Offley

A very odd jumble of styles and ages which, to my eye, leads to an attractive building, St Mary Magdalene was firmly locked with no keyholder - this is plainly not always the case as chained away in the south porch was an open church sign. It being kept locked is a crime since the interior sounds even more interesting than the exterior, particularly the Georgian chancel.

ST MARY MAGDALENE. Nave and aisles are medieval, built of flint and stone, and now cemented. The W tower is early C19 brick with typical Gothick windows Of that date (e.g. quatrefoils); the chancel was remodelled c. 1750. It is the great surprise of the church, externally of Portland stone with square, pyramid-covered angle pinnacles, no S or N windows at all and only one lancet at the E end. Its interior will be viewed after that of the nave. This with its arcades of four bays must be - c. 1230; that is, the piers are octagonal, on shallow Attic bases, and have capitals of individual upright stiff leaves as well as the usual stiff-leaf formations. The arches are double-chamfered. In the S porch a contemporary window or small opening (Piscina?) is re-used. - FONT. A most interesting C14 piece, stone, polygonal, with tracery panels of which some are still entirely flowing, but others equally clearly Perp. So the date must be second half C14, and an unexpectedly long survival of Dec forms is proved. - BENCHES. C15, of simple, usual outlines, buttressed. - TILES. Two in the S aisle wall with C14 or C15 patterns and an inscription of 1777 that they were found in that year ‘which proves that King Offa was buried here’. The name Offley was supposed to come from Offa, and the tiles were regarded as Anglo-Saxon work. - PLATE. A fine set presented in 1730. - MONUMENTS. Brasses to John Sawmel d. 1529 with two wives and son and to an unknown man with three wives and nine sons, also early C16 (both N aisle). - Spectacular monument in the S aisle to Sir John Spencer d. 1699, big standing wall monument with reredos background. Semi-reclining figure in wig and contemporary clothes and at his feet a Roman matronly kneeling figure with one hand raised, talking to Sir John. Two putti with crown and palm branch above. A piece of the first order, variously attributed by Mrs Esdaile to E. Stanton and Nost. - Epitaph to William Chamber d. 1728, by William Palmer; no figures but good ornamentation.

The chancel of Offley church has to be treated separately. It was rebuilt or remodelled by Sir Thomas Salusbury c. 1750. It has a broad stuccoed chancel arch, a roof altered and provided with a skylight later, and an apse with a draped baldacchino and hanging-down drapes round the E window. On the S wall Sir Thomas Salusbury d. 1773 and his wife, uncle and aunt of Mrs Thrale, have their own monument, very pretentious and self-confident, with the over-life-size standing figure of Sir Thomas and Lady S. Tradition has it that theirs was a romantic story of a troth long kept. They were parted but in the end united. In the background in relief a rather vulgarly detailed tree with big drapes hanging off it. Grey background and a grey sarcophagus. The monument was made by Nollekens in 1777, who also did the busts of Samuel Burroughs (father-in—law of a Salusbury) d. 1761 and of Mrs Maude (friend of Dame Sarah Salusbury) d. 1796 in the chancel arch, and another (unsigned) bust on the S wall (William Offley d. 1789). - Other monuments in the chancel chronologically: Sir Henry Penrice d. 1752, and his son, excellent allegorical figure against a pink obelisk with a medallion with the profiles of father and son. Signed by Sir Robert Taylor (‘invent et sculpr”) on the drapery. - Sir T. R. Salusbury d. 1835, bust by T. Smith. - Two memorials by Sanders, 1847 and 1855.

Offley. It may be that the village owes its name to Offa, King of Mercia. Matthew Paris says he died in his palace here, but tradition probably goes too far when it tells us that his bones were laid in the stone coffin now lying in the church. Here are thatched cottages and an inn 300 years old, and more than twice that age is the church among the trees of Ofliey Place, where Dr Johnson’s Mrs Thrale stayed as a child with her uncle, Sir Thomas Salusbury. Sir Thomas rebuilt the chancel of the church c. 1750, where his huge marble monument by Nollekens matches the black sarcophagus (with a statue of Truth) of another 18th-century judge, Sir Henry Penrice. The two monuments are too heavy for the old church, as the old roof was, for its weight tilted the 13th century pillars with their beautiful capitals. The nave and both the aisles are 13th century, with later windows and doorways, the north aisle retaining fragments of 14th-century glass, and a record of the consecration of its altar a year or two after the Battle of Agincourt. The judge’s chancel, though square outside, is apsed inside. The tower was made new last century.

There are 16th-century brass portraits of John Samwell, with his two wives and a son, and one of a nameless man with three wives and nine sons. There are some good 15th-century benches, and a grand tomb of 1699 on which Sir John Spencer reclines stiffly in stone in Roman dress, a lady kneeling at his feet. But the treasure of the church is the font, one of the most beautiful in Hertfordshire. Within rose-tipped arches round the bowl a 14th-century mason carved the favourite patterns of window tracery of his day, and a Jacobean craftsman gave the font its cover.

Flickr.