Church Of St Mary And Adjoining Wall

Overview and Dating

The Church of St Mary is a parish church with an adjoining wall on its north side. The building dates primarily from the 14th and 15th centuries, with significant 18th-century work including a restoration in 1718 commissioned by Sir Thomas Parkyns. Further restorations took place in the 19th century and again in 1890–1891 and 1911. The church is constructed of dressed coursed rubble and ashlar, with lead and stainless steel roofs. The gables are coped, and the east chancel gable bears a single ridge cross.

Architectural Arrangement

The church comprises a tower with spire, nave with north and south aisles, south porch, north vestry, and chancel.

Tower and Spire

The single-stage 14th-century tower is built of ashlar with angle buttresses. It stands on a moulded plinth and is embattled with a plain band beneath the battlements. Single crocketed pinnacles occupy each corner, and the tower is surmounted by a crocketed spire. The west side features a doorway with a plank door. Above this is a large arched 14th-century three-light window with reticulated tracery, and there are five small rectangular lights elsewhere in the tower. The south side has five rectangular lights, and the east side has a single rectangular light. The bell chamber has four moulded arched openings, with single clock faces beneath them.

Projecting from the north side of the tower is a low 19th-century ashlar-coped brick wall topped with iron railings. This wall forms a rectangle with the north aisle, enclosing a paved area containing a single 19th-century headstone.

North Aisle

The north aisle is constructed of dressed coursed rubble with buttresses. A continuous sill band runs along the north side, forming a hood mould over the doorway. The west wall contains a single arched three-light window. The north wall features a single restored 14th-century arched three-light window with intersecting tracery and a hood mould. To the left of this window is a moulded arched doorway with a 17th-century door. Further left is a single squint, and on the far left are two similar restored 14th-century windows with hood moulds. The east wall has a single 19th-century two-light window with cusped tracery beneath a flat arch.

Clerestory (North Side)

The embattled 15th-century clerestory over the north aisle is constructed of dressed coursed rubble. It features a band of blind quatrefoils beneath the parapet and has four windows: three with two ogee-arched lights, and the single window to the left with two trefoil-arched lights. All have tracery and sit beneath flat arches. Two gargoyles are present, along with the remains of three crocketed pinnacles.

Chancel

The chancel is built of ashlar and set on a chamfered plinth. A continuous sill band extends around the chancel and the vestry, though it is broken by some openings in the vestry. The north wall is buttressed, with each buttress terminating above the parapet in a crocketed pinnacle. The parapet is decorated with open quatrefoils. The single buttress second from the left rises from a carved grotesque head. There are two restored 14th-century arched three-light windows with intersecting tracery, hood moulds, and two remaining label stops.

To the left of these windows is the buttressed vestry, formerly a chapel. The outer buttresses bear the remains of crocketed finials. The vestry is set on a chamfered plinth and has a parapet. The west wall contains a single lead glazing bar casement. The north wall has a doorway with a plank door, and the east wall has a single lead glazing bar fixed light with moulded jambs. Above, in the chancel wall proper, are two 14th-century windows, each with three trefoil-arched lights beneath a flat arch and with moulded surrounds.

The east end of the chancel is similarly buttressed and features a single early 18th-century five-light ashlar cross fixed light with a cavetto moulded surround.

The south wall of the chancel is also buttressed and has an embattled parapet. It contains a single arched three-light 19th-century window with cusped tracery, a hood mould, and human head label stops. To the left are two restored 14th-century arched three-light windows with intersecting tracery, hood moulds, and human head label stops. Further left is a single similarly arched window opening, now blocked, with a hood mould and a single right human head label stop. There is also a later, now blocked, arched doorway.

South Aisle

The south aisle is built of dressed coursed rubble and has a parapet with a band of blind quatrefoils beneath. The remains of four crocketed pinnacles survive. The aisle contains two 14th-century arched three-light windows with intersecting tracery, hood moulds, and label stops. A continuous sill band is broken by the porch.

South Porch

The 15th-century porch is constructed of ashlar on a moulded plinth. It has a parapet matching that of the aisle and the remains of four crocketed pinnacles. The gable has a round arch topped with a single finial and contains a single trefoil-arched niche. The entrance arch is moulded and fitted with iron double gates. Each side wall has a single arched three-light opening with cusped panel tracery. The roof is barrel vaulted with five transverse ashlar ribs. Ashlar benches are fitted within the porch. The inner doorway is moulded and arched, with a 17th-century door. To the left of the porch is a single similar restored 14th-century window with a hood mould and a single left human head label stop.

