MONUMENTS AND DECORATION
Whilst interesting monuments were lost with the old
Church, some have survived, and together with more
modern examples, form a fascinating study. Some are
described below, together with other items of interest:
SOUTH AISLE
On the South wall near the Lady Chapel is a monument
to Sir William Willoughby, d. 1597. He is shown in
gilded armour with his wife, three sons, and three
daughters, all in black and wearing ruffs. The colours
were added after the death of the children. Sir William
was Sheriff of Buckingham and a great benefactor to
the poor of Marlow. The helmet over the Willoughby
memorial is also Elizabethan.
LADY CHAPEL
The Lady Chapel holds a large number of memorials
to several local families, including those of Wethered,
Fearnley-Wittingstall, Hawarth and others. Some memorials
are of stone, some carved into the oak panelling,
and a beautifully simple one in the Chapel window
commemorates Francis John Wethered, d. 1942.
SANCTUARY
Two bishops from this Church are remembered: Robert
Milman, Bishop of Calcutta, d. 1876, by the East window,
and Charles Smythies, Bishop of Zanzibar, d. 1894,
by the oak panelling and chairs in the Sanctuary.
Two South windows are to the memory of members of
the Wethered family and were added in 1873 and 1876.
NORTH AISLE AND ORGAN
The Organ was built by "Father" Willis in
1876 and renovated in 1996 at a cost of £140
000 by Manders. All the original pipework is retained
and little added or modified, so that the tonal scheme
has been preserved in all its splendour.
Above the War Memorial, the Peace window shows Our
Lord and an adoring Angel attended by a soldier, a
sailor and an airman. The War Memorial holds the names
of those who fell in the 1914-18 War. Alongside is
a Memorial to those who fell in the 1939-1945 War,
unveiled in October 1999.
NAVE
At the West end of the Nave is a list of Rectors and
Vicars of Marlow dating from William de Neketon who
was instituted in 1204. It is interesting to note
that the advowson (the right to grant the benefice)
was granted by the Lord of the Manor, one Robert Fitz
Hamon, sometime before 1107 to Tewksbury Abbey, who
held it until 1247 apart from a brief seizure by King
John in 1203. It then rested with the Earl of Gloucester,
as Lords of the Manor, until 1494 when it was returned
to the Abbey. In 1541 it was granted to Gloucester
Cathedral and in 1855 transferred to the Bishop of
Oxford.
Note also the Washington monument in the North West
corner of the Church. This commemorates the great,
great aunt of George Washington, the first President
of the U.S.A., and her husband William Horsepool.
The Arms of Washington - 3 "stars" and 2
"stripes" (heraldic bars) have sometimes
been described as the origin of the "Stars and
Stripes" flag of the United States.
HATCHMENTS
The Hatchments (a corruption of "Achievements")
are 13 in number, the oldest of which is that of Sir
William Clayton, 1st Baronet (d. 1744), which is the
second from the West wall on the North side. There
are 3 other Clayton hatchments on this wall and 2
of the Ellison family. On the South wall are hatchments
of Sir James Nicoll Morris (d. 1830), Admiral of the
Red under Queen Victoria, and Lady Morris. The hatchments
of Thomas and Sarah Wethered are above the Lady Chapel
altar.
PORCH
In the porch there is a monument to Sir Miles Hobart
who died as a result of a coach accident in 1632,
having been a Member of Parliament for Marlow in the
reign of Charles I. He took a leading part in the
protest of Parliament against the King's illegal impositions.
The monument vividly communicates the manner of his
death and was erected on the order of Parliament,
being paid for by public subscription. It was probably
the first monument in England to be erected in this
way.
EXTERIOR
The Churchyard has some interesting and ancient gravestones.
The oldest have long since lost any inscriptions and
lie to the North East of the Church. Also on the North
side lies John Richardson, born in the Old Workhouse,
in Mundy Dean Lane, and famous as a showman. He was
laid here in 1836 with a partly albino child from
the Caribbean whom he had shown about the country
as the Spotted Boy. Sadly the climate proved too much
for the child who died at the age of four in 1813.
Two headstones back to back mark the tomb, and the
child's portrait hangs on the West wall of the North
Aisle.
