St Leonard's Church, Grendon Underwood

As you would expect this church is Grade II listed and I pass it each time I visit Mum which is what I did this morning. The church in part dates from the thirteenth through to the fifteenth century & was "modernised" by the Victorians. A nice church which seems very large for the seemingly small population of the village. 

Its claim to fame is that when Shakespeare visited & stayed in the local coaching inn called The Ship (now called Shakespeare House), he supposedly wrote parts of A Midsummer Night's Dream basing the home of the fairies on Grendon Wood which still stands nearby & is a part of the ancient Bernwode Forest.

Mum was well & has been having lots of visitors. It seems that I was worse than her today but I did manage to cook her lunch before leaving & visiting the church.

I tried to think of the last time I had visited this church & it was probably as a small child when I attended the local primary school in the 60s. One of my relatives (a maternal Great Uncle) is mentioned on the war memorial inside. He was reported missing presumed dead when the aircraft he was in was shot down during WWII

A fine sunny day, almost muggy, but fortunately a nice breeze blowing.