Clonmany, St. Columbkille

Clonmany, "the meadow of Maine", is in the north of the Inishowen peninsula. St. Columba founded a church there in the sixth century.

The Earl-Bishop built the parish church in 1772. It was a simple two bay hall with a two storey tower at the west end. It was closed in 1927, and is now a ruin.

What the eccentric Earl-Bishop did for Derry

An article from the Derry Journal regarding a peculiar incident that took place in the current UK City of Culture some years ago.

It's doubtful that the mindless morons who burned a portrait of 18th century Earl Bishop of Derry, Frederick Hervey, knew anything of his radical support for Catholic rights in a time of persecution.

An ardent supporter of Catholic emancipation - a stance which invoked the ire of many of his contemporaries - Dr Hervey was honoured after his death by the people of his diocese, including a Dissenting minister and a Catholic Bishop.

At his family home in Ickworth in Surrey an obelisk was inscribed with a tribute which includes the following excerpt: "Sacred to the memory of Frederick, Earl of Bristol, Bishop of Derry, who during 35 years that he presided over that See, eandeared himself to all denominations of Christians resident in his extensive diocese. He was a friend and protector of them all."

According to various sources, the man whose family is well known for many reasons - including the famous sherry, Harvey's Bristol Cream - was extremely popular in Derry and is said to have brought the age of enlightenment to the city with his liberalism and tolerance.

In his book, 'Irish Eccentrics' Peter Somerville-Large says of Bishop Hervey: "He underwent that fierce metamorphosis that turns some English men into Irish patriots. In a time savage religious discrimination he openly supported the cause of Catholic emancipation."

He was well travelled, cultured, an art connoisseur, multi-lingual and an enthusiastic amateur geologist.

But Dr Hervey, was also bit of an oddball, packed full with peculiarities. He was widely regarded as an eccentric character and a host of bizarre tales infuse his lifestory.

On one occasion, according to Somerville-Large, the Earl-Bishop was enjoying a meal in Siena while on his travels and, as a procession of the Host passed under the window of his hotel, "he leaned out and threw a tureen of spaghetti at it".

On hearing of his appointment to the See of Derry, according to tradition, Dr Hervey was playing leapfrog with clergymen in the grounds of his palace at Cloyne. He's reported to have said: "Gentlemen, I will jump no more. I have surpassed you all! I have jumped from Cloyne to Derry."

The philosopher and utilitarian thinker Jeremy Bentham was impressed with Dr Hervey but also noted his failings.. "He is a most excellent companion, pleaseant, intelligent, well read, well bred and liberal minded to the last degree. He has been everywhere and knows everybody." However, Bentham also described the Earl Bishop as being "touched" and having a tendency to exaggerate.

The Bishop also had a habit dressing like Catholic Bishop, something which irritated the Vatican authorities on his frequent visits to Rome - a home from home for much of his life.

One aspect of his behaviour is described by Somerville-Large as "inexcusable". He spent nearly half of his 36 year tenure as Bishop of Derry out of the country. For the last 13 years he did not set foot in his diocese.

But his tenure, from 1768-1803, was notable for the way he used church collections to transform the Derry diocese, earning him the nickname 'The Edifying Bishop'.

Originally from Ickworth in Surrey, Hervey was appointed Bishop of Derry - regarded as the richest episcopal prize in the coutry - at the age of 39 through the favour of his brother George, Lord Bristol and a former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

During his term in the diocese, he mined stone, built roads and developed ecclesiastical buildings but "perhaps the Bishop's greatest contribution to his adopted city", according to Brian Lacey in 'Siege City', was Dr Hervey's plans for the first bridge across the River Foyle.

He oversaw the plans and donated 1,000 to the initial project in 1769, although the wooden bridge did not come to fruition until 1790.

The Bishop even promoted new farming methods, introducing a "very neat kind of gate, the bars of which are oak rounded", according to one contemporary. He also built great mansions at Downhill and nearby Ballyscullion. The Downhill houses contained, among many other artefacts, galleries with paintings attributed to famous artists such as Rubens, Raphael, Murillo, Correggio, Tintoretto, Perugino, Van Dyke and Durer.

He enjoyed entertaining guests at Downhill, "rich and poor, Catholics and dissenters were all welcome", says Somerville- Large.

