Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This parish church comprises an aisleless nave with a west tower, chancel to the east, vestry to the north, and porch to the south. The nave and first stage of the tower date to the late 11th century and were subsequently altered in the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 19th centuries.

Materials and Construction

The nave and first stage of the tower are built of septaria with some Roman brick and tile. The buttresses are constructed of flint and pebble rubble with red brick, whilst dressings are of clunch, limestone, and dressed flint. The upper two stages of the tower are of red brick, rebuilt in the 16th or 17th century.

Exterior

The north elevation of the nave contains two blocked narrow round-headed windows near the eaves, with heads of non-radially laid septaria. A similar window in the west was reglazed after discovery in the 1870s. Two further windows exist on this elevation: the easternmost is 19th century, and the middle window dates to the mid-15th century, featuring three cinquefoiled lights with vertical and transomed tracery in a two-centred head, with moulded jambs and label and restored mullions. The projecting vestry, built of red brick with stone dressings and a tiled roof, stands to the west. Buttresses at the east end date to the 16th century.

The south elevation of the nave has four windows: the easternmost and westernmost are 19th century. The second window resembles the 15th-century north window but has a crenellated transom. The third window, set near the eaves above the porch, is a single round-headed window similar to the earliest windows in the north wall but slightly wider. Below this window is a 15th-century south doorway, covered by a late-19th-century porch, with moulded jambs and a two-centred arch in two hollow chamfers with a moulded label and original splays. Immediately east of the door is a 16th-century stoup with round arch, its bowl broken.

The first stage of the west tower is built of the same materials as the nave and is probably contemporary with it. Buttresses to the south of the tower are of rubble with limestone dressings dating to the 14th century; those to the north are mostly 16th-century red brick with occasional rubble and flint panels. The west doorway with hood-mould and window above are 19th century. The second stage features a single 16th-century window in both south and west elevations with brick hood-moulds. The south window surround has been restored, and the west window has reset stone jambs and a brick cinquefoiled arch in a square head with label. A clock covers the position of the north window. The third stage (bell-chamber) contains windows of two cinquefoiled lights with recessed spandrels in a square head with label, partly of reset stone and partly of brick, on north, west, south, and east elevations. Strings of moulded brick run between the stages. A moulded stone cornice surmounts the structure, and the crenellated parapet, apparently repaired in the 18th century, is cement-rendered.

The late-19th-century chancel is constructed of randomly coursed stone. The north and south elevations have two single windows each with trefoiled tracery and stone surrounds. The east end window has four slender mullions with cinquefoil and quatrefoil tracery.

Interior

The nave has thick, tall walls and a late-19th-century scissor-brace roof. The interior splays of the earliest windows in the north and south walls are wide with rounded heads, cut through to the outer wall. Although the outer south door is 15th-century, the round-headed rear arch of the earlier opening in irregularly laid Roman brick is exposed within the wall, along with tile-built jambs cut straight through. The arch is splayed upwards. Between the two windows to the east is a 15th-century doorway to the rood-stair, with hollow-chamfered jambs and two-centred head; the remainder of the stair is concealed behind the organ. The tower-arch dates to the late 14th century, consisting of one hollow-chamfered and three plain-chamfered orders, the inner order being two-centred and dying on to the chamfered responds, whilst the other orders are segmental-pointed. Above the tower-arch is an exposed relieving arch, partly of Roman brick. The ground floor of the tower was refurbished in 2001 to form a narthex. The roof of the tower, not inspected during survey but reported by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England to be early 17th-century, is pyramidal with diagonal ties and a central post.

Monuments and Fittings

On the south wall of the nave is a brass commemorating Thomas Freshwater and his wife Margaret, dated 1517, depicting a man in a fur-lined gown and woman with pedimental head-dress, a group of nine daughters, and indents for an inscription plate and two sons. On the north wall of the chancel is a monument to Jane (Kempe), wife of Thomas Gardiner, 1654, with an oval inscription plate with scrolls, open pediment, and four shields of arms in veined marble. A white marble tablet on the south wall of the chancel commemorates John Harris, vicar of the parish, 1734. The font dates to 1718, with a moulded octagonal bowl inscribed "Good people all I pray take Care That in ye Church you doe not Sware as this man did", an octagonal shaft, and moulded octagonal plinth. The church contains ten bells, including one by Thomas Mears (1796), one by Miles Graye I (1604), one by Thomas Gardiner (1728), one by Miles Graye III (1661), and one by Thomas Nears (1794). The 19th-century east window and two 11th-century windows of the nave contain glass by Kempe, dated 1921.