Church Of St Mark

Church of St Mark, Church Walk, Bilton

This largely 14th and 15th century church was restored and substantially enlarged by the architects Bodley & Garner between 1871 and 1872, with a further south aisle added in 1962–3. It is constructed from pink sandstone ashlar, reportedly sourced from around Kenilworth, with slate roofs.

The church plan consists of a west tower with spire, a three-bay nave and three-bay chancel. A five-bay south aisle with porch adjoins the south side, while a four-bay north aisle with a vestry extends along the north side.

The three-stage west tower is late Decorated in style, dating perhaps to 1320–50. Its two-light bell-openings display flowing tracery combined with a strong vertical mullion showing the emerging Perpendicular character. Diagonal buttresses terminate in canopied statuary niches. A small west window and simple ogee-headed lights to the ringing chamber are present, but there is no west door. On the north side sits a shallow stair turret supported on a corbel carved with a boar's head. The tower features an embattled parapet, above which rises an octagonal spire, reportedly added in the 15th century. Angle pinnacles formerly stood on the parapet but were removed after one fell in 1895. The nave and chancel are covered by a single steep-pitched roof, whilst both aisles have separate ridge roofs with stepped coped verges to all gables.

The south aisle south wall was constructed in 1962–3 but reuses the medieval stonework of the original south nave wall. The fourth bay retains a lowside window beneath the main window, with square chamfered frame and internal shutter, while the fifth bay contains a Perpendicular priest's door—both features recalling this wall's former role as the chancel. A datestone on the east wall records 1962. The south windows display varied flowing Decorated tracery, all renewed by Bodley & Garner. A gabled Gothic porch dates to 1962. The chancel features a broad six-light east window with Flamboyant tracery installed in 1873, with a datestone to its left confirming this date. Another reset datestone to the right records alterations in 1609. The vestry and north aisle display further Decorated tracery and regular buttresses with set-offs. At the west end of the north aisle stands a small porch, perhaps dating to 1880–1910, with domestic-style half-timbering and roughcast. The north aisle west window, a three-light design with reticulated tracery, is reportedly the former chancel east window relocated during the 1871–2 works.

The interior begins with a triple-chamfered tower arch without capitals, into which a glazed screen was inserted in 1984. The nave roof, added in 1871–2, features arched trusses with tie beams. The chancel wall is faced in pink ashlar. A double chamfered chancel arch without capitals runs the length of the opening, with mouldings continuing to the bases; notches mark the fixing points for the medieval rood beam. The three-bay north arcade was inserted by Bodley & Garner and exhibits wave mouldings that die into the piers. The south aisle, added in 1962–3, achieves a notably discreet and harmonious effect; its nave arcade matches the northern one but is executed in Portland stone. The chancel was comprehensively reworked by Bodley & Garner, featuring a four-bay boarded roof richly painted and gilded with carved shields on the principal rafters. The restored 14th-century vestry door on the north side retains its hoodmould and head-stops. Adjacent to the east stands a splendid Decorated Easter sepulchre with cusped and sub-cusped opening, leafy spandrels, crockets and a substantial finial; this was altered in the 17th century to house a tomb. Triple sedilia and piscina in similar Decorated style accompany it, their stone bench and basin medieval in origin though the remainder dates to 1876. The chancel floor is laid with a geometric pattern of stone and marbles, with encaustic tiles on the altar steps. The chancel floor sits lower than the nave floor.

The principal fixtures include a communion table of 1609 in the south aisle, distinguished by fat baluster legs. The chancel fittings are predominantly of 1871–2 and of exceptional quality: Perpendicular style stalls with high backs displaying screen-like traceried open panels and ornamental cresting, with painted texts and sconces at the desks. A similarly richly carved reredos stands above, flanked by a pair of hanging iron and brass candelabra of late 17th-century type. Late 17th-century communion rails with turned balusters came from Great St Mary, Cambridge. The organ case, executed in sumptuously carved and decorated oak, was created in 1635 by Roger Dallam for the chapel of St John's College, Cambridge. Installed here in 1870, it received new organ workings, with the base vaulted out from the wall and embellished with Gothic spirelets over the pipe towers. The richly pierced and gilded pipe shades date to the 17th century and include a rose and portcullis. Remnants of Bodley's original stencilled paint scheme in greens and deep reds surround the organ, though it once covered the entire chancel before being painted out in 1976. A bulky stone font with shallow panelled sides, probably Victorian, stands in the nave, as does an oak pulpit with blind tracery of Gothic arches. Pre-1870s pews were rearranged as panelling against the aisle walls. Above the north door, a set of folding painted panels depicting angels playing musical instruments dates to 1872–3. Royal arms of George IV (1820s) are displayed. Two large brass chandeliers, purchased in Holland during the 1870s, hang in the nave.

Stained glass forms an important part of the interior decoration. Burlison & Grylls created the east window in 1874, the west window, the south aisle west window, and a window east of the south door in 1884. The Reverend Richard O. Assheton made the south aisle east window in 1882 and reset numerous late medieval fragments in the north chancel window in 1887, supplementing them with his own additions; these include a fine bearded head and a peasant wielding an axe.

The church has a documented history extending to the Domesday record, which mentions a priest at Bilton. Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) reports that St Mark was principally Norman, exhibiting good specimens of that style, with a later tower and spire; any Norman features in the nave or chancel were removed, probably during the 1870s restoration. A major rebuilding occurred in the mid-14th century, possibly undertaken by Sir Nicholas de Charnels, whose family arms appear twice on the tower. The medieval dedication was to St George; St Mark is first recorded in 1656. A west gallery was erected in 1795. A south porch was probably added in 1821, when work was done to the pulpit and pews, the east window altered and the floors raised. Bodley & Garner's restoration added the north aisle and a new south porch and renewed much window tracery; the church reopened on 19 June 1872. The tower and spire underwent repair in 1918–19 and 1947, with a general restoration undertaken circa 1930–1.