St Mary's Ballinger 

Welcome to the dedicated page for St Mary’s Ballinger, one of two smaller churches within the Great Missenden Parish.
 

Services

We have Holy Communion or Morning Prayer on the first Sunday of every month and special family services at Easter, Harvest and at Christmas.

St. Mary’s is a place of peace for all. The church is not solely used for services, it is open to all as a tranquil place to rest with their thoughts. Local events are also held in the church.

Our dedicated page details what’s on at all of our Churches here.

Location

 

History

St Mary’s is a small mission church, constructed in brick and flint with white washed interior walls. It is tucked away at the end of the left fork of Blackthorne Lane. 
 
The church was built by Mr A. E. Watson of The Lee Manor in 1873 “as a school and lecture room for the poor”. The picture in the Church shows Mr. Watson with the teachers, surrounded by their pupils. This purpose placed it at the centre of village life and it never lost that position, as the caretaker’s family (name of Evans) came to live in a local cottage in 1920. When Dorothy Evans came to live in Watson Cottage in that year, the church was used by the Church of England and the Free Church, with their services alternating between morning and afternoon. The Free Church only stopped holding services in the 1960’s.

A Dames school was run for small children at St Mary’s during the week by a Miss Beeson. Dorothy remembered putting their slates out, although she herself went to Lee Common School. The Evans family looked after the church for over 50 years.

Before the War Memorial Village Hall was built after the First World War, St. Mary’s was used for village events.

The most recent additions to the church are the porch (1986) and kitchen, at the turn of the millennium.