Church Of St Mary

LINTON CP - SO 62 NE

3/25 Church of St Mary

GV I

Church. Late C13 with C12 remains and late C14 tower with spire. Restored 1875. Sandstone rubble with tile roofs. Comprises a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, north porch, and lower chancel. The tower is of three stages with diagonal buttresses and a plain parapet. The west doorway is moulded and pointed. Above is a window of three lights with Perpendicular tracery under a pointed head. The west bell opening is of two trefoiled ogee lights with a quatrefoil under a pointed head. The stone spire has moulded ribs at its angles. In the west wall of the north aisle there is a lancet window. The eastern window in the north aisle wall is late C13 and of two trefoiled lights. The other two windows, one to each side of the porch, are C19 lancets. The gabled porch has inner and outer chamfered - pointed doorways. The south aisle wall is of three bays. The eastern window is C14, of two cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoil under a pointed head. The other windows are C19 and of two lights. Between the first and second bays is the jamb and part of the head of a C12 doorway. The south wall of the chancel is of two bays and has windows of two trefoiled lights. Between them is a chamfered pointed priest's doorway. The north wall of the chancel has two windows, the western one a single lancet, the eastern one of two trefoiled lights under a pointed head. The east window is C19 and of three trefoiled lights under a pointed head. Interior: south arcade of three bays with pointed arches chamfered in two orders springing from round piers with moulded capitals and bases. The arches are late C13 except for the western one, which is late C14. The north arcade is of three bays and has plain round arches, the eastern one narrower and probably a C19 insertion. To the west is a length of blank wall, probably from an earlier tower. The late C12 second pier from the,east is round, has a scalloped capital and is too wide for the present arches. The tower arch is pointed and chamfered in three orders. The moulded responds have moulded capitals. The lower stage of the tower has a stone rib vault with a central hole for bell ropes. The chancel arch is pointed with continuous double chamfer. Over the nave is a collar rafter roof with soulaces, ashlar pieces, and four chamfered tie-beams. The chancel roof has rafters with curved braces to the collars and a longitudinal plate below the collars. Set into the east splay of the south-east window is a rough piscina. In the south wall is a recess with chamfered jambs and trefoiled head. Attached to the walls of the lower stage of the tower are various memorials, including one to John Elmehurst (died 1662) flanked by seated figures of women. (RCHM, p 119).

Listing NGR: SO6602125332