Church Of Our Lady

Church of Our Lady, Merevale

The Church of Our Lady originated as the chapel of Our Lady at the Gate, a remnant of Merevale Abbey. The building comprises a nave and aisled chancel with south vestries, constructed over several centuries in Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles. The nave dates to the late 13th century; the chancel and south chancel aisle to around 1340; and the chancel was renewed with a north aisle added around 1500. The nave aisles were removed and their arcades blocked, possibly in the 18th century, and vestries were built on the site of the south aisle in 1850. The church underwent restoration in 1892–1893 by Alfred Bickerdike. The building is constructed of regular coursed and ashlar sandstone, with the west end in coursed sandstone rubble. Plain-tile roofs have coped gable parapets; the north chancel aisle roof is hidden by parapet.

The plan is unusual, with an aisled 4-bay chancel and 2-bay nave. The chancel features a moulded and splay plinth and moulded sill course. Buttresses of differing designs each have offset, weatherings and gablet. A large 5-light Perpendicular window with panel tracery and hood mould with head stops lights the east end, and the gable parapet has trefoiled gablet kneelers and cross finial. The Perpendicular 4-bay north aisle has moulded plinth, cornice and parapet. Diagonal, western and three north buttresses have 2 moulded offsets and crocketed pinnacles. The east wall is blank. Three-light north windows have deep hollow-chamfered jambs and hood moulds with head stops. A blocked west arch, formerly to the nave aisle, has an inner blocked arch of differing design.

The south aisle has splay plinth and cornice. A massive buttress of 18th or 19th-century date, incorporating old masonry, is positioned diagonally. The tall 3-light east window of moulded orders has Curvilinear tracery similar to tracery in the Church of St. Mary, Astley. The south side has three broader 3-light windows with similar tracery. The western window is shorter with a blocked segmental-arched doorway below. A 2-light west window is set high up.

The nave's north wall retains a blocked 14th-century 2-bay arcade of 2 chamfered orders with octagonal pier and half-octagonal responds with moulded capitals. The Early English west front has remains of splay plinth and a plain buttress. The doorway comprises 3 moulded orders; the 2 outer orders have moulded capitals of missing shafts. Double-leaf doors are ribbed and studded. Above is a 3-light window with stepped lancets and piercings. The nave and former aisle walls form a continuous structure; the south aisle wall has coping.

A small square bell turret of 1893 sits on the nave roof, tile-hung with a steep pyramid plain-tile roof and weathervane. Paired trefoiled openings contain wood louvres. The vestries have 3 segmental-pointed doorways with a central plank door; other openings are partially blocked with windows inserted.

Interior

The chancel has 4-bay Perpendicular arcades with elaborately moulded arches and slender piers of lozenge section, very thinly moulded; thin half-round shafts rise from abaci to moulded cornice, forming large framed panels. A boarded 4-centred barrel roof, reconstructed in 1893 from old materials, has moulded arch braces, ribs and purlins, carved bosses and wall posts. The 13th-century chancel arch comprises 2 roll-moulded orders with half-round responds with moulded capitals to the inner arch and hood mould. A moulded circular opening sits above. The north aisle has moulded wall shafts and a panelled timber ceiling of circa 1893. A blocked moulded west arch is present. The south aisle has moulded windows with hood moulds and head stops, and an arched common rafter roof. A blocked elaborately moulded west arch with hood mould and head stops is positioned in this aisle. The south-east bay contains a re-set head corbel. The nave retains blocked 14th-century arcades with continuous hood moulds and central head stop, defaced to the south. The barrel roof is similar to the chancel but simpler.

The principal fittings include a Perpendicular wood screen across the west end, moulded but without tracery or dado, with a doorway having an arch and wide straight-headed flanking bays with curved braces with cusped spandrels. A pulpitum is supported on similar brackets. The loft has a panelled front with blind tracery, probably mostly of 19th-century date; it was likely originally the rood screen. Some medieval encaustic tiles remain. A cabinet organ of 1777 by Johann Schnetzler is installed. A 19th-century family pew occupies the south aisle, and an octagonal font dates to circa 1893.

Stained glass is a notable feature. The east window contains an incomplete but very fine 14th-century Tree of Jesse, probably removed from the Abbey during the Civil War, found buried in the grounds of Merevale Hall, and restored and installed in the early 19th century. The tracery includes some late 14th and 15th-century work. Two south windows and a north window contain some 14th-century glass. The south aisle east window dates to 1882 and the south-east to 1871.

Monuments include a brass in the chancel floor commemorating Robert, Earl Ferrers (1412) and his wife, of high quality. An alabaster chest tomb against the nave south wall, dating to circa 1440, has effigies of a knight and lady with four angels holding shields. An effigy of a knight against the north wall of the second half of the 15th century is headless and footless. A wall monument across the east corner of the south aisle commemorates Francis Stratford (1762) and Ann (1779), featuring a panel with moulded frame, cornice and scrolled pediment, with cartouche and palms below. Three hatchments occupy the nave, with two in the north aisle dedicated to Francis and Ann Stratford. Medieval stone coffins are positioned behind the screen.