Dr Hervey also built Mussenden Temple on the cliffs above Magilligan Strand - which he dedicated to 22 year-old Mrs Frideswide Mussenden, whose beauty he "admired". The temple included an underground room intended for priests to say Mass, safe from religious persecution.

In 1778, Dr Hervey inherited an Earldom with the death of his brother Augustus and he became the first Earl-Bishop since Odo, Bishop of Bayeux and Earl of Kent, seven hundred years earlier.

Having, thrown himself into the radical political agitation of the period, Dr Hervey also had military aspirations. He was appointed Colonel of the Londonderry Corps of the Volunteers and made his military debut at the Volunteer meeting at Dungannon in September 8, 1783 which demanded a Grand General Convention of the Volunteers to lobby for greater legislative freedom for the Dublin Parliament.

At the convention in Dublin 1783, Dr Hervey mounted a leadership challenge against his long-term enemy James Caulfield, Earl of Charlemont - the commander of the movement. However, when his challenge failed Hervey was unable to influence any reform. One contemporary wrote: "The volunteer of Derry is of no consequence."

Nonetheless, liberals and Catholics were grateful. Somerville-Large quotes one tribute: "We trust that heavens' providence points you to us as one enobled instrument to raise our injured kingdom from infamy to glory, from misery to felicity."

But Dr Hervey's political enthusiasm waned as did his liberal views and by the time he died in July, 1803 - five years after the United Irishmen's failed rebellion - he had become "utterly reactionary".

In 1798 he was imprisoned by the Napoleon's force at Milan as a suspected spy, remaining in custody for 18 months. He died outdoors at Albano from "gout of the stomach", according to one contemporary and was buried in Ickworth Church.

However, despite all his oddities, he was remembered by Catholics, dissenters and his Anglican flock in Derry as a great patron, liberal agitator "friend and protector".

Those who saw fit to burn his portrait in a bonfire placed on a main city artery would do well to take note.

Frederick Hervey 1730-1803 : Bishop of Derry 1768-1803 (The Earl Bishop)

One of the most eccentric and colourful prelates to have been made Bishop of Derry was Frederick Hervey. Born 1st August 1730, the third son of eight children from the marriage of Lord Hervey and Molly Lepel (of Ickworth, near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk), his penchant for building palatial country houses rather than for engaging in any moral crusade earned him the title of the "Edifying Bishop". Educated at Westminster School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he first showed leanings towards the Bar. But a change of heart on the part of his brother, William, from choosing a career in the church to one in the army appears to have made Frederick reconsider his future and plumb for an ecclesiastical career.

It was some time, however before Frederick acquired a "suitable" benefice as his only real chance for advancement lay through the patronage of his brother George, Lord Bristol, who became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1766. The bishopric of Cloyne was the first to become available, and Hervey was duly consecrated on the 31st May 1767. Yet the new bishop was not satisfied for long as his real ambition had centred on the rich bishopric of Derry. Fortuitously for Hervey, the death of William Barnard of Derry came swiftly thereby fulfilling his aspiration and signalling in February 1768 the beginning of his remarkable thirty-five years episcopate in the northern diocese. Legend records that Hervey, reflecting his ever present sense of fun, was engaged in a game of leap-frog amongst friends (either at Cloyne or Dublin Castle) when news came of his translation. The bishop no doubt to great effect, halted proceedings by declaring, "I will jump no more. I have beaten you all, for Ihave jumped from Cloyne to Derry"

Hervey's playful antics and cosmopolitan image undoubtedly marked a break with tradition in the See of Derry. His skilful management of Derry's episcopal finances allowed him heavily to indulge his appetite for building grand country houses, acquiring Italian works of art and realizing an insatiable desire for a life of travel. Yet while such financial resources undoubtedly led to extravagance, the bishop nevertheless showed through his actions that a sense of duty and purpose also existed. On his arrival, for example, he conducted a diocesan visitation in an effort to ensure that care was taken for the welfare of his clergy. He established a superannuation fund, was keen to encourage the building of glebe houses and discountenanced the idea of appointing clergy to benefices from outside the diocese. The bishop also used his income for the building of roads, the development of agriculture, mining exploration, churches in the diocese, the building of a new bridge across the Foyle and in the erection of a new spire for St. Columb's Cathedral. Admittedly his greatest efforts went into the building of palatial houses to house his art treasures:

 
Downhill (with the Mussenden Temple)

    
the episcopal place and the "Casino" in Londonderry, Ballyscullion and at the ancestral home of Ickworth in Suffolk. Yet such artistic excesses had welcome economic consequences: Hervey became an important source of employment in each locality. Appreciation for the bishop in the diocese was not lacking either. He gained the freedom of the City of Londonderry, and after his death an obelisk to his memory was erected at Ickworth by all sections of the city's community. He was also remembered in the Siege Memorial Window in St. Columb's Cathedral alongside the Roman Catholic Bishop of Derry.

