History
The present church of St Mary in Fen Drayton is mainly of 14th- and 15th-century pebble rubble construction, but stands on the site of a church built here before the Conquest.
An interesting outline of the history of St Mary's is revealed by the List of Rectors which hangs in the church. These records date from 1232 but there must have been other priests before whose names are unknown.
In 1232 the patron was the King, though by 1272 patronage rested with the Abbot and Convent of Bon Repos in Brittany. In 1343 the crown had recovered the rights of patronage on account of the war in France and for reasons of state this arrangement was made permanent by Act of Parliament in 1415.
In 1447 the advowson was transferred by letters patent to Godshouse (i.e. Christ's College), Cambridge; and to this was added the benefice in 1520. The college was not required to endow a vicarage and for most of the time from then until the 1930s, the parish was served (if at all) by curates appointed by the college and only rarely licensed by the bishop of the diocese. Meanwhile, the college retained the whole of the rectorial tithes.
Christ's College retains the patronage although for much of the present century, St Mary's, Fen Drayton has been a united benefice with St Mary's, Conington. The parish now forms part of the United Benefice of Fen Drayton with Conington and Lolworth and Swavesey, though the vicar still lives in Fen Drayton. The patronage is shared with the patrons of the other parishes.
The Chancel
The Chancel has an unusual double piscina and double sedilia dating from an earlier 13th-century building. On the north wall there is a singular splayed opening (now blocked). The purpose of these 'squints' is now unknown but they would seem to have formed a spyhole for those who were for some reason excluded from the church itself. Pevsner asks 'can it be Saxon?'
The east window (1901) is set in 15th-century tracery and fragments of early stained glass are preserved in the side windows and also in the nave windows. The brass on the north wall is Victorian and dedicated to the Revd George Shaw and his wife (1845). The choir stalls and boxes seem to be 17th-century Jacobean, as is the Holy Table.*
The dado of the 14th-century rood screen across the chancel arch bears traces of the brilliant colours in which it must have been painted before the Reformation. A panel from the screen survives and is hung in the south aisle.
The Nave
The Nave has four very good 14th-century arches with octagonal piers and moulded caps. The windows on the north side are 15th-century in the perpendicular style. Those in the south aisle are earlier, in the decorated style. The 14th-century font would originally have been built onto one of the piers.
The Organ
The organ was given in 1980 by the Friends of St Mary's and was originally in the Methodist Church, Rickmansworth.
Mr Pip Gill (left), Mr Peter Schofield, Mt Tom Johnson, The Rt Revd Gordon Roe, Bishop of Huntingdon, a representative of Rickmansworth Methodist Church, the Organ Builder and the Revd Harry Bamber, priest-in-charge of Fen Drayton (right), with the current benefice organist, Mr Dick Lingham (front), at the dedication of the new organ in 1980.
Bell
There is a single bell, though this hangs in an old wooden bell-frame with spaces for three. It was cast in Cambridge and hung here in 1828. Today this bell is chimed and never rung.
Registers
The older registers of the parish are deposited in the County Record Office, Shire Hall, Cambridge. Registers date from 1576 (Baptisms), 1580 (Marriages) and 1573 (Burials).
There are records of the Johnson family belonging to the church which trace the residence of that family here at least as long ago as 1598.
The Condition of the Building
Although it is believed that the fabric of St Mary's, Fen Drayton is fundamentally sound, the building is currently greatly in need of careful restoration.
* Another opinion holds that the vicar's and curate's boxes date from c.1730 and were perhaps moved to their present site from the nave, while the choir stalls are from about 100 years later (William IV, or perhaps early Victorian). Also that the altar table is James I or perhaps Charles II. [revised 1997]