St Mary's is very much an estate church, and sits half a mile from the main house in the grounds of the Stratfield Saye estate. This has been the home to the Dukes of Wellington since the estate was purchased by the first Duke in 1817, with funds voted by a grateful Parliament following the Battle of Waterloo. All but the first and sixth Dukes are interred here.
The church was built to replace a mediaeval church in 1754-8 by the first Lord Rivers (the previous owner of Stratfield Saye). Built of red brick on a Greek-Cross plan in a very restrained classical style, it has a shallow, octagonal dome, and a handsome entrance portico or three arches beneath small round windows. The overall effect is strikingly modern, and resembles inter-war Underground station design (and that is a complement).
The interior is more conventionally chapel like, full of box pews painted a blueish-green, but otherwise very plain. The main points of interest are the memorials, the largest being that of Sir William Pitt (d. 1636) and wife, retained from the earlier church (a bold early classical piece with alabaster effigies). This is flanked on one side by a wall monument to the Pitt family dated 1680, and on the other by an impressive piece by John Flaxman for George, Lord Rivers (d. 1803) with two life-size standing figures in Roman attire.
The memorials to the Dukes of Wellington and other members of the Wellesley family are altogether more modest affairs, and a brass plaque in the north transept records those family members buried in the vault, including Catherine (d. 1831), wife of the first Duke. The alabaster stemmed font is Victorian, in the style of Wren.
The church has a monthly all age service on the first Sunday, except in January and August. Access is via a drive from the Copse, just south of the main estate entrance, through automatic gates.
St Mary the Virgin, Church Road, Stratfield Saye RG7 2DA
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