Kederminster Library visit

W. SURREY HA BRANCH VISIT TO LANGLEY AND STOKE POGES CHURCHES (BUCKS.), 11 JUNE 2016

 

Our visit this year will be to two churches in the Thames Valley, those at Langley and Stoke Poges, both near Slough.  At Langley we will see a little known gem, the Kederminster Library, a unique example of a parish library, founded in the 1630s by a local landowner for the use of the vicar and clergy of Langley.  The books are kept inside shelved cupboards, the doors and joinery of which are all elaborately marbled, and painted with grotesques and views of Windsor Castle and other local landscapes.  At Stoke Poges, a well known literary shrine, we will walk round the attractive churchyard which provided the setting for Thomas Gray’s poem, Elegy written in a Country Churchyard (‘The curfew tolls the knell of parting day …’).   A charge of £5 per person will be made for the day, to go to the Kederminster library, which is run by a self-supporting charity.

 

We will meet at 11 am at St Mary’s, Langley, which is in St Mary’s Rd, Langley, and its postcode is SL3 7EN.  Assuming you are coming from the M25, turn off at Junction 15 onto the M4 westbound, and then turn off this motorway at the next interchange, which is with the A4, following the signs for the A4 into central Slough.  Take the next turning right, at the traffic lights, into High St, Langley, and follow this road to the roundabout where East Berkshire College looms in the background, turning left into Langley Rd.  St Mary’s Rd is about half a mile further on, on the right.   There is parking along the side of the road and in the car park of the Red Lion pub opposite.  At the church we will be divided into two groups, one visiting the library while the other inspects the church itself, and at half-time the two groups will swap over.  Outside, there are two sets of attractive seventeenth-century almshouses, founded by the Kederminsters, to look at.  My guess is that we will be finished in the church by about 12.30.  For lunch, I recommend the Red Lion opposite, which has an extensive garden at the back in which we can sit if the weather is fine.  Alternatively, bring your own lunch.

 

From Langley we will go on to Stoke Poges church (postcode SL2 4NZ), which is about five miles away in the foothills of the Chilterns, to the north of Slough.   Leaving St Mary’s Rd, Langley, turn right into Langley Rd, and follow this for about a mile to the traffic-lights junction with the A4.  Turn right onto the A4, following the signs to Slough town centre, and keep on going past Sainsbury’s and Tesco to the set of traffic lights immediately past the bus station and opposite the Catholic church.  Turn right here onto the B416, signposted to Gerrards Cross.  Keep going along this road into the open country, bearing off left at the mini-roundabout into Grays Park Rd, and then shortly afterwards left again into Park Road, and left yet again into Church Lane.  Stoke Poges church by this time is clearly signposted, and it’s on your right-hand side down Church Lane.  The official church car park is on the left, but there’s parking for the disabled in the church approach on the right.  I suggest that we convene at Stoke Poges at about 2.15, to allow everyone time for lunch.  If the weather is fine, and we can gather in the churchyard, I’ll say a few words alongside Thomas Gray’s grave, which is in front of the eastern side of the church (that’s to say, the side facing you as you walk along the path).   Then we’ll go in, and I’ll say a few words about the church itself.   To the south of the church, and accessed from the churchyard, is the Stoke Poges Memorial Garden, which is surprisingly large and offers rewarding walks.

 

I imagine that we’ll be finished at Stoke Poges by around 3.30 at the latest.  Alas, there are no tea rooms in the village, so perhaps take advantage of the Red Lion at Langley at lunchtime!

 

If you would like to join us on this visit, please email me:   n.saul@rhul.ac.uk

 

Nigel Saul