Conservation & Heritage Issue 49 October 2025 - Flipbook - Page 45
St Mary Magdalene
Church, Great Hampden,
Buckinghamshire
From 2021 - 2025 Chroma Conservation were delighted to be part of a large restoration
project to conserve and enhance the beautiful and ancient St. Mary Magdalene Church in
Great Hampden, Buckinghamshire.
A church has been on this site for over 800 years.
The proprietary Church, belonging to the incredible
Hampden House (a living testament to hundreds of years
of English history) founded by the Hampden family in
the 14th century, with John Hampden likely building
the original stone manor around 1350. Through the
Tudor and Georgian periods, the family expanded and
reimagined the house in line with the fashion of the
times, adding everything from the intricate brickwork to
a Georgian façade.
A new Rector, Deniol Heywood arrived in 2008 and
initiated a long-term project to renovate the church and
to make it a more usable space for the new century. The
architect involved in the project was Christian Randall,
Conservation Architects. The work was made possible with
the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Chroma’s engagement in the project started with the
restoration of five Hatchment Paintings. Four of these
hatchments at St Mary Magdalene’s contain the Hampden
family motto ‘Vestigia Nulla Retrorsum’ (No going back)
which was adopted by Bucks County Council in 1947 for
the county coat of arms.
I
The Hatchments on the South Wall of the Nave are:
• East: Earl’s coronet, second motto for Hobart ‘Auctor
Pretiosa Facit’ (The giver makes precious) for George
Robert, 5th Earl died 1st February 1849.
• Centre: Viscount’s coronet, two shields; for Thomas,
2nd Viscount Hampden, died 20th August 1824.
• West: Earl’s coronet, stag & talbot as supporters; for
Augustus Edward, 6th Earl, died 29th October 1885.
West Wall of the Nave:
• South: Viscount’s coronet, two wyverns (a fictitious
monster) as supporters; for John, 3rd Viscount
Hampden, died 9th September 1824.
• North: Two wild men supporters; motto ‘Pro Rege et
Patria’ (For King and country); for Donald Cameron of
Lochiel, 23rd Chief, married Vere Catherine Hobart,
died 2nd December 1858.
The hatchments were in a terrible condition and were
carefully removed and transported to our studio at Delapre
Abbey in Northampton. There we conservation cleaned,
repaired, retouched and applied a fresh coat of nonyellowing conservation varnish.
Conservation & Heritage Journal
43
I
