Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a parish church on Station Road at Sutterton, largely dating from the late 12th century through to the 15th century, with significant later alterations and restoration. The exterior is constructed of squared limestone rubble and ashlar with slate and lead roofs.

The building comprises a crossing tower with nave and clerestory, aisles, transepts, and chancel. In 1861–1863 Edward Browning carried out major remodelling of the tower, spire, aisles and south transept. The spire itself was rebuilt in 1787.

The west front features a 5-light window with a segmental head and reticulated tracery of unusual design. Above this, set in the gable parapet, are the date 1602 and the initials BW and WF. The west ends of both aisles display 3-light windows with late 13th-century intersecting tracery. The north aisle, which has a plain parapet, contains four 3-light windows with 14th-century reticulated tracery set within rectangular surrounds. A late 12th-century doorway with shafted reveals, roll moulding, chevrons and an interlaced hood survives on the north side.

There are 5 two-light 14th-century windows in the clerestory. The north transept is lit by a large 6-light 15th-century panel-traceried window on its north side. A pair of 13th-century clerestory lights, chamfered with engaged shafts, light the interior. A late 13th-century 2-light window with plate tracery opens to the eastern chapel.

The crossing tower is constructed in ashlar with clasping buttresses and an embattled parapet. Its distinctive feature is a set-back spire richly crocketed with 3 tiers of alternating lucarnes. The belfry stage contains large 2-light reticulated openings of 19th-century date. The transept east side has a matching clerestory, while the chapel is lit by a lancet and a triple 13th-century plate-traceried window.

The chancel north wall retains 2 pairs of reset 13th-century lancets with engaged shafts. The east wall has 19th-century stepped lancets. The south chancel wall mirrors the north elevation and includes a single chamfered door. The south transept and chapel were rebuilt in the 19th century with 4 lancets and a sexfoil window. The south aisle wall contains recut 14th-century windows of 2 and 3 lights with reticulated tracery.

A 19th-century south porch has been added with a Romanesque-style outer arch, clustered shafts and a moulded head. The south clerestory matches the north and is notable for dated rainwater heads bearing the date 1789. An inner south doorway of late 12th-century date survives, distinguished by triple shafted reveals, foliate capitals, 2 orders of delicate roll moulding, an order of ring chain and a chevron-moulded hood.

Internally, the church retains late 12th-century 5-bay nave arcades with circular piers and square abaci with nicked-out corners. The capitals are carved with an unusual mixture of stiff leaf, interlace and animal forms. The arches are double chamfered with hood moulds, one incorporating chevron moulding. A circa 1200 western crossing arch has paired shafted reveals, scalloped capitals and 2 pointed orders of chevron moulding. Transept arches at the east ends of the aisles are double chamfered on circular corbels. The other 3 crossing arches match the western one in style but are plain double chamfers. A trefoil-headed niche with an ogee canopy survives on the south side. The north transept has shafted reveals to the clerestory rear arches and a wide double-chamfered arch opening to a former transept chapel, now a vestry, on its east side. The south transept has a matching double-chamfered arch.

The chancel was largely rebuilt in the 19th century, though 13th-century windows were reused. It contains a double piscina and tomb recess. On the north side is a double-chamfered arch with one shafted reveal.

The interior fittings include freely tiled chancel walls of 19th-century date with an elaborate mosaic and tiled reredos. An octagonal 19th-century ashlar font with carved side panels and clustered marble shafts to its base is also present. The south transept contains 3 recumbent 14th-century effigies carved in low relief—to a lady, a civilian, and a priest holding a chalice—each with black letter inscriptions. A limestone wall slab in the south aisle, with an eared and shouldered egg-and-dart surround, commemorates Beaumont Leeson, who died in 1750.