It was not only his flamboyant lifestyle and public acts of generosity which marked Hervey out from most of his Anglican peers, it was also his striking opposition to the penal laws, and his calls for religious toleration for Presbyterians and Roman Catholics. His popularity amongst these two groups was due in no small part to his efforts to incorporate them into the political nation. At a local level his enlightened thinking led him to help financially with the building of a number of Roman Catholic churches, notably the impressive St. Columb's (The Long Tower Church) in Londonderry to which he subscribed £200. The impetus behind the measure can be seen in a letter from  Rome (19th September 1778) and reflects a philosophy based on his knowledge of European affairs: "I have seen myself destined £1000 for our chapels in the diocese of Derry, having seen the excellent effect of a reciprocal toleration through all the great towns in Germany, and the bad effects of intolerance through all the great towns of Italy"

While Hervey consistently expressed his support for the rights of humanity, his efforts were also designed to secure political stability within Ireland. His suggestion, for example, that the Crown should endow the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches and appoint their clergy was a naive attempt at political control:

"The Crown should be the patron of all dissenters, seceders and schismatics whatever, and the Crown should either pay them or be the cause of their being paid, and then the Government would be certain that the people they appoint and the doctrines they would teach ... This would effectively tear up rebellion by the roots, for where the preacher would be appointed by the proper authority, and then be paid for preaching loyalty instead of disaffection; where the treasure is there would be the heart likewise"  

In a similar frame of mind, Hervey took the initiative in the search for a legal formula whereby Roman Catholics could swear allegiance to the Crown in the hope of binding them loyally to the state. Eventually in 1774 such an act was passed, but to Hervey's disappointment it failed to gain approval from Rome. Further efforts were made at the end of the 1770s. The bishop was particularly anxious about the latter. Writing in September 1779, he lobbied for a repeal of the Sacramental Test Act of 1704 (a measure which had been designed to ensure that members of the established church were appointed to public office) to offset their possible disaffection if such an invasion occurred:

"While all the regard I have for the Presbyterians, many of whom I know to be excellent men, yet I deem them much more dangerous at this crisis than the Papists. Their principles are truly republican amongst them and the pro-offer of independence, which will be instantly exhibited by the French, cannot fail to success amongst them ... The rights of humanity demand a general and unlimited toleration at all times. Policy peculiarly demands it at present. A reasonable indulgence to the Presbyterian and the Papist may save the Kingdom."

In 1780 the Test Act was finally removed from the statute book. Hervey's opposition to religious discrimination took on a more coherent and committed form, albeit for a limited period, when he became involved in the Volunteer Movement in the early 1780's. Ostensibly to defend from French invasion, the movement quickly became an important political pressure group influenced by events in America. Hervey was no doubt attracted to the whole idea of display and revelry but he was also genuine in his demand for reform of parliamentary representations and, in particular, his wish to extend the franchise to Roman Catholics. Becoming colonel of the Londonderry Corps of Volunteers, his contribution was to reach it's height at the Grand General Convention of Volunteers of all Ireland held firstly at the Royal Exchange and then at the Rotunda, Dublin in November 1783. Hervey's arrival in Dublin could hardly have been more ostentatious. His love of display was given full rein in an effort to influence the other delegates.

But in a tussle for the presidency of the convention Hervey lost out to the conservative Lord Charlemont.

James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of  Charlemont 1728-1799

He then hoped for an alliance with the great parliamentary orator Henry Flood in order to guide through what was hoped would be substantive reform. Yet again he was disappointed. Flood was to be no different from Charlemont. Both men saw what Hervey was espousing as a direct threat to the Protestant Ascendency of which they were a part. Moreover, the bishop's excitable nature did little to further any confidence they had in him. When an emasculated reform package was put together, Flood carried it for debate to the House of Commons in full Volunteer uniform only to have it contemptuously rejected. Reform of the kind which Hervey had in mind did not come until well into the nineteenth century. In the meantime, at attempted rebellion was to take place in 1798, an event which Hervey might well have foreseen. Having witnessed the demise of the noble principles of the French Revolution, he was convinced of the need to stern anarchy. After this brief fling of volunteering, the bishop never regained his interest in Irish politics. In 1800 he decided to vote by proxy for the Act of Union.

