Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a Grade I listed church at Stratford St Mary, primarily built between the 14th and 16th centuries with substantial Victorian restoration.

The building consists of a west tower, a four-bay aisled nave with a north porch, and a two-bay chancel with north and south chapels. The structure is constructed of knapped flint with ashlar dressings. The chancel roof is plain tile; the remaining roofs are concealed.

The tower dates from the 15th to 16th centuries but was largely rebuilt in the 19th century. It is three stages tall with a stair turret to the north-west angle. The tower features an ashlar plinth, offset diagonal buttresses, and a string course to each stage. The bell stage has 3-light windows with intersecting tracery beneath gables. The tower is crowned with angle pinnacles and a flushwork embattled parapet.

The nave has similar detailing to the tower, with a plinth and offset buttresses. The south aisle contains renewed 4-centred Perpendicular traceried windows under flushwork arches. The north aisle features a flushwork inscription to the donor Thomas Mors and his wife Margaret, dated 1488 (the inscription is partly obscured by the later porch). Above this is an alphabet in flushwork, with further inscriptions on buttresses. The windows have 4-centred restored Perpendicular tracery with hoodmoulds and headstops under flushwork arches. A string course and gargoyles run around the aisle walls.

The north porch, dated 1532, has an ashlar plinth and flushwork walls with offset diagonal buttresses featuring cusped ogee niches. It is topped with an embattled parapet with angle pinnacles and a central date shield inscribed 1532 JS. The outer entrance has a 4-centred moulded arch with colonnettes to the inner order under a square label. The spandrels contain encircled quatrefoils with shields and mouchettes. Above this is a niche with a cusped nodding ogee arch flanked by pinnacles. The side arches were originally open but are now blocked by traceried windows inserted during the 1876-9 restoration. The north nave door is continuously moulded with a slender colonette supporting the central order of the arch, under a restored square label with enriched spandrels.

The clerestory contains 4-centred 2-light Perpendicular windows with transoms in flushwork walls.

The chancel is gabled with an east window of 1876-9. It has offset diagonal buttresses. The north aisle contains a flushwork inscription to Edward Mors and his wife Alys, dated 1530. A 4-centred Perpendicular traceried east window lights this chapel. The south aisle has a 4-centred panelled Perpendicular traceried east window.

Interior: The nave arcades feature diagonally-set square piers on tall bases with hollow-moulded polygonal shafts to the nave and aisles, and colonnettes to east and west with capitals. Wide mouldings between shafts run into the arches without capitals, forming 4-centred arcades. Hoodmoulds with ogee apexes rise into shafts at clerestory level. Half-octagonal shafts rise from the arcade piers to capitals at clerestory level, supporting short posts and arch braces of the roof. The aisles feature similar detailing. A string course and splayed clerestory run the length of the nave. The chancel arch dates from the 19th century; stairs to the rood loft survive to the south.

The chancel has similar detailing to the nave. A cusped ogee piscina and medieval parclose screens incorporating some medieval fabric are present. A medieval grave slab survives, along with a black ledger slab in the south chapel dated 1698 to Nicolas Brage and another to Robert Clarke (died 1731).

The nave roof is cambered with a moulded ridge piece, purlins and joists, and tie beams with bosses. The roof features restored angel carvings to the ridge and wooden figures above capitals which support the roof posts.

Historical context: Thomas Mors, a clothier, requested burial in the north aisle in his will of 1500, noting that he had built the aisle and left money for the clerestory. His son Edward (died 1526) left money for the north chapel to be built in the form of the south chapel. A painting by John Constable dating to around 1798 shows the church with an open-sided porch.

The church underwent substantial restoration between 1876 and 1879 under the architect H Woodyer.