Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Ashford Carbonell

A church of 12th-century origin with additions from the 13th and 15th centuries, restored in 1883. The building is constructed of sandstone rubble walls with ashlar dressings. The bell turret is weatherboarded timber-framed with a pyramid roof. The roof is covered with graduated stone tiles and stone coped gables.

The 12th-century chancel was extended in the 13th century. The nave dates from the 12th century and was extended in the late 13th century, with a 15th-century west turret and a 19th-century south porch added subsequently.

Exterior features include a restored chancel east window comprising a vesica window over two small restored round-headed lancets. The north wall of the chancel has two 12th or 13th-century round-headed lancets. The south wall contains a 12th-century round-headed lancet and a 15th-century window of twin cusped lancets. A 12th-century south priest's doorway has a moulded round-arched head with square abacus and plain chamfer underneath, with a plain door.

The nave's north wall features a 12th-century round-headed lancet to the left, a 14th-century window of two cusped lancets with quatrefoil over at the extreme left, and a late 12th-century doorway with round arch on plain abacus with dog-tooth hoodmould in the centre. This doorway retains its original plain three-board plank door with separate tongue in edge-groove and a single iron strap hinge, though it is blocked internally. The south wall has a 14th-century window of twin cusped lancets with quatrefoil over at the extreme left, a 19th-century imitation adjacent to this, and a single 12th-century round-headed lancet to the right. Another 12th-century south doorway has a plain tympanum with plain lintel set on abacus-type corbelled head of door jambs, with a plain plank door reputed to be medieval with a single contemporary strap hinge.

The west wall contains a single tall Transitional lancet with hoodmould and label stops carved as heads, probably of medieval date. The 19th-century south porch has an ashlar-coped projecting gabled roof and coursed rusticated stone walls with an Early English-style arched doorway.

Interior

The chancel roof from the 19th-century restoration is five bays with a single purlin. The purlin is tenoned with cusped wind braces above and below, and the roof has arched-braced collar trusses and cambered tie beams. An aumbry is set in the north wall. The 12th-century chancel arch is plain and round, set on plain square abacus with chamfered soffit.

The nave roof is five bays and dates from the 16th century. It features a double trenched purlin roof with ridge piece, arched-braced collar with upper-collar trusses with alternate tie beam or hammerbeam lower members. The tie beams are cambered. Vestigial hammerbeam ends with braces and wall posts are present below. Ovolo chamfers decorate the tie beams, braces, principals and collars. A 19th-century castellated wall plate is fitted.

The bell turret's inner face is supported by 15th-century swept arch-braced tie-beams with twin struts above. Struts flank half-lapped cross strutting below the collar, with all sections plain chamfered.

A plain 12th-century tub font stands on a 19th-century pillared stem and base. A piscina with scalloped bowl is set in the sill of the south-east nave window, which retains 15th-century stained glass in its quatrefoil. A reset tomb slab of late 14th-century date is positioned in the south-east corner of the chancel, showing vestiges of a raised carved cross with fleur-de-lys embellishment. A small armorial stone tablet commemorates Alethea Cheese, died 1713. Two small late 18th-century brasses survive, one a rebus to a member of the Yategate family. A memorial tablet with pediment, plaque and putti commemorates Thomas Yate Esq., died 1777, and Elizabeth Yate, died 1769.