Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This church at Pillerton Hersey dates from the mid-13th century with major 15th-century alterations and 19th-century additions and restoration. It is built of squared and coursed limestone with ironstone dressings, and ironstone used for the top stages of the tower. The roof is tiled with stone coped gables to the chancel and the 19th-century north aisle. The building comprises a chancel, aisled nave and west tower.

The chancel contains two bays with a plinth, offset angle buttresses, a string course below the windows and a coped parapet. A 19th-century vestry is attached to the north. The east wall features a mid-13th-century triple-lancet window, with the central lancet wider than those either side. The surrounds are chamfered and hollow chamfered, and plate tracery with a quatrefoil piercing sits above the central lancet. On either side of the window is a shaft with a blank pointed arch. To the south is a 19th-century plank door with shafts at angles and two additional shafts either side, a many-moulded arch, hood mould and stiff-leaf label stops. Immediately to the left is a small lancet with a blank pointed arch and moulded surround. Pointed lancets—two to the south and three to the north—have double chamfered surrounds and hood moulds. The 19th-century vestry is in Early English style with diagonal buttresses and a 2-lancet window featuring plate tracery.

The nave contains three bays. The south aisle dates from around 1400 but was rebuilt in the 19th century; it has two bays with offset buttresses, a plinth and coped parapet. A plank door with a many-moulded surround and pointed arch opens to the left. To the right, and at the east and west ends, are 19th-century three-light windows in the Perpendicular style with hood moulds and label stops. The north aisle has three bays and is dated 1845, with a plinth, buttresses and coped parapet. A string course runs below the windows. Three Early English-style lancets with chamfered surrounds are present, along with a 3-lancet window to the east and a 2-lancet window to the west, all having hood moulds and label stops.

The west tower has three stages with offset diagonal buttresses, a plinth, string coursing and a battlemented parapet with finials at the corners. It dates from the 13th century but was altered and heightened in the 15th century. The west face has a plank door within a many-moulded pointed arch, hood mould and label stops. Above is a 15th-century two-light window with cusped lights, chamfered surround and hood mould with label stops. A small stair turret light to the south has a chamfered surround. To the south of the second stage is a pointed light with chamfered surround and hood mould, above which is a one-handed clock. The bell chamber stage has 15th-century two-light windows (the west one renewed), with chamfered surrounds, slate louvres, hood moulds and label stops. Simple sundials are incised in the walls of the church.

Interior

The east window lancets have shafted surrounds with stiff-leaf capitals, and the whole window has a double shafted surround with moulded angles and a string course below. A 13th-century double piscina with a central shaft is present. The 13th-century chancel arch has piers flanked by smaller shafts and a double hollow chamfered pointed arch with hood mould. The south nave arcade has two bays and was rebuilt in the 19th century. The 19th-century north arcade has three bays in Early English style. The chancel arch has chamfered piers, capitals and arch with chamfered surround.

The chancel features a hammer-beam roof of the 16th or 17th century. The nave has a low-pitched 15th-century roof with arch-braced trusses; the tie beams, purlins and principal rafters are moulded, and there are many carved bosses and moulded stone corbels. The 19th-century aisle roofs imitate the chancel style to the north.

The east window contains green-tinted glass. A reset roundel in the south aisle is dated 1514. A coat of arms of George III is painted on the south aisle wall. An 18th-century chamber organ with pilasters and pediment is present. The porch walls contain 18th- and 19th-century memorials, and a medieval chest sits in the porch. The church has 17th-century bells and 19th- and 20th-century fittings including carved altar rails, a reading desk and reredos. A thin-shafted font cover by Canon Staley was presented in 1927.