Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Thorpe Arnold

A parish church of 13th-century origin, substantially altered in the 14th century with further modifications in the 15th century. The nave was re-roofed, and the tower, south aisle, porch and chancel arch were rebuilt in 1875–76 by R W Johnson. The chancel was restored in 1887.

The building is constructed of coursed squared ironstone and limestone with limestone dressings. The roofing comprises Swithland slate to the chancel and porch, plain tile to the tower, and lead to the nave and aisles. The plan consists of a chancel, aisled nave, south porch and west tower.

The chancel is of two bays. The east window is a 3-light window with intersecting tracery. Both the north and south windows are 2-light with Y tracery, all featuring hood moulds and label stops. A south-west window with a straight head has ogee-arched heads to the lights. The south wall includes a priest's door with a stop-chamfered stone lintel.

The nave features a 3-window clerestory of 2-light windows with Perpendicular tracery. Those to the north have straight heads, while those to the south have basket-arched heads, all with hood moulds. The north aisle contains a 3-light east window with 19th-century foiled tracery, a 3-light north-east window, and 2-light windows to the north-west and west end, all with 19th-century Decorated-style tracery and hood moulds. The north door has a double hollow-chamfered doorway with hood mould. The south aisle has a 3-light east window with intersecting tracery and a larger 3-light south-east window with similar tracery. A 2-light south-west window features a quatrefoil to the head, and the west window displays Y tracery. All windows have hood moulds and label stops. The south doorway is double hollow-chamfered with hood moulds and label stops, and retains an old double plank door with wrought-iron hinges.

The porch, rebuilt in 1875, has shafts to the doorway with small rectangular windows to the east and west, framed by chamfered stone surrounds.

The tower comprises three stages. The bottom stage has a lancet west window with hood mould. The bell-chamber openings are 2-light windows with quatrefoils to the heads and hood moulds. The tower displays a deep triple-chamfered plinth, string courses, a pyramidal roof crowned with a weathervane, and ball-flower ornament to the hollow-chamfered stone eaves. Both aisles have offset buttresses at their angles.

Interior features include a chancel with an ogee-arched piscina and a 19th-century arch-braced collar truss roof. The chancel arch is double-chamfered with polygonal responds. The nave has three-bay arcades with moulded octagonal bases and capitals, octagonal piers, polygonal responds and double-chamfered arches. The capital to the south-east respond features a carved head flanked by lions' heads. The roof is in the Perpendicular style with 15th-century corbels supporting wall posts. The tower arch is narrow and double-chamfered with polygonal responds to the innermost order. A single arched piscina is set in the north aisle, while the south aisle piscina features a trefoiled niche above.

The font is Norman in date, circular and tub-shaped, carved with a knight fighting a dragon and two foliated crosses. It has an octagonal moulding to the base of the bowl, a low octagonal stem, and a chamfered plinth.

The furnishings include pitch-pine choir stalls and pews. Stained-glass windows were installed in 1876 by Heaton Butler and Bayne, comprising the east window, a south-east aisle window, and the west window of the south aisle.