Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This parish church at Great Massingham is largely constructed from 15th-century fabric with significant 13th-century elements both structurally and internally. The building is constructed of flint rubble with knapped and squared flint dressings and stone dressings, beneath slate roofs. It comprises a west tower, a five-bay nave and aisles, a two-bay south porch, and a two-bay chancel.

The west tower is a particularly fine four-storey Perpendicular structure. The west face displays a moulded Perpendicular two-pointed west door and a four-light west window with battlemented transom division and traceried upper light heads. The third stage has one two-light Perpendicular window to each face, while the belfry stage features one two-light Perpendicular louvred window to each face. A stone plinth incorporates knapped flint and stone tracery. Four angle buttresses with four set-offs are present, and each stage is decorated with two ranks of paired squared knapped flint blank tracery arches. Stone string courses divide the four stages, with a parapet string course carrying two gargoyle spouts to each face. The tower is crowned with knapped and squared flint flush tracery battlements and angle crochetted spirelets.

The south porch is a particularly notable survival, a fine 13th-century Early English structure that has been repositioned south of the 15th-century south aisle. It features a moulded outer arch with three almost detached collonnettes and two-stage polygonal angle buttresses with polygonal crotchetted spirelet finials. The arcaded returns consist of two groups of three open-work trefoil-headed lancet arches with collonnettes and capitals, set on a stone plinth with internal seats. Cusped arch trefoils appear in the external spandrels. The south door arch has paired collonnettes and a moulded arch, with a wooden door featuring blank tracery panels. The porch was restored in 1863 by the architect Penning.

The south aisle is of Perpendicular character, featuring single three-light windows at the east and west ends and three three-light south windows with Perpendicular tracery, battlemented transoms, and triangular-headed upper lights. Buttresses with flushwork and three set-offs support the wall, which is crowned with a flushwork flint and stone battlemented parapet.

The clerestory comprises five bays with three-light Perpendicular windows. The five-bay north aisle contains five north three-light Perpendicular windows, one west Perpendicular window, and one east three-light Decorated tracery window, with a Perpendicular north door.

The two-bay chancel has two south and one north three-light Perpendicular tracery window. A particularly fine five-light Early English window survives in the east end, featuring stepped lancets with trefoil heads to the lights and trefoils in the spandrel, though it has been somewhat restored. The chancel's external buttresses include one south 15th-century and two clasping 13th-century examples. The north face exhibits a string course line indicating a former lean-to extension and one blocked door. Rood stairs project into the tower at its angle with the north aisle.

Internally, the church preserves notable Early English arcading. The five-bay south arcade features quatrefoil-section piers supporting double hollow-chamfered moulded arches with outer hood moulds and carved stops. The five-bay north arcade retains Early English bases with piers and capitals that have been recut to 15th-century Perpendicular semi-octagonal profiles. An Early English chancel arch, possibly a mid-19th-century insertion, spans the chancel opening. The tower arch is a fine tall Perpendicular composition with moulded mouldings, with piers featuring bases and capitals.

The north aisle retains a 15th-century double-frame roof with arched braces, moulded purlins, and battlemented cresting on the north side cornice only. The south aisle roof is largely mid-19th-century work, though some 15th-century principals survive. The nave roof is mid-19th-century.

The church contains an octagonal 13th-century stone font with Early English crotchetted head and blank tracery against the bowl. Fifteenth-century pierced back benches survive at the rear of the nave. The chancel preserves a blocked north door and some in situ 15th-century glass fragments in the tracery. Fine 15th-century sedelia feature collonnettes with cinquefoil-headed four-centred arches and carved spandrels. A 13th-century Early English piscina with collonnettes, bases and capitals retains what is perhaps a 14th-century ogee arch insertion. Nineteenth-century chancel stalls and nave benches have been installed. The chancel contains a giltwood altar frontal by W.G. Cooper from 1953, executed in a style derived from the work of Comper, and a mid-17th-century Holy Table serves as the nave altar.