pews in the nave. He also disapproved of "A seat, said to be the property of the chief owner of the land, is fitted up in true parlour style; a suite of chairs such as would adorn an opera box, or a ladies boudoir. Wretched taste this." In May 1854 a local benefactor offered to pay for the reinstatement of the pinnacles on the tower if the parish met its share of the cost but this proposal does not seem to have been taken up. The stained glass in the east window also dates from about 1855.
The body of the church was restored between 1855 and 1858 under Thomas Jobson Jackson. The roof was restored in 1856-7 and then in 1858 the church was re-seated. The work also involved a new pulpit and desk, moving the font and the removal of the old singing gallery. After the work had been completed further improvements were made; these included a new dial for the clock in 1861, new south doors on the south and repairs to the north doors in 1866, the erection of the Maginac monument (designed by William Burges) in the Tofte chapel in 1870, the removal of pews in the chancel in 1871, and a new stained glass window in the south chancel wall in 1873. Despite this work, in 1874 Archdeacon Bathurst noted "The chancel north wall and roof bad".
During the incumbency of the Rev. H. B. Wilkinson (1877-1908) various improvements were carried out. By 1876 there was an organ and in 1882 a new organ (apparently a second one) was obtained on loan from Messrs. Strolmeyer. Shortly after Wilkinson's arrival the tower and spire were restored in 1881-2 under W. Talbot Brown of Wellingborough. In 1882 the five old bells were re-hung in a new oak frame and a sixth was added in 1887.
The smooth running of the parish was disturbed by a bitter dispute between the Vicar and the lay Rector, Leonard G. Stileman-Gibbard, who stopped attending church in Sharnbrook because he "disapproved of the mode in which services were conducted". In 1894 Stileman-Gibbard removed the Vicar's reading desk from the chancel. In court Wilkinson lost the case when it was decided, in 1896, that the Vicar had no rights over the seating in the chancel. The clergy desk was placed in the nave, where it remains, and the "seats in the chancel were furnished with brass rods and padlocks at the ends by Mr Stileman-Gibbard as a token of his rights over them." As a result of the trouble parts of the church fell into disrepair. In 1888 the Archdeacon noted that the "north aisle lets in water" and that an improvement was needed in "water draining for the church". In 1895 the parish applied for a faculty for alterations to the chancel seating, for work on the organ and for a new heating system. This was opposed by Stileman-Gibbard, who also took legal action after a new heating system had been installed without a faculty in 1899. The matter was resolved through the issuing of a confirmatory faculty.
Things did gradually improve; the roofs of the north and south porches were renewed in 1897 and 1899 respectively, and in 1902-3 Stileman-Gibbard was persuaded to repair the chancel roof. A new wrought iron and copper lectern was presented in 1900 and in 1901 the Watson family of Colworth paid for the new reredos, altar rail and paving in the sanctury. These were executed by Powell of Whitefriars. In 1907 the position of the organ was moved slightly and a new organ case was provided by J. Trustam, the Bedford organ builder. When the Tofte chapel was restored in 1908 Alexander Alston provided a new carved wooden screen in the arch connecting with the chancel. In 1910 new plate was provided, a new pulpit was obtained from Jones and Willis, and a new font cover was given in memory of Miss Edith Martineau (died 1909). Also in 1910 a new lych gate was errected at the south-west corner of the churchyard. It was designed by Gotch & Saunders of Kettering who were also responsible for the new vicarage built in the same year.
Later work includes the new clock and the restoration of the bells in 1924, the woooden screen and organ loft in the tower of c.1933, the replacement of the pinnacles on the tower in 1934, and the stained glass windows of 1939 in the porch. Lightning damage meant that the spire had to be repaired in 1951, the roof of the Tofte chapel was renewed in 1954 and extensive work on the main roof was carried out in 1953-5 and 1969-71. In 1963 the 18th century wrought iron gates from Sharnbrook House were re-erected at the edge of the churchyard by St Peter's Close.