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St Mary, Acton Burnell, Church of England
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St Mary
Acton Burnell
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Robert Burnel
Robert was the son of the local landowner, and after becoming a priest he became secretary and chaplain to Prince Edward, son of Henry III. When the Prince became King Edward I, Robert became Bishop of Bath and Wells and the new King’s Chancell.
This made him a man of wealth and influence, and it is to him we owe our church and the castle next to it. The Burnell family does not feature in English history after Bishop Robert any more than it had before.
Unusually the church was unaltered from its completion in about 1282 until the addition of a new tower in the 1880s. The Bishop probably used masons from the royal staff, thus ensuring quality workmanship and latest ideas in architectural style. Apart from roof works in the 1580s and 1880s the structure has not been changed since 1282, the year before the first meeting of the House of Commons here (1283) to pass the Statute of Acton Burnell.
I n the churchyard to the north of the church is a former font dating from the 15th or 16th century. It is in sandstone, and consists of a bowl standing on a stem with an octagonal base. The font is said to have been moved from a chapel at Acton Pigott, which had become disused by about 1730. The font is listed at Grade II.[8] The churchyard also contains two war graves, both located in its south-west corner, of a Canadian soldier of World War I, and a British soldier of World War II.[9]
It is located somewhere in the place at SJ530010 (Lat/Lon 52.604714, -2.69546). You can see this on maps provided by:
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- National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
- Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
- English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
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