Browne Willis (16 September 1682 – 5 February 1760) was an
antiquary, author,
numismatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1708.
History of the Town, Hundred, and Deanery of Buckingham (1755)
St Martin's Church, Fenny Stratford
Between 1724 and 1730, Browne Willis built
St. Martin's Church on the site of the old Chantry Chapel of St. Margaret and St. Catherine at
Fenny Stratford. He erected the church as a memorial to his grandfather Dr. Thomas Willis, a famous physician who lived in St. Martin's Lane in the parish of
St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London and died on St. Martin's Day, 11 November 1675.
The Fenny Poppers
Browne Willis arranged for a sermon to be preached in his memory at St. Martin's Church every
St. Martin's Day, for which a fee was payable. He celebrated the occasion with a dinner for local clergy and gentry. The firing of the "Fenny Poppers", six small cannon, dates from this period, although there is no record of their first use. In 1740 Browne Willis bought a house in Aylesbury Street, Fenny Stratford and the rent from this was used to pay for the sermon and gunpowder for the Fenny Poppers. The traditions were continued after Willis's death in 1760.[12]
The six poppers were re-cast in 1859 after one of them burst. They are still in use today.[12]
Many sites have been used for this battery. These include; the Canal Wharf, land behind the Church, St, Martin's Hall, the Churchyard and now the Leon Recreation Ground, which was once part of the lands belonging to the Chantry.
The poppers each weigh about 19 pounds (8.6 kg). The bore, 6 by 1.75 inches (152 mm × 44 mm) will take up to 1 ounce (28 g) of gunpowder, which is plugged with well-rammed newspaper. They are fired three times on St. Martin's Day: noon, 2pm and 4pm. There is no connection with
Remembrance Day, which is also on 11 November.[12]
^Chalmers, Alexander (1817).
"Willis, Browne". The General Biographical Dictionary: containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation: particularly the British and Irish; from the earliest accounts to the present time. Vol. 32. Printed for J. Nichols. pp. 143–4. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
^David Hayton, Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley, The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1690–1715, Cambridge University Press 2002, History of Parliament