Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The rectory and advowson of Harrow came into the hands of Christ Church, Oxford, by a grant from the Crown in 1546. The College subsequently made a practice of leasing the tithes out for a substantial rent and they were in turn sub-let by the main lessor. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the main lease was usually for 21 years at an annual rent of £74. 17s. 8d. renewable every 7 years for a substantial fine. The lease was held by the Conyers family, the first of whom was an executor of Sir Francis Gerard, from 1709-1772, then by the Hernes until 1793 and by Richard Page from 1793 to 1803. All tithes were extinguished by the Inclosure Act of 1803.
In medieval times Saint Mary's was one of the most important churches in Middlesex. There is a twelfth-century tower with tall octagonal lead spires. The nave was re-built in the thirteenth-century when the rector was Elias de Dereham, the canon of Salisbury. Various additions and embellishments took place under John Byrkhead, rector from 1437 to 1468, then restored heavily in the nineteenth century. Many brasses including a small brass of John Lyons, founder of Harrow School.