Church Of Saint Mary

Church of Saint Mary

A Grade I listed church of cruciform plan located in Cottingham. The building spans several centuries of construction: the nave, aisles and transepts date from the early 14th century, the chancel and south porch from the late 14th century, and the central tower from the 15th century. The church is built in ashlar with lead roofs.

The church comprises a five-bay aisled nave with a south porch, single-bay transepts, a central tower, and a four-bay chancel with a north vestry. The nave features a high moulded plinth and buttresses with offsets. A moulded sill band runs across the elevation. Four three-light pointed windows with curvilinear tracery sit under hoodmoulds with face stops, arranged on the north and south sides. A small similar window appears above the pointed south door, which has continuous moulding. The west elevation has a central pointed door with continuous filleted roll mouldings under a continuous hoodmould, flanked by three-light pointed windows with curvilinear tracery. A four-light pointed west window with curvilinear tracery of good style sits above these. Buttresses feature gablets and crocketed finials. The north side mirrors the south fenestration. A pointed north door has two orders: an outer roll and an inner hollow chamfer, with moulded imposts on similarly moulded jambs. The nave is crowned with crenellated parapets and a raised coped gable with cross finial.

The south porch has a raised moulded plinth and diagonal buttresses with offsets. Its pointed door features continuous shallow mouldings under a hoodmould. A low coped gabled parapet incorporates a niche above the door and has a cross finial.

The south transept has a raised moulded plinth with angle buttresses with offsets and gablets. A three-light pointed east window with curvilinear tracery sits under a hoodmould. A large five-light pointed south window displays Perpendicular tracery under a hoodmould. The transept ends with a moulded eaves cornice, raised coped gable and cross finial. The north transept contains a five-light pointed north window with Perpendicular tracery; a blocked early 14th-century pointed window appears on the east wall.

The chancel has a high moulded plinth with buttresses with offsets and crocketed pinnacles. Four three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery, incorporating brattished transoms to the head of the centre lights, sit under hoodmoulds with face stops. The north elevation has similar but simpler fenestration, with a pointed priest's door—reused from an early 14th-century context—under a hoodmould with grotesque stops. A crenellated parapet tops the chancel.

The central tower rises in two stages with angle buttresses and a mid-wall buttress to each face, rising from the sills of the belfry openings. A polygonal stair turret, virtually free-standing, occupies the north-east corner. Paired pointed three-light belfry openings feature Perpendicular tracery and brattished transoms. The crenellated parapet has pinnacles with blank traceried panels, pyramid and ball caps, and a flagpole.

Interior

The north and south nave arcades each comprise five bays with quatrefoil filleted piers carrying moulded capitals and moulded pointed arches; the outer order is filleted. Hoodmoulds with face stops run along both sides of each arcade. The east bay of each arcade has been strengthened to carry the crossing tower: enlarged piers carry lower pointed arches with plain soffits and filleted rolls to the edges only. The 14th-century hoodmoulds remain visible above. The west crossing arch and the north and south transept arches have been similarly treated.

The south transept contains a piscina with triangular head in the south wall. A four-centred chancel arch rests on attached shafts to responds.

The chancel houses a fine brass to Nicholas de Luda (died 1384), a Capuchin friar who built the chancel. The brass shows a full-length figure in prayer beneath a crocketed ogee canopy with a frieze above. A small brass of inferior quality in the south wall commemorates John Smith and his wife, who died in 1504. The church contains a large number of 18th-century wall tablets and memorials, chiefly two to Ralph Burton (died 1768), with a lengthy inscription beneath an achievement of arms against a dark obelisk at the west end, and William Burton of Hotham (died 1764), with an inscription on a plinth to an urn with wreaths and drops of roses beneath a small coat of arms on a dark obelisk, also at the west end.

The church contains extensive stained glass. A large amount by Capronnier is remarkable for its range of colour: the east window dates to 1875, the west window to 1882, the south transept south window to 1885, and the south-east window to 1890. Capronnier also executed a south chancel window and another in the north aisle. Additional windows are by Kempe and Tower.