Church of St Mary is a Grade II listed building in the Herefordshire, County of local planning authority area, England. First listed on 17 December 1986. Church.

Church of St Mary

WRENN ID
long-minaret-marsh
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Herefordshire, County of
Constituency
North Herefordshire MP: Dr Ellie Chowns (Green)
Country
England
Date first listed
17 December 1986
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Mary, Byton
OS grid reference
SO 370 641
Coordinates
52.27192, -2.92329
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Mary is a parish church built between 1859 and 1860 by an architect named Bannister. It incorporates a 12th-century tympanum that has been reset in the south wall of the organ chamber. The church is constructed from sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings and features a timber-framed porch, all topped with tiled roofs.

The layout includes a nave and chancel, along with a south porch and a south organ chamber. The nave has raised verges and is buttressed on the west side, where a clock and a small bellcote are located. On the left, there is a plain lancet window, while on the right, there is a similar lancet and a large gabled two-light window with a roundel. The gabled timber-framed south porch features curved braces to the tie-beam and V-struts, along with scalloped bargeboards. The south door has a moulded two-centred head with attached shafts, plain capitals, and bases.

The south wall of the chancel is largely taken up by the lean-to organ chamber, which prominently displays the 12th-century semi-circular tympanum featuring a relief of a lamb and a cross, alongside a niche flanked by abstract knotted ornament. The chancel also includes a small trefoil-headed doorway and a simple lancet window to the right. The east window consists of three stepped lancets with a continuous hood mould and carved heads at the stops. The north side of the church has two simple lancets for the chancel, a similar gabled two-light window, and three lancets for the nave.

Inside, the church features a four-bay nave with an open-arched braced roof adorned with decorative members. The chancel arch is composed of two orders with grouped shafts in the inner order. There is a 12th-century font with a cylindrical bowl that shows traces of chevron ornament and a renewed circular base. Additionally, there is a 19th-century pulpit that features trefoil-headed blind arcading on its sides.

Local climate

Church of St Mary receives an average of 840 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 56% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 58% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 44 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 85% of listed buildings. Of these, 23 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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