Church Of St Mary And St Andrew

Church of St Mary and St Andrew

This parish church stands on Church Street in Condover. It is a substantial building of uncoursed and dressed pink sandstone with ashlar dressings and machine tile roofs, comprising a nave, chancel, north and south transepts, a west tower, north porch, south vestry and organ chamber, and a north chancel chapel.

The church has a complex building history spanning from the late 12th century through to the 19th century. The medieval structure was substantially rebuilt in the 1660s and further restored in 1868, with comprehensive restoration work carried out by Fairfax Wade in 1878.

The west tower dates to 1664 and is executed in late Perpendicular style. It rises in three stages with diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet topped with crocketed corner pinnacles. An integral stair turret with a domed cap rises at the south-east corner. The belfry features 2-light trefoil-headed openings, whilst the second stage on the south and west sides has narrow lancets. A clock of late 19th-century date is positioned on the north face. The 3-light west window and door are also in Perpendicular style and date to 1878.

The nave, also dating to the 1660s, is built in the same late Perpendicular style and replaced a medieval nave that formerly had a north aisle and a central crossing tower. It is buttressed along its length in five bays and has an embattled parapet. The windows are flat-headed with 2-light openings and minimal panel tracery (restored), whilst the first bay from the west on the north side features an ornate stone porch added in 1878.

The north transept dates to the late 12th century and retains early Romanesque features. It displays pilaster buttressing rising from a chamfered plinth, with a moulded string course running its length. Two round-headed windows on the north side and one on the west side have nook shafts and waterleaf capitals. Below the apex on the north is a pierced quatrefoil opening, with a narrow doorway on the east side and a restored corbel table.

The south transept may be slightly earlier than the nave and features a timber-framed gable with decorative cusped quatrefoils set in square panels. A 3-light window on the south side has tracery similar to that found in the nave, and a blocked doorway lies beneath.

The chancel dates to 1868 and is built in Early English style on the site of a 13th-century predecessor. It has single lancets on the north and south sides, whilst the east window comprises three stepped lights with cusped heads and multifoils above. A contemporary chapel lies to the north, and a prominent gabled vestry and organ chamber of 1878 stands to the south.

Interior features are notable for their architectural quality and historical significance. The tower arch is pointed with double chamfering and bears the initials "J.O/1664" on the right jamb, identifying John Orum as the mason responsible. The nave is spanned by a magnificent five-bay hammerbeam roof (restored in 1878), above which a similar but plainer roof of 1878 spans the transepts and the position of the former central tower. The chancel features a late 19th-century arch-braced roof in four bays.

Stained glass includes early 20th-century windows in the north wall of the nave by Hardman and Powell, whilst the east window is by Reginald Cholmondley and dates to 1868. A font of 1878, created by Landucci of Shrewsbury, features carved figures of Christ and St John the Baptist. A 13th-century oak chest in the north transept is fitted with ironwork incorporating fleur-de-lys finials. A stone slab dated 1744 set into the north wall of the tower records rules for bell-ringers, and various 18th and early 19th-century benefaction boards hang at the west end of the nave.

The church is renowned for its exceptional collection of monuments. These include recumbent alabaster effigies of Thomas Scriven (died 1587) and his wife in a deep 4-centred arched recess with strapwork achievement on the south wall of the chancel, with their children placed frontally against the tomb chest below. A memorial to Martha Owen (died 1641), brought from Old St Chad's in Shrewsbury, displays a frontal bust in an oval recess between columns with a carving of her baby in front.

The north chancel chapel contains the most significant monuments. A fine double monument of 1641, commissioned by Jane Norton (died 1640), depicts her and her husband Bonham in the upper figures, whilst the lower figures represent her elder brother Sir Roger and her father Thomas Owen, builder of Condover Hall. Each figure kneels and faces its partner across a prayer desk. Below the east window is a monument to Roger Owen by L.F. Roubiliac (1746), showing a semi-reclining figure with a seated female figure (Roger's daughter Catherine) at its feet. Dominating the chapel is a marble monument to Sir Thomas Cholmondley (called Owen, died 1864) by G.F. Watts, depicting a powerful bearded kneeling figure holding a sword. Also by Reginald Cholmondley is a sentimental monument to his wife Alice and their infant daughter (died 1864), showing Alice as a recumbent effigy with her baby lying beside her, the infant's empty cradle positioned at the mother's feet.

Condover was originally a Saxon minster parish serving a large surrounding area, with several dependent chapelries including the Church of St John the Baptist at Stapleton.