St John the Baptist
Brinklow, Warwickshire
The tower has a fine ring of eight bells, one cast in 1390. An imposing building in a tranquil rural setting. The stained glass windows are widely acclaimed.
St Edith’s church is a Grade I listed building, located in Monks Kirby (one of the Revel villages) near to Rugby, Warwickshire. It is the largest parish church in Warwickshire, measuring approximately 110ft by 50ft.
The first church on the site of St Edith’s is said to have been founded in 917 by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. However, the current Priory Church of St Edith’s dates from 1077 when Geoffrey de la Guerche, a Breton knight rebuilt the church and gave it as a priory to the Benedictine Abbey of St Nicolas in Anjou in France, naming it in honour of the Virgin Mary and St Denis. In 1266, Henry III granted the monks a fair at Midsummer and a weekly market.
The church was substantially rebuilt in around 1380 and in 1415, Henry V transferred the priory to the Carthusians of the Isle of Axholme, Lincolnshire. The Priory church and was rebuilt in the 13th century. The nave and tower were rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries. The porch and priest’s room above are 14th century. The 100 years war with France also caused the dedication of the church to be changed to St Edith of Polesworth, a Warwickshire Saint. The church was again altered in the late 15th century, and an octagonal spire added: this blew down on Christmas night 1722.
In the reformation, King Henry VIII confiscated the assets of the priory, granting the manor of Monks Kirby to the Bishop of Ipswich, and the rectory and the advowson of the vicarage to his (the King's) foundation of Trinity College Cambridge in December 1546. The manor then changed hands several times over the following eighty years until the powerful Buckingham family passed to it to the Feildings (Earls of Denbigh) who had been lords of neigbouring Newnham Paddox since the 15th century. The interior of the church was restored in Victorian times: the Baptistry windows are by Hardman and date from Victorian times, as do the other stained glass windows.