and the parliamentary constituency of Newbury. Parish church The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is a Grade I listed building, parts of which date back to the 12th century. The church contains numerous effigies to the De La Beche family. The collection holds the largest number of medieval memorials to a single family in any parish church. The figures are supposed to be life-size representations, but some of the knights are over seven feet tall, which has led to them being known as the Aldworth Giants. They were long thought to have been erected in the 1340s by the influential Sir Nicholas De La Beche (sometimes erroneously called Lord De La Beche), but historians now prefer to date them variously in the Middle Ages. A large number of the effigies were damaged by Parliamentarian iconoclasts during the English Civil War of the 17th century. Many of the knights are missing the lower part of their legs, noses and arms, presumably because these were easy parts to break off. Parliamentarians may have seen the giants as a symbol of royalty, although many churches were ransacked in the same period. The poet, Laurence Binyon, moved to Westridge Green on his retirement in 1933. After his death in 1943, his ashes were scattered in the churchyard, where there is a slate memorial plaque to him. The parents of Emily Tennyson, Lady Tennyson née Sellwood, the wife of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, are also buried there. Demography References Notes Bibliography External links Royal Berkshire History: Aldworth Parish Church Villages in Berkshire West Berkshire District Civil parishes in Berkshire