ST. SAVIOURS
MORTIMER WEST END

The Parish Church of Mortimer West End, St. Saviour's Church — more properly the Church of the Holy Saviour — was erected in 1856, given and endowed (with the site on which it stands) by the late Mr. Richard Benyon of Englefield House. It was at first part of Stratfield Mortimer but became a separate ecclesiastical parish on 31st March 1870. The church is in the Diocese of Oxford although Mortimer West End is in Hampshire.

The Register dates from 1860. The church was administered by the clergy of Stratfield Mortimer until 1870 when Rev. A. L. White became the first Vicar.

The building of the church commenced in 1885 and was completed in the autumn of the following year. It is built of flint and stone in Gothic style and can seat 80 persons. Originally there was a small vestry on the north side of the chancel. The doorway, with porch, is on the north side of the building and the west gable carries a stone bell-cote.

The church was opened on Sunday, November 9th, 1856 by the Bishop of Oxford, but was not consecrated until Sunday, May 2nd, 1869. The reason for the delay of 13 years between the completion of the building and full consecration of the church may be partly due to the fact that the Patronage of the Living was granted to Richard Benyon and his heirs on September 7th, 1868.

The original deeds of the church land have been lost or mislaid but it is known that it formed part of 19 acres bought by Edwin and James Gosling in or about 1849.

At Christmas time in 1901 Mrs. Herbert Benyon gave to the church the present carved oak Altar. About the same time a Credence Table and Cruets and Choir Stalls were presented.

In January, 1902 two new vestries were built at the west end of the church — one for the Vicar and one for the Choir, at that time composed of four men and eight boys now provided with cassocks and surplices. The original vestry was converted to an organ chamber.

At first a barrel organ was used to accompany the singing but in 1869 this was
replaced by a one-manual organ with stops. This was replaced in 1902 by the present organ, and the Font was placed by a stone step in the centre of the west end of the church. At the same time the oak door was moved to the outer side of the porch and the leather covered swing doors were hung in its place.

The graceful carved oak screen, surmounted by a dominant cross, was erected across the Chancel steps in 1903 to commemorate the Coronation of King Edward VII, and on November 9th, three years later, the Jubilee of the church, the Bishop of Oxford dedicated another oak pulpit carved to follow the design on the Altar. In 1904 the oak eagle Lectern and a Litany Desk were placed in the church.

In September, 1938 electric light was installed and an electric blower for the organ.  The windows have changed in content during the century. Given by the first Vicar, the East window was fitted with a stained glass reproduction of part of Albrecht Durer's 'Crucifixion'. On November 1st, 1947 two stained glass windows, one on the north and one on the south side of the church, were dedicated. The west window is now a Benedicite window in which the flora and fauna of the district are portrayed which, with two smaller windows, 'Fortitude' and 'Patience with distaff, were unveiled in March, 1953 by Mr. (now
the late) Sir H. A. Benyon.

Over the main door inside the church is a small simple tablet of marble and alabaster which reads 'Richard Benyon, for the Glory of God, built this church AD 1856 and afterwards endowed it'. It was dedicated in 1897. On the north wall by the door is a copper plaque inscribed 'To the dear memory of Walter John Roalfe Cox' who was a medical practitioner in the neighbourhood. It shows Christ healing the sick and was dedicated on 12th November, 1928. The carved oak Font cover was commissioned by the relatives of Lt. H. W. Trelawney, killed in action near Beauvain, France, and dedicated in 1919.

Beneath the west window is an illuminated and glazed Serv:ce Roll containing the names of all the men in the village who served during the Great War, 1914-18. A stone cross with Crucifix was erected in the churchyard as a memorial to those who gave their lives in this war. The names of those who gave their lives in the last war, 1939-45, including that of one woman, were afterwards added.

There were a number of pictures in the church which have since been removed.

The Lych Gate was erected by the children of the Rev. A. L. and Mrs. White as a
memorial to their parents. It was made by Edwin Merrick & Sons, builders and wheelwrights of Mortimer West End and dedicated in August, 1910.

A number of gifts have been made to the church since its erection in 1856 when the donor, Mr. Richard Benyon, gave the silver Flagon, Chalice and Paten, the silver and wood Alms Dish, and the brass Font Ewer. In 1933 a new set of Altar ornaments, consisting of a Cross, Candlesticks and Vases, were presented in memory of Mrs. Florence Todd of Mortimer. No record has been found of the donor of the simple carved oak Processional Cross.

