page_title: Maulden
section_title: Parish Church
hierarchical_section_title: Maulden / Parish Church
caption_attribution_description: English: West end of St Mary the Virgin parish church, Maulden, Buckinghamshire, seen from the southwest
context_page_description: Maulden is a small village and civil parish located in the county of Bedfordshire. The village is located 1.5 miles east of Ampthill and about 8 miles south of Bedford. It has about 1,250 homes and 3130 residents.
  Maulden is referred to in the Domesday Book as Meldone and the meanings ascribed to the various versions of the name include "cross on the hill", "high down" and "place of meeting".
  The village forms part of the Ampthill ward in the administrative area of Central Bedfordshire. An active Parish Council meets every 6 weeks - the clerk is Alison Winksell.
context_section_description: The parish church of Maulden is St Mary the Virgin. It stands on the Greensand Ridge to one side of the village main road. There are church services every Sunday and throughout the week. The church has an active congregation, with a variety of different events taking place.
  There is one rectory for the Parish of St Mary the Virgin. The current recent rector is the Revd Canon Lynda Klimas. Maulden church (and other locations around the village and some Maulden residents) feature in two books, published in 2013 and 2015, entitled Musings from Maulden and More Musings from Maulden.
  In 1824 the church consisted of the tower, a nave with a very low roof (it was reported in the Bedford Mercury of October 1858 that during a heavy downpour it was difficult to hear the sermon), a chancel with a slightly higher roof, a north aisle and gallery. This gallery was quite large, and because of the low roof came down to only two feet above the tops of the pews underneath, as well as blocking the light from two of the windows. The pews, some of which faced different ways, provided seating for 248, plus 40 in the gallery. There was no south aisle and no vestry. There was a south entrance with a porch, and a doorway in the north wall, next to the passageway to the Ailesbury mausoleum.  The bell tower is in active use and includes a mechanical Westminster "chime" which is a distinctive sound in the village.
  In the churchyard stands a 17th-century mausoleum and crypt known as the Ailesbury Mausoleum (pictured). The original mausoleum was built by Thomas, Earl of Elgin, in memory of his second wife Diana, daughter of the Earl of Stamford. The mausoleum and crypt are sometimes open to visitors during the summer months. On 6 August 2008, lead was stolen from the roof of the mausoleum, causing at least £10,000 worth of damage.
caption: The Parish Church
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