The 18th Century
There had been a series of fires in Stony Stratford, 1703, 1725 and 1736 but the major one was in 1742.

This fire was caused by some linen catching fire after a maid guiltily tried to hide it up the chimney in the Bull Inn. St Giles church, located directly opposite the Bull Inn, escaped any damage. 146 houses however were destroyed, as well as all, but the tower, of St Mary Magdalene church.
The Bull hotel (sign), opposite St Mary and St Giles
An appeal was launched to rebuild St Mary Magdalene church but it was not successful. Instead the decision was made to once again rebuild and enlarge the church of St Giles to accommodate all the parishioners of Stony Stratford.
The remaining tower of St Mary Magdalene church
1777

This year saw the completion of the rebuilding work of St Giles following the fire of 1742. This project was led by Francis Hiorne of Warwick. The 15th century tower was retained and the nave added. Drawings at this time show that the nave was lined with oak coloured box pews. It is also generally believed that it was during this rebuild that a gallery was installed.

The architectural style of this building project was called strawberry gothic.