Herald Friday, May 13, 1988
THE CHURCH THAT MARIANNA BUILT
A Remarkable vicar and his equally remarkable wife have been commemorated for ever in Pirton’s village church.
The Reverend Ralph Loughborough and his wife Marianna raised the amazing sum of £3,000 at the end of the 19th century to rebuild the ruined Norman church.
When the couple came to Pirton from London the Rev Loughborough was the first vicar of Pirton for more than 200 years – probably since the Reformation.
The Anglican establishment had almost abandoned the village, letting St Mary’s church fall into decay. The curate of Ickleford came occasionally to preach and God’s word was more effectively delivered by the Baptists.
But in 1851 Ralph Lindsay, the patron of the living, built a vicarage and Rev Loughborough was appointed. He took his job seriously. He was shocked by the state of the church and he and the go-ahead Marianna set about raising the cash to put the dilapidated church back in good order.
No money could be raised from the village itself. The villagers were poor and their contribution to the project would come through manpower, not in cash. Marianna hit on the ingenious idea of appealing for cash in The Times newspaper.
Her advert read: “Twenty thousand shillings – who will help? A clergyman’s wife wants to raise the sum to assist in the reparation of a large church in the midst of a poor rural community. Tower so unsafe had to be taken down; rest of the building much decayed. Please send one shilling to Mrs Loughborough, Pirton Village, near Hitchin.”
And the readers did. The church was lovingly restored and after the vicar’s death in 1895, aged 76, and later his wife, the villagers set about giving them a remarkable memorial.
They decided to build a south transept for the church. The villagers worked for nothing and in 1913 the transept was complete.
Rev Loughborough and Marianna’s tribute reads: “A memorial to Ralph Lindsay Loughborough, first sole vicar of Pirton, and his wife Marianna. Two servants of God who laboured in Pirton nearly half a century and who were lovingly enshrined in the hearts of those they left behind.”
The story of the Loughboroughs is featured in more detail in Richard Whitmore’s latest book, Hertfordshire Headlines.
