Parish Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed building in the Bedford local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 July 1964. A C13 Church. 3 related planning applications.
Parish Church of St Mary
- WRENN ID
- haunted-render-sepia
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Bedford
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 13 July 1964
- Type
- Church
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Parish Church of St Mary is a predominantly 13th-century church with some 15th-century alterations and 19th-century restoration. It features limestone rubble walls with ashlar dressings and has a cruciform layout that includes a chancel, central tower, transepts, and an aisled nave with a south porch.
The chancel has three bays, with a modern tracery east window and three early 13th-century lancet windows, each with a moulded string course above. Inside, there is a locker in the north wall, a double piscina, and a door in the south wall. The plain east and west crossing arches are of three orders, and there is a three-bay 15th-century screen with tracery and a coved half-vault beneath the former rood loft, which bears an inscription. The north transept features a door leading to the octagonal tower staircase, three lancets in the north wall, and single lancets in the east and west walls. The shallower south transept has an east lancet and two tall south lancets with hoods above, along with a piscina in the southeast corner.
The nave consists of four bays, showcasing a 13th-century arcade and 15th-century clerestory windows with two cinquefoiled lights. The west front of the nave has a deeply moulded central doorway flanked by blank arches with tracery, beneath a seven-bay wall arcade topped by a stage with a central three-centred arch and two narrower pointed arches, each containing a lancet window. Above this is a low-pitched 15th-century embattled gable. The aisles contain some restored 13th-century windows. The tower has three stages, with the upper stage added in the 15th century, along with an embattled parapet and a southeast turret. Inside, there is a font and two 17th-century brasses.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 3 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
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