Parish Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Marston Moretaine

This is a parish church of medieval origin, with substantial fabric from the early 14th century and mid-15th century, together with 19th-century restoration work. The chancel and vestry are constructed of coursed ironstone with ashlar dressings, representing the earlier work. The nave and side aisles are predominantly coursed limestone rubble with scattered ironstone, also with ashlar dressings.

The church plan comprises a nave with a six-bay arcade, a chancel with a chapel to the south, and a vestry with a priest's room above to the north. Porches with pointed-arched doorways are positioned to both north and south at the third bay from the west.

All parts of the building are topped with crenellated parapets. The chancel has pointed-arched windows: a five-light window with rectilinear tracery at the east end, two three-light windows to the south, and one three-light window to the north. A pointed-arched door stands immediately east of the north window. A stair turret with slit windows at second and third stage is positioned in the corner between the chancel and vestry. The vestry has a two-light square-headed window on its east elevation at ground floor level, a small single-light window on the upper floor, and small single-light windows on each floor of the north elevation.

The north and south aisles each have three Tudor-arched windows: the two outer windows contain three lights, and the central window contains four lights. The south elevation includes an additional similar three-light window to the chapel south of the chancel. The chapel has a matching window at its east end. The clerestory contains five three-light Tudor-arched windows on both north and south elevations. The south porch door is blocked, as is the Tudor-arched west door. The north porch has later pinnacles to its corners. A hexagonal belcote surmounts the east gable of the nave.

Inside, the door from the porch has a Tudor arch with hood-mould, featuring carved decoration in the spandrels. The door from the south porch is similar, with shield bosses as terminals to the hood-mould. The six-bay arcade has slender moulded pillars and moulded pointed arches; the westernmost bay is slightly narrower than the other five. Modern wooden panelled screens at the west end of both north and south aisles enclose, respectively, a meeting room and kitchen area. The nave roof is decorated with carved angels and bosses. A doom painting appears above the pointed chancel arch. On the north side of the arch is the door to the rood staircase; the upper door providing access to the rood is blocked. A squint through the staircase has a quatrefoil opening on the nave side and a pointed opening on the chancel side.

The chancel floor is laid with decorated tiles, flanking centrally placed Purbeck Marble memorials to members of the Snagge family. The reredos is a painted triptych depicting the birth, crucifixion, and resurrection. Three stained-glass windows dated 1898 in the style of Edward Burne-Jones occupy the south wall. A floor brass memorial to Thomas Reynes and his wife lies to the north of the altar, immediately above which is a squint between the vestry and chancel. The altar table and rails were designed by Sir Gilbert Scott.

The vestry is accessed through a pointed-arched door from the north side of the chancel. It has a rib-vaulted roof rising from pilasters and a piscina in the south wall. A door in the west wall leads to the stair turret. Above the vestry, the priest's room has a blind arcade of three arches on the south wall. The arch closest to the door contains a recess with a hole in the sill that runs through the wall to the head of the chancel door. A large fireplace occupies the north-east corner. The stair turret rises to a door to the roof.

South of the chancel, a small chapel is separated from the south aisle by a late 15th-century screen with delicate tracery to the heads of panels and openings. At the chapel's east end is a stone altar tomb to Sir John Reynes. A wall painting of a text from the First Book of Samuel and a painting of the Snagge family arms appear on the north wall. The organ fills the arch between chancel and chapel, to the east of which are two squints. Against the south wall stands the Snagge Memorial: a tomb in red-veined alabaster with reclining effigies of Thomas Snagge and his wife beneath a canopy supported on five Ionic columns.

The east wall of the north aisle retains part of the dado of a former rood screen, with four painted panels of prophets. An octagonal stone font with carved panels is positioned in the centre towards the west end of the nave.

The chancel contains the church's earliest fabric, dating to the early 14th century. In the mid-15th century, the nave was built and the chancel was altered, probably by Thomas Reynes, son of Jane, the last of the Morteyne family who had held the manor of Marston since the late 11th century. The Morteyne family may be associated with a scheduled 14th-century moated site and the Grade II* listed Moat Farm to the north-west; the scheduling also includes medieval settlement earthworks. The manor passed to the Snagge family in the 16th or 17th century. Both the Reynes and Snagges are represented in the church by memorials and coats of arms.

In 1873, the church underwent extensive restoration under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott, including a new tiled chancel floor and altar table and rails designed by Scott. The Rector's daughter, Elizabeth Tylecote, was responsible for painting the reredos and for repainting the ceiling bosses, shields, and angels.