All Saints |
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Exterior from the south-east, showing the tower construction;
square at the base
but octagonal at belfry
level.
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"Marsh Baldon, Toot Baldon, Baldon on the Green,
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Little Baldon, Big Baldon, Baldon-in-between" |
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This old rhyme is a reminder
that there are a number of
settlements in the area known as the
Baldons.
Probably Toot Baldon was the earliest settlement, dating back to Anglo-Saxon
times, although the area was inhabited by the Saxons before them. Toot
means a lookout, and Baldon is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name
meaning Bealda's Hill.
The name became
Baldedone in the Domesday Book; all the Baldons shared a common field
system, with strip farming and a three-yearly rotation of crops.
Earliest references to
ecclesiastical history suggest that there were Anglo-Saxon chapels at both Toot
and Marsh Baldon. The first clear reference to a church in the Baldons is a
Papal Bull of 1163, and it seems likely that the reference is to Baldon St
Lawrence, as its position on a commanding hill is more central. Furthermore,
the Baldon "feast" for both villages was close to St Lawrence's day. Subsequent
documentation does not mention Toot Baldon church by name, just "Baldon
Church", whilst St Peter's is always described as Marsh Baldon Church.
The present St Peter's Church
was probably a replacement of an old Anglo-Saxon chapel, for the sun-dial in a
frame of cable moulding over the south door is of that earlier period.
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The sundial over the south door, which is probably
Anglo-Saxon.
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The present church at Marsh Baldon
is mainly fourteenth and/or early fifteenth century, especially the nave and
the chancel. The tower, which is of unusual design, is possibly a little
earlier. The base of the tower is square, but changes to an octagon at belfry
level, and is thought it was designed in this way to support a steeple which
was never built.
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The pulpit is Jacobean, and has a tester, or wooden canopy.
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A
corner of the Chancel, showing the monument to John and Susanna Pollard of
Baldon, and wife of John Cawley, Archdeacon of Lincoln. It has barley sugar
twisted columns and figures of cherubs. |
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St Lawrence
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Because the two churches have in many
respects been considered as part of the same parish, it seems correct to
include Toot Baldon on this page also.
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The mediaeval lych-gate at the entrance to Toot Baldon church.
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Photographs © 2001
Edwin Macadam
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