St Botolph

Brampton parish includes the two villages of Church and Chapel Brampton and is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Brantone.

The large porch is the oldest part of the church, the arms over the door being those used by King Edward III in the earlier part of his reign and combine English lions with French Fleur de Lys, helping to date the building at c1340. The font was carved locally for exhibition at the Great Exhibition in 1851 but was not completed in time. The tower now contains five bells as a fifth bell was added in 1996, the other four being cast between 1607 and 1628. The wooden coffer which you will find immediately opposite the entrance door in the direction of the clergy vestry is older than the building and is an outstanding example of 13th century ironwork.

There are some outstanding stained glass windows in the church, one of which was presented by the 5th Earl Spencer in memory of his Land Agent, John Beasley, who was churchwarden here for 27 years in the 19th century. A visit to St Botolph's church can be combined with a visit to Althorp House during one of the months Althorp is open.

Outside the church is the shaft of a medieval preaching cross and we have a Wargraves Commission grave for a Canadian who died in the nearby Golf Clubhouse which was being used as a convalescent home at the time.

St Botolph is an East Anglian Saint who founded a monastery at Iken in Suffolk in 654 AD. He is the Patron Saint of wayfarers and like ours, many of the churches dedicated to him are situated on the edge of a village. Our Patronal Festival is on the Sunday nearest to the 17 June, the day on which he died in 675 AD.