Help Us Save the Tower
Thundridge Old Church, a grade II* listed tower from a thousand-year-old church in a deeply historic area of Hertfordshire and an iconic landmark in a green area of great beauty, is under threat of demolition.
Without a change in ownership and the support of the community it could be lost forever.
Thundridge Old Church Action Group (TOCAG) are fighting to save the Church for current and future generations.
Join Us
Be part of our work to save Thundridge Old Church from demolition and ensure it becomes a community asset for future generations.
ITV Visits Thundridge Old Church
In response to the story about vandalism and metal detectors at Thundridge Old Church last month, ITV visited the tower...
Read More
Recent Vandalism at Thundridge Old Church
It has been reported recently in an East Herts police appeal and by the BBC that the churchyard at Thundridge...
Read More
Tai Chi at the Old Church on 26th July
Join us on 26 July from 1-3:30pm for WeBe Tai Chi Picnic Afternoon at Thundridge Old Church. Enjoy guided tai...
Read More
Volunteers Needed
We are in need of volunteers to help with: Fundraising – developing campaigns, managing donor relations, helping with grant applications (including...
Read More
What is special about this place?
- The Grade II* listed tower of St. Mary and All Saints’ Church is a preeminent cultural and historic keystone building in the history of the local area.
- It is the last visible evidence of continuous occupation of a now remote location in the Rib Valley for over 1,000 years within a landscape that has remarkably not been disturbed or archeologically investigated and has rich historic significance and evidential potential.
- It is a direct link to and evokes and illustrates significant local historic events and individual histories such as the establishment of the first Turnpike and inspiration for the abolition of slavery movement. It is an iconic eye catcher feature and ‘borrowed view’ from the Capability Brown designed landscape park of Youngsbury.
- It is a flagship destination within the Rib Valley as a green space for the physical, mental, and spiritual good health of the local community and special interest groups from far afield, ever more important after the planned substantial development to the North of Ware.
See more about this significance of this site and the local area here
A Brief History
- The church has a surviving early Norman door, and known alterations in C14 and again in C15 when the three stage West tower was added. Archaeology in the immediate area suggests there is potential for earlier occupation of the site.
- The churchyard is located in a Medieval moated enclosure unusual both in its size and for the range of features within including a manorial complex including the remains of C16 Thundridgebury House demolished in 1811.
- A new church was built in the centre of Thundridge and Wadesmill in 1851, and the nave and chancel of the old church demolished in 1853, leaving the tower including C12 doorway with chevron and dogtooth moulded arch and C14 window set in blocking of tower arch.
- Some of graves are thought likely to date to the Medieval period, with further Medieval deposits preserved in the intervening areas.
See more about the history of the church here
