About Us

Welcome to St Mary's, Felmersham, part of the Sharnbrook Benefice Churches. We are a small, friendly rural community and whatever tradition or form of worship you are used to we trust that you will feel comfortable worshiping with us.

We work closely with other churches in our Benefice, and so our weekly Choral Communion service alternates between St Mary's and St Peter's, Sharnbrook. You can find details of services and events across our Benefice here or what is specifically happening in St Mary's here. Our Sunday mornings at St Mary's are particularly notable for the excellent cake on offer!

In addition to our Sunday morning services we have a 3pm Faith Explorers service on the second Sunday of the month, which is an opportunity for families to come together to sing, pray and explore Bible stories. We also have a mid-week communion service on alternate Wednesdays.

When the church is warm enough we have afternoon tea in the church on the third Wednesday of the month (timed to fit with the end of the school day), and coffee mornings on the first Saturday of the month. We also regularly host concerts in the church. All the details of events taking place can be found here. 

We are delighted to be closely connected with Pinchmill Primary School in the village. In addition to visiting the church for special services and our annual history day, we have a team who present Open The Book stories in school, usually 2-3 times per term.

Not just for Sundays

As your local parish church, we are here to support everyone in our villages. Whether you are going through one of life's big ups or downs, or if you need a listening ear in the day-to-day challenges, we are here for you. Please reach out to us if you need to talk.

Who's who

Rector: Revd. Paolo Di Leo (07968 606377)

Curate: Revd. Dr. Diana Stretton (07807 341638)

Church Warden: Sue Whitehouse (01234 781300)

We are also supported by a team of retired priests, lay leaders of worship and many others who make everything we do possible.

History of the building

The present-day church was built by the monks of Lenton Priory between 1220 and 1240, but just why they decided to build such a large church for a small community is open to debate. Medieval churches were built to the glory of God and this was achieved by spending all available money, with no regard to the size of the local population. This then could be the explanation, although it is possible that the monks intended to build a satellite monastery but never completed the project. The fact that the church was built with a central tower lends added credence to this suggestion. Relatively few medieval churches have a central tower and those that do, were not primarily built for parish use. The scale of the internal arches at the central crossing and the fine external stonework at the west end, also suggest that the church was destined for a greater purpose.

Whatever the explanation, the Lenton monks built what is regarded as one of the finest Early English Gothic buildings in the region.

Local information

Information about Felmersham and more on the history of the church can be found on the Felmersham and Radwell site.