St. Boniface Bunbury

Under the will of Thomas Aldersey the Company was appointed patron of Bunbury, Cheshire in 1594 as part of an ambitious project to benefit local people, including the foundation of Bunbury School.
 
Incumbent: The Revd. Rick Gates: e-mail rick@prayer.fsnet.co.uk
 
Bunbury Church dates from Saxon times and is one of a few Anglican churches dedicated to St. Boniface (680-754 A.D.), Missionary and Saint. The wooden Saxon church was destroyed by the Normans who erected a small stone church. In c.1300 a gothic church, of the present-day ground plan, was built. The lower tower and part of the chancel still remain.

In 1386 Bunbury Church came into the possession of Sir Hugh Calveley who founded a College and adapted the church for his own purposes. Sir Hugh's College was dissolved in 1547 when the Crown assumed administration of the tithes and patronage. In the late sixteenth century the London Haberdasher, Thomas Aldersey, purchased these rights. The rights of patronage passed from the Aldersey family to The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers.
 
During the Civil War the church was "fired" by the Royalists but was restored after the conflict. Nave and tower galleries were installed in Jacobean times, but these were all removed, together with the ancient boxpews, in 1865. This mid-Victorian work resulted in the church interior reverting to its former open medieval form. In 1940 the church was extensively damaged when a German parachute bomb exploded nearby. After necessary post-war restorations Bunbury church remains a cherished, perpendicular-style, medieval church and is Grade 1 listed.