   

As the years passed the Earl-Bishop (created Earl on the death of his brother, Augustus, in December 1779) spent more time touring the continent (a number of Bristol Hotels were established after his name). Indeed, he spent the remainder of his life, from 1791 onwards, outside Ireland. Unsurprisingly, such a lengthy leave of absence eventually incurred the justified criticism of his episcopal brothers. Yet time spent abroad could hardly ever have been dull. In his world he mixed  with such internationally renowned luminaries as Voltaire, Goethe and Benjamin Franklin. While equally significant were his flirtatious associations with notorious courtesans of the period as Lady Hamilton (Nelson's mistress and married to Hervey's school friend and later Ambassador at Naples, Sir William Hamilton) and Countess Lichtenau (mistress of Frederick William II of Prussia). In this respect, the Earl-Bishop's singularity led one historian to remark:

"Although there is no proof that impropriety of his conduct went beyond a highly unepiscopal freedom of language and heedlessness of decorum, the character of the ladies with whom his name was chiefly connected was of kind which gave probability to the grossest suggestions as to the nature of his liaisons"

Hervey's family life also suggests a rather unflattering picture. Having married at a young age against the wishes of both sets of families, his relationship with his wife steadily deteriorated until, in 1782, he finally left her. Furthermore, attempts to force his own son Frederick (the marriage produced four sons and three daughters), into an unsuitable marriage took little account of his wishes on the subject. Consequently, the general view concerning his Christian faith has understandably been somewhat sceptical, Countess Lichtenau stated that Hervey "professed no religion although he had strong innate principles" Yet John Wesley was generous enough to write "The Bishop is entirely easy and unaffected in his whole behaviour, exemplary in all parts of worship, plenteous in good works".

Frederick Hervey died from an attack of gout on a road outside Albano, Italy on the 8th of July 1803.

Tamlaght O' Crilly "Lower" Church (St. Nossonus)

Tanlaght O'Crilly Lower Church is five kilometres to the east of the Upper Church, in the village of Inishrush. Upon the division of the parish of Tamlaght O'Crilly in 1775, it was constituted a Perpetual Curacy. In that year, the Earl Bishop built a small church at his own expense. This was rebuilt in 1815. Tamlaght O'Crilly Lower became a parish in 1883.

The church is entered through the porch at the base of a louvered tower. There are two blind windows in the west wall, and a window with coloured glass in the west wall of the tower. Inside the church is a three bay hall, with three windows in the south wall and none in the north wall.

These windows all have square-paned coloured and opaque glass.

The east window depicts the Good Shepherd. It commemorates the Rev. Samuel Scott Frackelton, Rector of Tamlaght O' Crilly Lower from 1883 until his death in 1911.

The chancel step extends westwards on both sides of the nave, to form a podium for the baptistry adjacent to the north wall. The pulpit and the prayer desk are on the left side of the chancel.

The prayer desk and chair are in memory of William Greer who died in 1977. The Holy Table and the chair on the left side of the sanctury are both in memory of James and Elizabeth Kissick, 1992.

The lectern commemorates Robert McCullough, 1968. There are two chairs and a credence table on the right sanctuary. The organ is on the right of the chancel.

A monument commemorates Reserve Constable William James Greer who was killed in 1977, and another, Trooper John Smyth of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers who was killed in 1917 during the Great War. On the south wall are memorials to James Courtnenay and his wife, Marths, 1899,

and to John Patton who died in 1927, his wife Sarah who died in the same year, and Archibald Patton who died in France in action in 1917.

On the east wall of the sanctuary, there is a memorial to Elizabeth, wife of the Rev. Samuel Frackleton, who died in 1914, and on the south wall of the sanctuary is a memorial to those who fell in the first and second world wars.

Tamlaght O'Crilly Upper and Lower were reunited in 1963.

Tamlaght O' Crilly "Upper "

Tamlaght O' Crilly, "the plague monument of the O'Crillys", is a parish in east County Derry, close to Portglenone. The O'Crillys were herenarchs, (agents or stewards), of the church lands in the area in the Middle Agents. The monument is supposed to be the burial cave on rising ground above Tamlaght village. There was a church in ancient times.

