Parish Church Of St Mary The Virgin

TQ 49 NW LOUGHTON HIGH ROAD, 1/36 Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin - II

Parish church, 1872, by Thomas Henry Watson. Random Godalming stone with bonding courses of 3 layers of red clay tiles at irregular intervals, limestone dressings, plastered internally, roofed with late C19 red clay plain tiles. Chancel with semi-octagonal apse, 2 transepts, nave with two aisles and S porch, choir vestry to N of chancel, vicar's vestry to S of chancel, all contemporary. All windows have 2-centred arches and 2-centred tracery except where otherwise stated. Th chancel has 3 windows with 2-centred arches and 2 2-centred lights with a round shaft between and trefoil above; the lower walls are lined with carved oak panelling. The chancel arch is 2-centred. The arcades are of 4 bays with 2-centred arches on round piers with carved capitals of naturalistic floriate and foliate designs, all different, executed by an unknown carver, 1872-1886. The clerestory windows appear on the outside as trefoils, quatrefoils and a cinquefoil, on the inside as double lights with 2-centred arches and a round light above. The S doorway has a 2-centred arch with Mannerist rusticated jambs, the stonework on the outside left unfinished where carved detail might be expected. The choir vestry has a timber dormer to the E with 4 ogee-headed lights, leaded. The roof of the chancel is of high quality, arched ribs converging to meet arch-braced collar-trusses. The roof of the nave is of 7 cants, the timber exposed. The roof of the N transept is of 6 cants, the timber exposed, the S transept presumably similar but not visible. The pulpit is of limestone with naturalistic floriate carving. The font is of marble, round and plain. The construction is fully recorded in K. A. Vine: 'the Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Loughton, a short history, 1967, copy in Essex Record Office.

Listing NGR: TQ4226796176