1628, and in the north aisle can be found the mutilated alabaster effigy of a knight, which tradition has to be that of Sir John Talbot, who died in 1365. Talbot is said to have been a giant, and this accounts for the exceptional length of the monument. The church was a victim of aggressive restoration during the 19th century, when the chancel was rebuilt by James Piers St Aubyn, 1848-1849. A vaulted substructure or crypt is situated beneath the chancel, but is not thought to have ever been used as a charnel house. The building of this understructure would have been necessary to maintain a level between the chancel and the nave due to the steepness of sloping ground at the east end. In the south exterior wall of the nave, close by the porch, there is a canopied recess, which according to tradition once contained a doorway leading to vaults beneath the south aisle. It is likely that this recess would once have contained a founder's tomb. From 1319 until its dissolution in 1536, Whitwick Church was an endowment of the Benedictine priory of Upholland, near Wigan, Lancashire. Following royal sequestration, the patronage of the living passed to the King and Whitwick Church remains one of forty-two churches nationally which are in the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen (in right of her Duchy of Lancaster). Today, the church forms part of a united benefice with Thringstone and Swannington. The registers date from 1601. The churchyard was closed for burials many years ago. In more recent years, many of the 18th- and 19th-century slate headstones were uprooted and moved in a line around the periphery of the southern portion of the graveyard; a 20th-century concrete war memorial now occupies the centre. Other stones were taken up and used for paving around the church. Whitwick Cemetery, off Church Lane, was consecrated on 24 June 1874 and consists of about four acres. It was divided into three sections: Church of England, Catholic and Nonconformist and placed under the control of a joint burial committee. It contains four Commonwealth war graves of service personnel, one from World War I and three from World War II. Vicars of Whitwick 1551—2020 Daughter churches and national school In the 19th and 20th centuries, new churches were built within the vast, ancient ecclesiastical parish of Whitwick as a result of population growth, all of which