'Monument and the Bolingbroke pew, St Mary's Church, Lydiard Tregoze' by V.H. Lines, 1942

1942 watercolour painting looking towards the manorial pew of the St.John family and the monument to Nicholas and Elizabeth St.John on the south side of St. Mary's Church, Lydiard Tregoze.

This work is from the 'Recording Britain' collection made in the early 1940s during World War II. The scheme was initiated by Sir Kenneth Clarke, then Director of the National Gallery in London. Its purpose was to make paintings and drawings of buildings, scenes, and places which captured a sense of national identity. Some of the country's finest artists were employed, such as John Piper and Sir William Russell Flint.

It is possible to see which hymns are being sung in Lydiard Tregoze by a careful look at the hymn board in the painting:-

Hymns Ancient and Modern

224 Crown him with many crowns

240 Angel voices ever singing

520 Thine arm O Lord/ in days of old