The church was roofless in 1622, though otherwise, in good repair. It was ruined in the 1641 Rebellion, and remained so throughout the reminder of the 17th century. By the 1768 survey, the church was in good repair. In 1775, the parish was divided into Tamlaght O'Crilly Upper and Lower.

Tamlaght O'Crilly Upper Church is in Tamlaght O'Crilly village in Co. Londonderry, sixteen kilometres east of Maghera. The church was rebuilt in 1815, and the chancel dates from 1859. It is entred through the porch which is at the base of a louvered tower.

The interior entrance door is in memory of Arthur McCay, and James and Sarah Michael, 1980, and there is a window of coloured lattice glass in the tower.

There are three windows in the south wall, each of which has coloured lattice glass and Y tracery and no windows in the north wall.

The east window has three lights and tracery , Our Lord is in the centre, with praying figures on either side. The window commemorates Katherine Francis, wife of Canon Robert McQuaide, Rector of Tamlaght O'Crilly Upper, 1909-1956. She died in 1935. There is a small window in the south wall of the chancel.

In the sanctuary, the stone reredos behind the Holy Table commemorates Godfrey Samuel, Alicia Greene and Godfrey Greene.  The east wall is panelled in stone, which extends both sides of the reredos. The first of the three sections commemorates Thomas McKay, the second, those who fell in the Great War, and the third, L.Cpl. Alston Neely who was killed in action 1918. Similarly, the three sections to the right of the Holy Table commemorate, first, William and Margery Kernaghan, second, Alice Crockett. Over the whole reredos are carved the words, "Blessing and Honour and Glory and Power be unto the Lamb". The vestry room is to the left of the chancel.

The baptistery and font are in the north-east corner of the nave. They commemorate the Rev. Henry Innes Law, Rector 1957-1963. The pulpit on the left commemorates both Canon McQuaide and the Rev. H. I. Law. The lectern is in memory of James Lennox and his son John, 1964. The prayer desk and chair in the chancel were presented by past and present parishioners, 1960. There are some chairs in the sanctuary. One of these commemorates the Rev. Maiben Cunningham Motherwell, Curate from 1826 to 1854. Another chair is in memory of Thomas and Sarah Crockett, 1960. The credence table is in memory of William and Margaret Neely, 1971. A plaque states that the Communion kneelers are in memory of Samuel and Mary McClintock and Bessie Nelson, 1995. There is a one manual Telford and Telford organ with pedals. On hymn board was presented by St. James' Church, Belfast, 1958, and the other is in memory of Bobby McClintock.

St. Canice, Faughanvale, Eglinton

The pretty little village of Eglinton in Co. Derry, is thirteen kilometres east of Londonderry, just to the south of the Limavady Road. The Parish name of "Faughanvale" derives from the Irish "nua clonghail", new habitation, and has nothing more than coincidence to do with the name of the River Faughan which flows through it. The Patron Saint is Canice who was born about 517 near Limavady, and who died about 600. Canice founded a monastery in the area. He also founded one at Kilkenny, which means Canice's Church.. He was one of the twelve companions of St. Columba on his journey to Iona. In Scotland he was known as St. Kenneth. Ruins of Faughanvale old church can still be seen.

At the time of the Plantation, in 1615, the Grocers' Company of London was granted a manor of 15,900 acres, (6,435 hectares) around the southern shore of  Lough Foyle. The village which grew up was at first called Muff. The Grocers' Company built a new Church on their estate in 1626. This lasted until 1820 when the Grocers' Company decided to replace it with the current church in Eglinton. Its ruins are adjacent the church.

St Canice's Church in Eglinton was completed in 1826 to a design by John Bowden. It was a rectangular, aisle less four bay hall. North and south transepts were added in 1856, and the chancel was built in 1899 by W.E.Scott of Willsborough in memory of his wife and daughter.

The tower is in memory of his wife and daughter. The tower is topped by four pinnacles at the west est. At its base is the porch, inside which are stairs to the gallery and the loft. The main entrance doors are in memory of the Doherty family, 1973, and the bell has an inscription in memory of the Rev. Arthur Dobbs, Rector, 1912-1930. Inside the baptistery is to the right under the gallery, and there is a corresponding space opposite. The pulpit and prayer desk are to the left at the lower chancel entrance, and the prayer desk and lectern are to the right.

