Church Of St Mary And All Saints

Church of St. Mary and All Saints, Stambridge

This parish church is built from ragstone, flint, septaria, puddingstone and brick with stone dressings and red plain tiled roofs. It contains work spanning from the pre-Conquest period through to the 20th century, with significant rebuilding during the 13th and 14th centuries and heavy restoration work in the 19th century.

The core of the church—the nave and chancel—dates to the pre-Conquest period. The north wall of the nave is constructed of ragstone and puddingstone and retains traces of two early windows and an offset carried through from the chancel about 3 metres from ground level. A south aisle was added around 1300, and the chancel underwent substantial rebuilding in the 13th and 14th centuries. The 15th century saw the addition of the west tower and north porch. The 19th century brought a north vestry and south organ chamber, along with comprehensive restoration work.

The chancel's east wall is buttressed at the angles and contains a 19th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery above, a 2-centred arch and label. The rear splays and arch are probably 14th-century work. The north wall features a small 2-centred arch window with a label, and above it are traces of a pre-Conquest arch. A 19th-century polygonal vestry with a hipped roof adjoins the north wall, featuring a 2-centred arch to the central doorway and similar small arches to the side windows. The south wall holds a 19th-century window of two pointed lights beneath a 2-centred head.

The south aisle contains two windows with a buttress between the organ chamber and its single window. A boiler house stands to the west. The 19th-century aisle and organ chamber windows feature three and two ogee lights respectively, with segmental heads and labels.

The nave's north wall has three windows: the eastern one, 13th-century and much repaired, has a square head; the other two, probably 15th-century, feature two cinquefoiled lights beneath square heads with moulded labels. Between these windows is a late 14th-century doorway with moulded jambs, a 2-centred head, moulded label, vertically boarded door and ornate iron hinges.

The north porch dates to the 14th or 15th century and is timber-framed with a brick plinth. It features a chamfered 2-centred arch within a square moulded outer order. The porch is of two bays with moulded arched braces to cambered tie beams and two armed crown posts. Stone and brick side seats and a brick floor are present.

The west tower, erected in the 15th century, has been heightened with renewed red brick crenellations. The base features stone and flint chequerwork plinth work. The tower is of three stages with buttresses and a band below the top stage. The bell chamber has north and south faces each with a single 2-centred light window with moulded label, while the east and west faces have three similar lights each. The 15th-century west window contains three cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery, a 2-centred head and label. The 15th-century west doorway has chamfered jambs, a 2-centred head and label, with a nailed plank and muntin door and strap hinges. A niche to the south of the west door, with chamfered jambs and a 4-centred head, is probably 15th-century in date. A small weatherboarded spire sits atop the west tower.

Interior

The interior has undergone extensive restoration work. The chancel roof, 19th-century, comprises four bays with hammerbeams supported by head corbels and a side purlin ridge board structure. The nave roof is similar, also of four bays. Throughout the church, 19th-century coloured tiled floors have been laid. A 20th-century marble reredos stands behind the altar. Windows contain 19th-century stained glass.

The chancel contains a piscina with a moulded ogee head and jambs, and a fluted bowl resting on a human head. A low seat window stands to the west of the piscina. The north doorway into the vestry dates to around 1350. There is no chancel arch; instead, semi-octagonal responds with foliate capitals mark the boundary. The interior of the nave features a wooden semi-octagonal pulpit with carved tracery. An archway to a rood loft staircase is set into the north-west wall. A second piscina, dating to around 1300, stands on the west wall.

The south arcade comprises three bays with octagonal piers, moulded capitals and bases, and 2-centred arches of two hollow chamfered orders. A 15th-century octagonal font, one side blank, the others adorned with quatrefoils enclosing flowers or shields of arms, is positioned near the west wall.

Historical associations

The church contains a memorial on the west wall to John Harriot of Broomhills, Stambridge. A brass on the north wall commemorates John Winthrop, who married Mary Forth in the church in 1605. Winthrop sailed to America in 1630 aboard the "Arabella" and became the first Governor of Boston, Massachusetts. A 20th-century stained glass window depicting the Arabella was subscribed by the Winthrop family in America.