A simple traditional cache just a short walk away from this significant and old church.

In 1069 the parish church was granted, with the manor, to the Abbey of Holy Trinity, Rouen. 

The church of ST. MARY stands to the north of the green at the west end of Harmondsworth village and consists of chancel, nave, north and south aisles, north chapel, south-west tower, south porch, and north vestry.

The exterior is mainly of flint rubble with stone dressings but the upper stages of the tower are of red brick. The oldest work in the church is in the south aisle which has a re-set south doorway of the mid 12th century, one of the two finest in Middlesex.  It consists of a semi-circular arch of three orders, the inner order decorated with carved rosettes and similar designs, the middle with beak-heads, and the outer with chevron ornament; the middle order rests on enriched shafts with scalloped capitals, much worn.

The south aisle itself, together with the piece of the south arcade, are probably of the later 12th century, although the arcade arches are pointed and may thus represent an alteration of after 1200. It has been suggested that there is also 12th-century work in the north wall of the present tower which perhaps formed part of the Norman nave. 

The church was largely remodelled in the early 13th century when the nave and north aisle were built or rebuilt and the north arcade constructed. The plain octagonal font of Purbeck marble dates from c. 1200. The north chapel is apparently a 14th-century addition and the present chancel, incorporating sedilia and a piscina in its south wall, is largely of the 15th century. The north side of the chancel and the north chapel were altered circa 1500 when the arcade between them was given fourcentred arches and extended into the east bay of the nave; the hammer-beam roof of the chapel and its piscina are of this date. The south-west tower is also of the late 15th or early 16th century, much restored.  Its upper stages are of brick and it is surmounted by a domed cupola and an embattled parapet with angle pinnacles. The north vestry and timber south porch are 19th-century additions.

 The church was extensively restored in 1862-3. The walls, arcades, and roofs, which had been plastered, were stripped and the 15th-century nave roof of crown-post construction was revealed.  The commandment boards and the royal arms were removed,  but the early 16th-century oak pews, described as 'irregular and uncomfortable',  were retained and pine pews of similar design were added. The exterior, having been rough-cast over the stone and brick, was also stripped in 1862-3.

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Happy Hunting

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Congratulations to smithcox on FTF

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