The organ, by Evans and Barr, has two manuals and pedals. The console is in the south transept. The marble steps in the chancel and construction of the tower commemorate Thomas and James Gallagher, 1930. The vestry room and other room are to the left of the chancel.

In the south wall, the window, which has two lights and y tracery, illustrates the 23rd Psalm, and in memory of William and Elizabeth Michaels, 1936. Opposite on the north wall, a similar wundow illustrates the encounter on the Emmanus Road, (St. Luke 24:29), in memory of Meta Robert and Thomas Alexander  Michaels, 1936. The window in the south wall of the transept has tracery, and illustrates the Wise Men and the Shepherds at the Manger. It is memory of James Gallagher of Belfast who died in 1929. Opposite, the window in the north wall of the north transept has three lights, and illustrates the Empty Tomb. It is memory of Thomas Gallagher, who died in 1927.

The east window of three lights was given by Katherine Philips in memory of her father, Edward Scott of Willsborough who died in 1913. On the left is St. Peter, St.John is on the right, and our Lord is in the centre.

On the west wall, a plaque records the re hallowing of the church after extensive renovations on the 16th October 1997. Another plaque adjacent records the instillation of electric lighting in memory of Catherina Michaels in 1948. There is a memorial to Winifred Webster who died in 1992, and a plaque records the donation of the carpet in the area opposite the baptistery in memory of Alexander Thompson and his wife Lucinda. The memorials to those who fell in the Great War are on the north wall, and in the porch. On the south wall Major William Quin of Campsie House, who died in 1922, is commemorated.

On the east wall of the south transept, there is a memorial to Anne, second wife of Thomas Scott of Willsborough who died in 1840, and to Katherine, the third wife who died in 1857, and to Thomas Scott himself who died in 1872. Katherine Phillips who died in 1934, is commemorated, and a plaque records the instillation of amplification in memory of the parents of Robert Carson and James Moore in 1984. On the west wall of the north transept, Edmund Leckey of Longfield Lodge, Eglinton who died in 1917 is commemorated, on the east wall, there is a memorial  to the Rev. James Christie, Perpetual Curate of Faughanvale from 1823 until his death in 1846.

In the chancel, on the north wall, there is a memorial to Elizabeth Burnside who founded the Sunday School in the parish, and who died 1907, and on the east wall, a plaque marks the association of the North Irish Brigade with the parish from the 1st April 1960 to the 1st of April 1964. On the south wall of the chancel, there is a memorial to Margaret Davidson who died in 1903, and on the east wall, a brass plaque notes the donation of the hymn board in memory of Mammie Ruth in 1987. In the upper section of the chancel, on the north wall, a monument records the erection of the chancel in 1899 in memory of Georgina  and Annie Scott, wife and daughter of W. E. Scott of Willsborough. Another plaque records the renovations already mentioned in memory of Thomas and James Gallagher, 1930. On the south wall of the inner chancel there is a memorial to John Michaels who died in 1948, and to his brother who died in 1956.

There was a close association between the Parish of Faughanvale and the nearby military airfield in the 1940s and 1950s. In August 1941, during the Second World War, the airfield at Eglinton began to be used as an RAF fighter base. On 1st May 1943, RAF Eglinton was loaned to the Royal Navy, and on the 15th May that year, it was commissioned as HMS Gannet.

To acknowledge worship by personnel of the Royal Naval Air Station of Eglinton from 1943 to 1959, the Ensign and crest of HMS Gannet are on the east wall of the chancel.

There were some distinguished families in the parish as can be seen from the windows and memorials. In 1696, the Rev. Gideon Scott, a chaplain in the army of William III, bought the Willsborough estate in the townland of Donnybrewer in the parish. The name Willsborough derives from the name of the King, who was apparently pleased by the sermon which he had heard Mr. Scott preaching! He was the ancestor of Major W. E. Scott of Willsborough. The Michaels and Gallaghers were benefactors of the church in the 1930s. Mrs Eliza Michaels who died in 1936, was a sister of Thomas Gallagher of the tobacco firm of Gallaghers.

The large and prominent burial monument in the graveyard belongs to the Spencer family who lived in the 18th century. They had a direct ancestral link with the Spencers of Althrop, Northamptonshire, of which family, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, was a member.