Redundant Church Of St Mary

Redundant Church of St Mary, Mundon

Former parish church, now vested in the Redundant Churches Fund. The building dates from the 14th century and later periods.

The church comprises a nave of plastered rubble, a chancel of red brick (partly plastered), a timber-framed belfry (plastered with some exposed framing and partly weatherboarded), and a timber-framed north porch. All roofs are covered with handmade red clay tiles.

The nave is of uncertain date, but contains the earliest architectural details from the 14th century. The chancel was rebuilt above its plinth in the 18th century. The belfry dates to around 1500, and the north porch to around 1600.

The chancel contains an early 18th-century east window of three lights with a semi-circular head; the oak frame and wrought iron grill are original, and pintles indicate the former presence of a casement. The north wall has a similar window of two lights and a doorway with a segmental arch. The wallplates are dentilled and moulded, with two plain tiebeams. The ceiling is plastered in five cants.

The nave has a 14th-century window in the north wall of two lights with moulded jambs, a two-centred arch with label, and Y-tracery (the mullion is restored). Further west is a late 14th-century north doorway with double hollow-chamfered jambs and a segmental arch with moulded label and headstops; the jambs, arch and label are carved with rosettes and square flowers. The modern door retains one original or early strap-hinge and a later foiled scutcheon-plate. The east end of the north wall is of plastered brick. At the east end of the south wall is an early 16th-century brick archway with chamfered jambs and four-centred arch, now blocked but formerly opening into a chapel; the surrounding wall is red brick, plastered. Above it is a 19th-century window. Further west is an early 16th-century brick window of two four-centred lights in a four-centred head with a moulded label. The south doorway is 18th-century, with plain jambs and lintel, and is blocked. The west wall contains a doorway of around 1500 with jambs and four-centred arch chamfered in two orders on the east and plain-chamfered on the west. Above it is an opening with chamfered jambs and a segmental-pointed head.

The nave roof is in three bays of crownpost construction, plastered to the soffits of the rafters and collars. There are three plain tiebeams and three crownposts. The eastern crownpost is 15th-century, octagonal with four-way arched braces; the other two are 16th-century, plain with axial bracing.

The belfry, dating to around 1500, has four posts in the middle forming a square, with a semi-octagonal aisle around it. Solid braces form four-centred arches to east and west, closely matching the shape of the west doorway of the nave. Halved saltire braces at the second stage are straight on the west side and slightly arched on the other three sides. Straight raking struts to the posts terminate in groundsills to north, west and south. There are unglazed windows to north and south with restored diamond mullions and sliding shutters. The floor of the bell-chamber is of lodged plain joists of horizontal section with a framed bellway (severed on one side) without boards. The bell-frame for one bell is original, with saltire bracing; the bell is missing, reportedly in the possession of Latchingdon parish church.

The north porch, dating to around 1600, is in two bays. The outer doorway has moulded jambs and a moulded Tudor arch with spiral-leaf carving in the spandrels on both sides, and a moulded tiebeam. A projecting gable has a moulded tiebeam and bargeboards, a restored finial, roll-moulded studs with inset boarding, moulded octagonal pendants, and carved hanging brackets similar to the spandrels of the doorway. On each side are four moulded mullions. The roof is of butt-purlin construction, with moulded wallplates, principal rafters, collars and ridge (partly missing), and roll-moulded rafters. The floor contains an indent for figures of a man, two wives, an inscription plate, and two groups of children, dating to the early 16th century. This porch is illustrated in C.A. Hewett's Church Carpentry, a study based on Essex examples, 1982, page 61.

The nave fittings include an 18th-century plain octagonal pulpit and a complete set of 18 box pews. The walls of the chancel are decorated with 18th-century painted Commandments, Creed and Lord's Prayer. The walls of the nave have 18th-century painted texts, now decayed.