St Mary's Church, Hardmead

The west tower of the church dates from the 13th century, the chancel from slightly later, and the clerestory and the top stage of the tower were added in the 15th century. It formerly served a medieval village, but this has disappeared. After the church became redundant it was proposed to convert it into a house, but it was acquired by the charity the Friends of Friendless Churches and is now managed by the Friends of Hardmead. Services are very occasionally held in the church as part of the local SCAN Parish (Sherington with Chicheley, North Crawley, Astwood and Hardmead).

St Mary's is constructed in stone. The nave and aisles have flat lead roofs while the chancel roof is tiled. Its plan consists of a two-bay nave with north and south aisles and a clerestory, a chancel, a south porch, and a west tower. The tower is without buttresses, and has traceried bell openings. At the summit is a battlemented parapet. The parapets of the nave are also battlemented, while those of the aisles are plain. The east window and the two windows in the walls of the chancel contain Decorated tracery. There is a ring of three bells. The oldest bell was cast in about 1399 by Robert Chamberlain, the next was made about 1499 by an unknown caster, and the third bell was cast about…