The ashlar west wall of the south aisle stands on a chamfered plinth and contains a single cambered arched 18th-century three-light window.

Clerestory (South Side)

The 15th-century clerestory over the south aisle is built of dressed coursed rubble and has four windows, each with two ogee-arched lights beneath a flat arch. The remains of two crocketed pinnacles survive. The parapet retains fragments of quatrefoil blind panelling beneath.

Interior

The interior features 14th-century five-bay nave arcades with double-chamfered arches. The columns and responds are circular, except for the north-west and south-west columns and the north responds, which are octagonal. All have moulded capitals except the south-east column, which is crudely carved.

A tall double-chamfered tower arch opens into the nave, with the inner order supported on corbels. The chancel arch is moulded and fitted with a screen, part of which is constructed from 14th-century screenwork.

Chancel Furnishings and Features

The south wall of the chancel contains 14th-century sedilia with engaged quatrefoil colonnettes with fillets and moulded capitals. The sedilia have ogee arches with hood moulds and finials. A band linking the base of the finials extends beneath the window to the left. To the left of the sedilia is an arched piscina with two inner trefoil-arched openings and cusped tracery.

The north wall has an aumbry with some remaining moulding. To the left is an ogee-arched doorway leading to the vestry. In the south wall of the vestry is an arched piscina with an inner trefoil arch, and an aumbry to the right.

Flanking the south and north windows of the chancel are single quatrefoil colonnettes with fillets and moulded capitals.

South Aisle Features

West of the south aisle doorway is an arched tomb recess, with an arched piscina in the south wall of the south aisle.

Fonts

The church contains two fonts: a circular 12th-century ashlar font and an octagonal 19th-century ashlar font.

Roofs and Corbels

The chancel roof, which was lowered in the early 18th century, is partly supported on ashlar corbels. The restored nave roof is also supported on ashlar corbels inscribed "J P, W T, 1718 J W".

Wall Paintings and Royal Arms

A few fragments of wall painting survive on the north-east respond. Over the south aisle doorway is a Royal Arms of George III. Three hatchments are positioned over the chancel arch.

Monuments and Memorials

The church contains an exceptional collection of memorials spanning several centuries.

Chancel:

In the east wall of the chancel is a wall tablet to George Augustus Henry Anne Parkyns, dated 1830, with a shield on the apron and a draped urn on the crown. The tablet to Thomas Boothby Parkyns, 1800, has foliate scrolls flanking the tablet and is surmounted by a swan-neck pediment with an urn. The apron is decorated with a shield.

In the south wall of the chancel, the wall tablet to George Alexander Forteath, 1862, is surmounted by a shield. The tablet to Sir Thomas Parkyns, died 1806, by John Bacon, has a shield over the inscription and is surmounted by a kneeling female figure and a sarcophagus.

On the north wall is a tablet to Dame Anne Parkyns, 1725, by Edward Poynton. The apron is decorated with putti and skulls, and the segmental arched head is surmounted by a kneeling figure. There is a further monument to Richard Parkyns, 1603. This features kneeling male and female figures in contemporary dress facing each other, with four small figures behind. The apron and entablature are decorated with strap work, and the entablature is supported on decorative columns.

South Aisle:

In the south aisle is a wall tablet to Isabella Beetham, 1814, and Isabella Ann Beetham, 1801. The wall tablet to Henry Cropper, 1812, by Gaffin of Regent Street, is in the form of a sarcophagus surmounted by an urn. The tablet to Henry Cropper, 1726, has a roundel decorated with a figure on the apron and is surmounted by a broken pediment supported on fluted pilasters. The wall tablet to Elizabeth Cropper, 1800, by J. Peck, is surmounted by an urn, as is that to Henry Cropper, 1794. A further wall tablet with an obliterated inscription commemorates Humphrey Barley, 1571. This is decorated with a shield of arms, Doric columns, and a pediment.

North Aisle:

In the north aisle, removed from the chancel, is the large and fine monument to Sir Thomas Parkyns, 1741, which he designed himself. The monument is two bays wide. In the left bay is a life-size figure of Parkyns in a wrestling pose. In the right bay is a small figure of a man lying on a mat with Father Time standing next to him, both crudely carved. Inscriptions in Latin and Greek appear both in the right bay and below. The lower inscription tablet is flanked by single decorative brackets. Above and flanking the figures are single Corinthian pilasters with shields of arms above.