Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church of 12th-century origin that has evolved significantly over the centuries. The chancel and aisles date from the 13th century, the tower from the 14th century (when the aisles were also widened), and some work was carried out on the chancel in the 15th century. The chancel chapels, clerestory and parapets are early 16th century, and the south porch early 17th century. The church was restored between 1892 and 1903 by C and W H Pertwee, including rebuilding of the chancel dormers and vestry. The parapets and pinnacles were restored in 1968, and the church was reordered in 1999 by Gerald Barrett, who also designed the small north extension.

Materials and Construction

The church is built of flint rubble with some Roman tile. The chapels, clerestory and porch are brick. The roofs are of lead, tile and slate.

Plan

The church comprises a nave with north and south aisles, west tower, south porch and north toilet block resembling a porch. The chancel has north and south chapels and a north-east vestry. A lean-to extension fills the angle between the north aisle and west tower.

Exterior

The exterior is particularly notable for its fine early 16th-century brickwork, although this was much restored in the 20th century. The nave clerestory is 16th-century brick with two-light windows featuring cusped brick tracery and hood moulds. Unusually, the parapet wraps around the east side of the nave and has east windows that must originally have lit the rood inside. The nave parapet has crow-stepped embattling with pinnacles on alternating merlons and black diaper work patterns, and rests on a cusped corbel table.

The north and south aisles have heavily restored early 14th-century windows with geometric tracery and brick buttresses. The early 16th-century chancel chapels continue the aisles but in brick, with 16th-century brick windows having cemented dressings. The aisle and chapel parapets are continuous and of 16th-century brick in a pattern similar to that on the nave clerestory.

The brick south porch is early 17th century and has a classicising outer doorway of two orders, the inner with imposts and a pendant key block. The gable stands on an entablature and has restored brick pinnacles. The south door is 13th century, reset in the 14th century. The porch-like extension on the north is a late 20th-century toilet block copied from the south porch and having a false blocked door.

The chancel east window is 19th century in a Decorated style with reticulated tracery. The east gable edge is in 16th-century brick, as is the south-east buttress. In the chancel north wall is a 13th-century lancet, and another in the south wall was enlarged in the 15th century. The chancel dormers, possibly 17th century in origin, were rebuilt in 1892-1903 and again in the mid-20th century. The late 19th-century north-east vestry, also in brick, is lower than the north chancel chapel and has an embattled brick parapet and Tudor-style windows.

The west tower and spire are 14th century and may have been built in two phases, with the upper part and spire a little later than the lower part. The west door has moulded jambs and a hood mould, with a Decorated west window above it. There are small single-light openings in each face, and above them larger single-light openings with brick dressings for the bell stage. The tall spire rises from behind an embattled parapet. The scar of an earlier, much more steeply pitched roof for the nave is visible against the east face of the tower.

Interior

The spacious and light interior is plastered and painted. The three-bay nave arcades are 13th century, that on the north being slightly earlier than that on the south. They have chamfered orders on cylindrical piers (except for the north-west pier, which is polygonal) with moulded capitals. The north-west respond is carried on a good carved head corbel. The north aisle north door is 13th or 14th century and has a pointed head; formerly blocked, it now opens into the late 20th-century north toilet block.

The tower arch is 14th century of three orders, the outer continuous, the inner two on polygonal shafts with moulded capitals. It is now closed by a timber and glazed screen. There is a small, blocked window from the tower into the nave, the top of which is partly hidden by the nave roof.

The wide chancel arch is 15th century and has a continuous outer order and an inner order on attached shafts. The north and south chancel chapels open to the chancel and aisles through four-centred, 16th-century brick arches of two chamfered orders, the inner order on moulded brick responds with moulded capitals and bases. That on the south has 20th-century timber and glass screens, while the organ fills that on the north. There is a further glazed screen between the south chapel and south aisle, and a small 19th-century north door from the chancel to the vestry. The sill of the chancel south-east window is dropped to form a sedilia, and the window jamb is cut back to allow access to the piscina from either side.

The north aisle roof is 14th century, a lean-to design with three tie beams carrying posts and struts to a central purlin. The south wall plate is moulded of the 14th century, but the north wall plate was replaced in the 17th century and has the inscription 'HUMFRERI LOW ET HENRY STILEMAN CHURCHWARDENS ANO D 1639'. The nave roof is 16th century and is divided into compartments. It is richly moulded, especially on the principal beams and curved braces. The wall plate is embattled. The south chapel roof has 15th or 16th-century rafters but has otherwise been rebuilt. The south aisle roof has probably 17th-century square rafters. The framing of the ringing chamber of the tower may be 14th or 15th century. The chancel roof was rebuilt in the late 19th century.

Principal Fixtures

The church contains a 13th-century piscina and sedilia in the chancel, the latter formed by carrying down the sill of the lancet window. There is a 14th-century piscina in the south aisle and an early 16th-century piscina in the north chapel. An early 20th-century wooden eagle lectern is also present.

The outstanding octagonal pulpit, dated 1639, was called the 'best of its date in the county' by Pevsner. It has alternating wide and narrow sides. The wider panels have upper panels carved with early Classical arches with columns and pediments shown in perspective. The lower panels have jewels and foliage, with similar decoration also on the smaller panels. The base is renewed, but the stem is original. It retains its heavily carved tester and backboard. The backboard has strapwork and other ornament, and the tester has a carved frieze, a moulded cornice and a strapwork cresting.

Royal arms of 1660 are displayed in a frame with a broken pediment, and a probably 16th-century text panel found on the back of the Royal Arms is now displayed separately. The east window contains stained glass by H Hughes (Ward and Hughes) of 1876.

Monuments

The church contains good monuments including a brass to Jane Paschall, died 1614. A marble wall tablet with pilasters supporting a cornice commemorates Hellen Sydnor, died 1651 and her sister Elizabeth Hubert, died 1625. An elaborate monument with an urn to the sisters Amy and Margaret Gwyn and to their friend Ann Hester Antrim, by Sir Henry Cheere, was erected in 1753; a putto leans on a portrait medallion within a composition mixing Gibbsian and Rococo touches. There is also a good collection of hatchments.

Historical Development

The double-square plan of the nave suggests 12th-century origin. The chancel had reached its present length by the early 13th century, when the aisles were also added. The tower was built in the 14th century and the aisles were also widened in this period. Some work was carried out on the chancel in the 15th century. The church was considerably remodelled in the early 16th century, when the chancel chapels were built or rebuilt and the fine brick clerestory and parapets added.

Further work in the early 17th century, probably in 1639 (the date of the pulpit), included repairs to the north aisle roof and the addition or rebuilding of the south porch. The church was reseated and provided with new south and north-east galleries by Charles Turner in 1832. It was restored in 1892-1903 by C and W H Pertwee, including the removal of the galleries and the rebuilding of the north vestry and chancel dormers. There were further repairs, including rebuilding the parapets and pinnacles, in the 1960s by George Bragg of Chancellor (Wykeham) and Bragg. The church was reordered in 1999 by Gerald Barrett, including the removal of most of the 19th-century furnishings, who also designed the north extension.