Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Parish church in Walkern, England
The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin is a stone church in Walkern, a village in Hertfordshire, England, and holds Grade I listed building status. It has a tall tower, stained glass windows, and sits at the edge of the village near the River Beane, within a conservation area.
The church was built before the Norman Conquest, meaning parts of its walls date back to Saxon times. Over the centuries it was modified and expanded, but it retained much of its early character until it received its official listed status in 1966.
Inside the church, a chalk crucifix from around the 10th century is set above what was the original doorway, making it one of the rarest examples of Anglo-Saxon sacred art in England. Visitors can also see a Purbeck marble effigy of a knight, believed to represent William de Lanvalei, a nobleman connected to the signing of Magna Carta.
The church is an active place of worship and community events, so it is worth checking in advance whether a service or ceremony is taking place during your visit. It sits at the edge of Walkern and is easy to reach on foot from the village centre.
The 10th-century chalk crucifix inside the church is one of only a handful of surviving examples of Anglo-Saxon stone carving still in place in a parish church in England. This makes Walkern's church a rarer site than many far more visited medieval churches across the country.
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