Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Wick

A parish church dating mainly from the 12th to 16th centuries, with major restorations carried out in 1859–60 by S.W. Daukes and in 1892–93 by H. Woodyer.

The church is constructed of limestone, laid as coursed rubble on the nave west wall and otherwise as freestone, with tile roofs. It comprises a nave with a north aisle, a lower and narrower chancel, a north vestry, and a north porch.

The Exterior

A blocked round-headed arch in the west wall may have been a 12th-century tower arch and lies below a round-headed traceried 19th-century window. The nave south wall contains a single 12th-century round-headed window, unconvincingly restored in 1892. Three 2-light square-headed windows and a doorway date from the 16th century but were renewed in 1892. A square timber-framed bellcote with a pyramid roof on wide bracketed eaves crowns the structure. Its openings have cusped heads fitted with louvres.

The 19th-century north aisle projects slightly forward at the west end and is lit by 2-light Decorated windows. The north doorway has a continuous chamfer and is set within a timber-framed porch on a dwarf wall, with cusped arcading to the side walls.

The chancel features a 3-light Decorated east window above a low central buttress. Its south wall contains renewed single-light pointed and straight-headed 2-light windows. To the left is a 19th-century projection with 3 lancet windows. On the north side, a small round-headed 12th-century window is concealed by the valley of the vestry roof. The vestry has a hipped roof and a 4-light east window. Its round-headed north window incorporates a re-used 12th-century window head.

The Interior

The 3-bay arcade has simple capitals to square abaci and pointed arches, suggesting early 12th-century work but altered around 1200. The chancel arch is in a similar style but dates from 1892. The nave has a principal medieval cradle roof with a single tie beam. The chancel roof is similar in form but is 19th-century and is boarded over the sanctuary. The north aisle roof is also 19th-century, spanning 7½ bays with collar-beam trusses. A corbelled piscina in the south-east corner of the chancel dates from 1892. The walls are plastered throughout. The nave floor is laid with 19th-century red and black tiles with raised wood floors beneath the benches, whilst the chancel has richer decorative tiles.

The tub font may be 12th-century in origin but was re-cut in the 19th century. It stands beneath a tall concave canopy of 1949 designed by J.N. Comper. A west gallery by Daukes has a faceted front on posts. Contemporary with it are most of the benches, which feature straight-headed ends with moulded tops. Later benches on the south side, with notional buttresses, were added in 1892. A polygonal pulpit has open arcading. A 17th-century communion rail is carved with turned balusters.

The chancel furnishings are principally by Woodyer. The chancel screen has a panelled dado with two main lights either side of the doorway, arcading, and finials flanking a central gable with a cross. The painted reredos features rich blind Gothic panels flanked by small shield-bearing angels. Choir stalls and frontals have poppy heads.

The church contains several windows of good quality. Those in the chancel by C.E. Kempe include the crucifixion in the east window (1893) and Saints Bartholomew, Peter and Paul in the south windows (1895). The nave south windows display the Annunciation by William Pearce Ltd (1911), a window of the Good Samaritan by Mayer & Co (1905), and a semi-abstract millennium window by Gerald Paxton (1999).

History and Restoration

The core of the church dates to the 12th century and originally comprised a nave with a north aisle and chancel, and possibly also a tower. The building underwent a major restoration in 1859–60 under S. Whitfield Daukes (1811–80), an architect based in Gloucester and London, who rebuilt the north aisle and provided new seating and a gallery. A second phase of substantial work occurred in 1892–93 under Henry Woodyer (1815–96), during which the chancel and vestry were enlarged, and the nave south wall was re-cased with renewal of its windows.

Samuel Whitfield Daukes was born in London and trained under the York architect James Piggott. He began practice around 1837 and established a Gloucester office with John R. Hamilton, later joined by James Medland (1808–94) and Alfred W. Maberley. He served as architect to the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway from 1839–42 before moving to London in 1848. Despite his later London base, he continued to receive commissions in Gloucestershire and Worcestershire, alongside work in other regions including a Congregational church in Salford and a rectory in Cambridgeshire.

Henry Woodyer, a gentleman-architect with considerable private means, was based at Grafham in Surrey and trained under the renowned church architect William Butterfield. He established a strong reputation for church architecture, with his work concentrated chiefly in Surrey and the surrounding counties. His masterpiece is often considered to be Dorking parish church.

Setting and Related Structures

A churchyard cross was restored by C.G. Hare in 1911. The lych gate of 1899 was designed by G.F. Bodley. Both the cross and the lych gate are listed separately.