Church Of St Mary

Church of St. Mary, Graveley

This is a parish church of a shrunken village, comprising a 12th-century nave, a chancel enlarged or rebuilt in the 13th century, a west tower of around 1480, a 15th-century heightened and re-roofed nave, a probably 18th-century south porch, and a north aisle, north vestry, and general restoration dating to 1887. The building is constructed of flint rubble with stone dressings and has steep old red tile roofs, pyramidal to the tower and topped by a lead-covered standing cross with an octagonal tapered shaft. The nave has a low-pitched lead roof.

The plan consists of a long rectangular chancel, a taller nave with an added north aisle and gabled north-east vestry, a gabled south porch, and a tall west tower with a crenellated parapet and diagonal buttresses at its west angles.

The chancel's 13th-century east windows, originally three lancets, were replaced around 1500 by a window of three cinquefoil lights, though the 13th-century interior jambs with edge-roll moulding and part of the arch remain. The north wall contains two 13th-century lancets and a door to the 19th-century vestry. A 13th-century lancet window and a pointed segmental arched window of around 1500 with three cinquefoil lights occupy the east and west ends respectively of the south wall. The jambs of a blocked 12th-century south doorway lie between the windows, with its head adapted as a pointed window in the 13th century. The masonry below the cill at the west end shows disturbance at the position of a probable low-side window.

An early 13th-century double piscina to the south of the altar features pointed arches formed by intersecting boldly moulded semi-circular arches carried on small columns within a square moulded frame, comparable to the piscina at Jesus College, Cambridge. Patterned vivid stained glass of around 1841 fills lancets to the north and south of the altar. A 19th-century stone reredos with a gabled central aedicule and arcaded flanking parts with painted panels stands at the east end. The chancel floor is covered with encaustic tile patterning, and an indent for a brass marks a slab by the door to the vestry. An elaborate 19th-century open timber roof in three bays features a ridge-piece and rafters individually strutted from two purlins, arranged both horizontally and vertically. A late 15th-century pointed segmental chancel arch of two orders has inner half-octagonal pilasters with moulded caps. A 15th-century oak rood-screen with plain lower panels occupies the chancel entrance; it has three bays of two cinquefoil tracery lights on each side of the arched entrance, an embattled cresting, and retains the base of the central cross.

The nave contains two windows in the south wall and a clearstorey above. An eastern window of around 1330 has two cinquefoil lights and a two-centred arched head with a quatrefoil. A 15th-century western window is similar but with a four-centred arched head. The south door is set in the lower part of a tall recess with a 12th-century semi-circular arched head. Below the eastern window lies a piscina with a 12th-century scalloped capital hollowed out on top for the drain, set within a 14th-century chamfered trefoil recess. Adjacent to the north jamb of the chancel arch is a tall shallow 15th-century niche with a two-centred arch in a moulded rectangular frame. A semi-circular-headed 12th-century former north doorway of the nave has been re-used as the entrance to the vestry from the north aisle.

The north aisle is lit by a 14th-century window re-set in its eastern wall. Its three-bayed 15th-century open timber roof is carried on stone corbels, four of which are moulded in the middle section while corner corbels are carved with heads. Wall-posts and moulded long curved braces support heavy cambered moulded tie-beams. The ridge piece, one purlin to each slope, and the deep wallplate are all moulded, with carved bosses at intersections with principals and sub-principals. The sub-principals feature carved angels with folded wings set next the wall (restored). The north arcade consists of two bays with moulded pointed wide arches of two orders and a dripmould, carried on a fat octagonal pier with imposts of moulded caps and bases. A lean-to open timber roof extends over the north aisle, featuring curved braces springing from stone corbels.

A 15th-century octagonal limestone font has trefoil sinkings around its bowl and an octagonal shaft with a moulded base. An octagonal 19th-century wooden cover carved with sprays of flowers in relief tops it. Brass indents in a floor slab bear an incised marginal inscription in Lombardic capitals reading "... ELIENORA CONIUX VIRGO SIMULATA [XPUS MEUS?] ORA QUOD SIT BEATIS SOCIATA".

Several wall monuments are present. To the east of the south door is a large marble monument to Margaret Sparhauke, died 1770, signed by B. Palmer. It consists of a classical tablet with a framed base surmounted by a smooth unmoulded urn, its base flanked by Rococo asymmetrical cartouches, against a black obelisk. Two smaller monuments stand to the west of the south door: one to Timothy Lane, died 1807, in white marble with Roman lugs, and an early 19th-century slab with a triangular pediment and acroteria. Flanking the tower arch, on the left, is a white marble slab to May Lane, died 1775, set on two corbels with a triangular pediment. On the right is a marble slab to Frances Burr, died 1831, set on corbels with guttae and an urn above. Some early 14th-century chip-carved wooden tracery has been incorporated into a reading desk.

The west tower has a tower arch and west doorway of the late 15th century, comprising two stages with external string courses below and above the belfry stage. Each face of the belfry stage has a two-light pointed louvred opening. A clockface is positioned on the south side just below the belfry opening. A three-light west window with stopped pointed lights contains stained glass of around 1889. The west door consists of old shiplap vertical oak boarding under a pointed arch, set in a deep square-headed moulded surround. The label has shield-shaped stops. A moulded deep stone dado-plinth extends around the base of the tower.

Attached to the exterior of the east wall of the chancel are two oval stone tablets with late 18th-century inscriptions: the left tablet commemorates Jane Cheselden, died 1795, and the right tablet commemorates Mrs. Sarah Nedham.