In 1882 Miss Young, the Schoolmistress and organist, gave a set of handbells for the use of choir members and those who attended night school. These are at present loaned to the Mortimer West End Women's Institute who have a handbell team.

Mr. Edwin Merrick, who was a churchwarden for 21 years, made and presented the present Psalm and Hymn Board in 1924 and four years later made and erected the shelves for church books at the west end of the church. In 1939 an old Glastonbury chair was given to the church. In 1939 a new oak Credence Table was given by Major and Mrs. Ovans and in 1944 the widow of Brigadier General E. D. White offered his sword and medals to the church. They were hung, not in the church, but in the vicarage. A new prayer book, given by various parishioners, was dedicated in 1953, and on Christmas Eve, 1957 new
Altar Frontals in cream and gold, exquisitely embroidered by the Sisters of St. Katherine's House, Wantage, were dedicated before the midnight communion service. A brass Alms dish given by Mrs. J. Baker, wife of the Vicar's Warden, was dedicated in 1958.

Mr. William Turner, who died in 1924, for many years gardener at the Vicarage and also a sidesman and Parochial Church Councillor, left £30 to form a Trust Fund, the interest to be used for the upkeep of the churchyard. Other trusts have been left from time to time for the church to administer for the upkeep of certain graves and the churchyard and the Sunday School.

In 1927 Mr. Agnew presented the church with new lamps and in 1935 another gift of hanging lamps was received from Bampton P.C.C. In 1956 Mrs. R. G. Baker gave twelve Psalters for use in the choir, in memory of her husband, the late Mr. Samuel Baker of West End Farm, for eight years Vicar's Warden.


A rather different kind of gift was made to the church over a number of years by the late Henry William Richards, Mus Doc., F.RC.O. This gift was a small but comprehensive library of music composed during his retirement in Mortimer West End with special thought for the capabilities of the small village choir and the church organ. His organ music included a magnificent setting to the Te Deum, written to commemorate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which was sung for the first time in St. Saviour's Church in 1953 at an inter-denominational service led by the Vicar assisted by representatives of the Congregational and Methodist Church in Mortimer West End. On Festival of Britain Sunday all the
music used throughout the day, including the voluntaries but excepting the tune to one hymn, was composed by Dr. Richards. His fine melodies, thoughtful reading of the Lessens, will long be remembered in Mortimer West End.

In 1952 electric heating was installed in the church — until then heating had been by various kinds of coke boilers. In 1970 this was replaced by an oil-fired heating system.

In 1929 an unhappy event shocked the village for the Alms box was robbed, after which a different type of box was more securely fixed to the wall. In 1952 all the lead was stripped and stolen from the church roof. This was not discovered until heavy rain had ruined the Vestry, necessitating costly repair.

At the first Vestry meeting on June 10th, 1870 it was resolved that church expenses should be met by voluntary subscriptions was on the proportion of a 1d. rate. In 1896 to ½d. rate was added quarterly collections in church and in 1910 church expenses were defrayed by church collections only. In 1956 the Free-Will Offering envelope scheme was adopted.

In 1860 Mr. Richard Benyon built the Church School with a teacher's residence
attached and in 1863 the school was provided with a certificated mistress and placed under government inspection. Unfortunately the school had to be closed in 1929 because there were not enough children of school age and under to warrant its further use. Since that year children from Mortimer West End have attended the Church of England School in Silchester. During the 1939-45 war the school was used as a store-house and for chicken rearing. In 1958 the school and house were sold then renovated and made into a private residence.

In 1874 the House of Lords ordered "A return of monies expended on Church Building, Parsonages, etc." and it is recorded that St. Saviour's Church, the wall of the churchyard and land cost 'about £2,400', the Parsonage and land 'about £1,900', and the school and teacher's residence 'about £450'.

Up to the present time St. Saviour's Church has been served by six Vicars:—

The centenary of the church was celebrated in 1958. At the Festival of Dedication the Vicar stated that in future this will always be celebrated on the Sunday after Ascension Day.

This short history has been taken from a fuller version written in 1958 by Mrs. E. M. Grigg of Bruton House, Mortimer West End.