Churches of the British Isles

All Saints Church, West Haddon, is on the northern side of the High Street, about thirty metres east of the West End junction. Pevsner quotes a date of construction of around 1120, but only the Norman font which stands in the south aisle remains of that original structure - square and sitting on a modern plinth with each side having a biblical scene. The rest of the church building was erected (or rebuilt) between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.

The church saw further work in the 1600s and 1800s, and now consists of an aisled nave, north and south aisles, chancel, and three-stage west tower. The entire structure uses the same materials - regular and squared coursed lias and limestone with ashlar dressings and a lead roof. A Perpendicular nave roof retains some of its original timbers, as do the aisle roofs, and has angel corbels. The south aisle's east window is by no less a figure than Augustus Pugin.

The Parish Church of St Lawrence Long Buckby sits at the north-west corner of Church Street and Nuns Lane, just thirty metres or so west of The Banks. There is no reference to a church in the Domesday entry for Long Buckby. Much of the present building's structure is indeed medieval but with extensive rebuilding in 1862 by George Gilbert Scott, and again in 1883-1887 by William Bassett-Smith on the chancel, nave, north and south aisles, south porch and west tower.

Long Buckby & Brington Baptist Church stands on the southern side of Market Place and the market car park. Baptists initially travelled to Flore for services but, in 1743, Mr John Muddiman began preaching here, beginning a tradition which lasted until a church was formed in 1759, possibly in a converted existing building. With a series of priestly problems, that church was dissolved in 1802 and reformed in 1804. The present church building was constructed in 1846.

Long Buckby United Reformed Church is on the south side of Brington Road, about ninety metres south of the Market Place junction and with a graveyard behind it. It began as Long Buckby Congregational Church, traditionally in 1707 although that cannot be confirmed. Various other local meetings probably contributed to those beginnings. The present meeting house was built in 1771, following some years of worship in a small building in the nearby paddock.

Three photos on this page originally published on Lynne's 'Echoes of the Past' blog and reproduced here with permission, two kindly contributed by Ian Rob / 'Saxon Sky', and one photo copyright © Mike Faherty, and reused under a cc licence. Additional information from Lynne's 'Echoes of the Past' blog.