Rededication of the Restored Altar

            On Sunday March 11th, at the beginning of the Sung Eucharist, the Rector, Fr Andrew Allen, rededicated an old altar which had been lurking for years in the North Transept which in the 1940's was being used as a Requiem Chapel.
            Two years ago our then curate Fr Andreas studied this table and concluded it might be an antique. It did not look very special. It had nicely carved oak legs though encrusted with varnish but had clearly been cut and reduced in width and furnished with a plain pine top.  However it was accepted for restoration by the Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College for restoration in their MA Furniture and Conservation Course. The students were Eoin Ryan, Yvonne Zoeller and Nigel Churchouse. The process proved to be very time consuming, removing layers of wax and graining and making a new top of air-dried English oak.
            The altar has been dated as 1575-1640 Elizabeth, Jacobean. It has turned reeded legs, fluted at the top and chip carved along the frieze and bottom stretchers. More detailed carving was gradually revealed as the wood was stripped.
            The history of the altar can only be surmised. It is older than the first church on the site which was built in 1835 to replace the derelict Saxon church of St Laurence, Upton. It is known  that an altar was transferred from the old church. When the first phase of the present church (1873) was completed a photograph shows the East end had a small altar which could have been the same one, but the scale is too small to be sure. It was replaced by a new larger altar and may have then been used in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. 
            The restoration was paid for by a legacy from the will of Carol Lovegrove, who for many years was the church secretary. Her two sons, Martin and Raymond, were present at the service, together with two representatives of the University.

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