Church Of St Mary The Virgin

BLETSOE THE AVENUE TL 05NW (East Side)

6/35 Church of St Mary the Virgin 13.7.64 - II*

Medieval parish church, much restored in mid C19. Coursed limestone rubble. Irregular cruciform plan with central tower, whose form suggests Saxo-Norman origins, though details at top, corner gargoyles and double trefoiled lights in each side, are C14. The chancel is a C19 restoration of a C14 rebuilding. It has two arched tomb recesses and is derelict, being bricked off from the tower. The roofless vestry to the north is a C19 rebuilding. The north transept overlaps both tower and chancel: approached from the tower, it is a C19 renovation of the St John Chapel, and contains a wall memorial to Frances Countess Bolingbroke d. 1678. The south transept, C14 restored, is slightly askew to the axis of the tower. The aisleless nave, heavily restored but probably of late C13 origins, now contains the Sir John St John (d. 1559) memorial, moved in 1978 from the north transept. It is in alabaster and shows his family under a canopy supported by columns. There is a C19 rebuilt porch to the south of the nave, which has diagonal corner buttresses at its west end. The octagonal font is C15.

Listing NGR: TL0234158330