Editing Stanmore (section)

=== Parish church ===
{{Main|St John the Evangelist, Great Stanmore}}
[[File:St John's Church, Stanmore - geograph.org.uk - 356290.jpg|thumb|[[St John the Evangelist, Great Stanmore|The Church of St John the Evangelist]] (1850), seen through the ruin of the 1632 building]]
The first [[parish church]] was the 14th-century St Mary's, built on the site of a wooden [[Saxon]] church, which itself may have been built on the site of a Roman [[compitalia|compitum shrine]].<ref name="SHoS">{{cite web|url=http://www.mellis.me.uk/stjohn.htm|title=Notes about the Churches of Great Stanmore|last=Ellis|first=Mike|date=1996-12-26|work=Short History of Stanmore|publisher=Mike Ellis|access-date=15 January 2010|archive-date=19 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719185512/http://www.mellis.me.uk/stjohn.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="SJtE">[http://www.stjohnsstanmore.org.uk/content.php?folder_id=9]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209130116/http://www.stjohnsstanmore.org.uk/content.php?folder_id=9|date=9 February 2012}}</ref> It has now completely disappeared; one tomb survives in a back garden.<ref name="SHoS" /><ref name="Victoria County History">{{cite web|title=Great Stanmore: Church|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol5/pp105-107|website=British History Online|publisher=[[Victoria County History]]|access-date=20 September 2016}}</ref>

This building was replaced by [[St John the Evangelist, Great Stanmore|a new one]] built in the current churchyard, consecrated in 1632 and dedicated to [[St John the Evangelist|St. John the Evangelist]].<ref name="SHoS" /><ref name="SJtE" /> Built of brick and consecrated by [[William Laud|Archbishop Laud]], it is one of the relatively small number of churches built in Britain between the medieval period and the eighteenth century.<ref name="SHoS" /> By the nineteenth century, this church had become considered outdated and unsafe. After its replacement, its roof was pulled off and it became a ruin.

A new church was constructed in the [[Gothic Revival]] style from 1849 to 1850. [[Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen|Queen Adelaide]]'s last public appearance was to lay the foundation stone of the new church. She gave the font and when the church was completed after her death, the east window was dedicated to her memory.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=26912 |title=Great Stanmore: Church |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |date=1976 |work=A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5: Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham |access-date=3 April 2013}}</ref>