A
BIT OF HISTORY
You may have wondered where is the funny little church depicted in the
first stained glass window of the north nave aisle in Nocton Church.
The owner of Nocton Hall, the Honourable George Hobart, later the 3rd
Earl of Buckinghamshire, did not like the medieval Nocton Church and
Vicarage being so close to his magnificent Hall, so every vestige
disappeared together with all the graves which can be seen only as a
mound south west of the Hall ruins.
He erected a new church and vicarage on the place where the current
church and Old Vicarage now stand. This 'funny' little church was
consecrated in July 1775.
It was described as a 'mean structure' and began to fall down quickly
and was finally pulled down in 1862 by the Marquis of Ripon's widow
Sarah, and the present church was constructed by her in memory of her
husband.
Only two objects survive all three churches - the medieval font and the
huge monument to Sir William Ellys, another Nocton owner, which is in
the north porch.