Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This is a parish church with substantial medieval fabric. The main structure dates from the 12th century and comprises a nave and chancel, extended in the 15th century. The west tower was built around 1425. A south porch of 15th or 16th century origin was rebuilt in the 19th century. The church has undergone significant restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The walls are largely constructed of mixed rubble, while the west tower is built of coursed ragstone rubble. The roofs are covered in red plain tiles with ornate ridge tiles and terracotta crosses at the apices. The tower is crowned with a shingled octagonal spire.

The chancel features a south-east angle buttress and a buttressed chimney stack on the south wall. The east window is a 19th-century insertion of three cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery above, a moulded four-centred arch and label. The north wall retains a restored 12th-century round-headed window with original rear arch and splays. The south wall contains a 19th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with square head and label.

The nave's north wall has a buttress to the east, a restored 12th-century round-headed window to the west, and a 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with square head and label at the far west. Below this window is a blocked opening with segmental arch. The south wall displays two 19th-century windows with two cinquefoiled ogee lights, quatrefoils above, two-centred arches and moulded labels with head stops. The south door, partly restored from the 14th century, has a moulded two-centred arch and label with head stops. A 19th-century gabled porch with timber frame on rubble walls contains a pointed segmental archway and two-centred arches to sidelights, with return walls each containing five trefoiled lights.

The west tower is composed of three stages with a south-eastern stair turret that rises above the crenellations. The base is square in plan, with octagonal upper stages. The crenellations feature chequered flint flushwork with moulded bands and gargoyles. Moulded bands mark the first and second stages, and angle buttresses are present throughout. The bell chamber on each face contains a window of two cinquefoiled lights with square heads and moulded labels. The second stage has small north, south and west cinquefoiled windows with square heads and moulded labels. The first stage west window comprises three cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery above and a two-centred head, with remains of a label. Flanking this window are four niches: the upper pair with pointed heads, the lower pair with cinquefoiled ogee arches under square heads and labels with shields in the spandrels. The lower niches now contain 20th-century statues. The octagonal spire rises from this stage.

The west doorway has a two-centred arch in a square head with a worn label and shields to the spandrels. The 15th-century door consists of two folds with nailed overlapping battens and strap hinges. Flanking the doorway are two square sunk panels, much worn, each enclosing a shield. One commemorates John Wakering, Bishop of Norwich (1416–1425); the other honours Anne, Countess of Stafford.

Interior

The chancel interior features a roof of seven cants and a 19th-century coloured tiled floor. A 15th-century piscina has chamfered jambs and a cinquefoiled head; a restored 13th-century projecting octofoil drain rests on a moulded corbel. Nineteenth-century moulded wooden altar rails are present. The north wall contains a 12th-century round-headed window with traces of 12th-century painting: the Nativity under an arch on the east splay, and a figure under an arch on the west splay. Below this window is a blocked 14th-century doorway with splays outward and a two-centred arch of two moulded orders. A wall monument commemorates Rev. Joseph Commins M.A. (1868). Nineteenth-century choir stalls feature wrought-iron front panels. A blocked chamfered segmental arch is visible on the south wall. The chancel contains Cassons Organ "The Positive". A board south-west of the south window records the chancel restoration undertaken by St. Bartholomew's Hospital in 1875. The chancel arch, partly restored, is a two-centred arch of two chamfered orders with original moulded capitals and bases. A floor slab at the foot of the chancel steps commemorates Bradford Bury, Gent of Wakering Hall, who died 10 July 1675 aged 48 years.

The nave features a roof of seven cants and two bays with two cambered tie beams supporting octagonal crown posts with roll-moulded capitals and bases; each bay has five pairs of rafters. An octagonal stone pulpit stands in the nave with a moulded base and rim, trefoiled panels, moulded capitals and bases to angle shafts, a circular stem with scroll brackets, and stone steps. Nineteenth and 20th-century stained glass adorns the nave windows. Rood loft stairs ascend the north wall with lower and upper two-centred arched doorways; the end of the rood beam is visible below the upper doorway. A moulded two-centred blocked archway on the north wall, with 13th-century moulded capitals and bases to jamb shafts, now serves as a war memorial. A White Ensign flag, which once adorned The Cenotaph, was placed here in 1931. A stoup in the east jamb of the south doorway consists of a funnel-shaped recess with a circular bowl and moulded base and rim. A 20th-century font has a heavy round bowl splayed to an octagonal base, with an octagonal stem and base slab.

The tower arch is a two-centred arch of two chamfered orders with attached semi-octagonal shafts and moulded capitals and bases. A timber whipping post with two iron arm bands and handcuffs leans against the tower arch. A painted board displays the coat of arms and the names of churchwardens Francis Asplin and William Hatch (1769). The west window contains stained glass. The stair turret doorway is a 15th-century chamfered two-centred arch with a nailed boarded door featuring strap hinges and a scutcheon plate; tradition records two further similar doorways and doors, one with a ring handle, in the tower. Three bells are said to be present, all cast by John Waylett in 1707. A 15th-century locker is said to exist in the wall of the stair turret.

Historical Context

The tower was built by John Wakering of Barrow Hall, Bishop of Norwich from 1416 to 1425, with the assistance of Anne, Countess of Stafford. Tradition holds that it was constructed as a thank offering for Wakering's safe return from the Battle of Agincourt in 1416.