Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Great Bealings

This is a church of 16th-century and 19th-century date, constructed of rubble flint with ashlar dressings and brick, with a plain tiled roof. The building comprises a western tower, nave, chancel, and north-western porch.

The Tower

The tower has a slightly projecting plinth that dies back via a moulded offset. Diagonal buttresses feature flushwork panels with quatrefoil patterns at plinth level and chequerboard and tracery patterns above. Two offsets with brattished cresting cause the buttresses to die back into the corners. The north face has string courses at the level of the buttress offsets. On the lower of these rests a canopied niche with flanking crocketed pinnacles. Above this is a belfry opening with 2-lights featuring cinquefoil heads and a flattened quatrefoil to the apex, resting on the upper string course. A further string course below the parapet displays a central gargoyle. The parapet has stepped battlements decorated with flushwork tracery patterns, with bases of pinnacles (now reduced) at the corners.

The southern face is similar but lacks the lower string course and niche. The west front has a central 3-light window at ground floor level with reticulated tracery of 19th-century date, possibly repeating an earlier pattern, and a 2-light window with louvres above this, with chamfered ashlar surround. The eastern face abuts the nave to its lower body but has a belfry opening and parapet similar to those on the other fronts.

The Porch

The porch on the north face of the nave dates to around 1520 and is constructed of English bond brick with octagonal buttresses to the corners featuring offsets of moulded brick. The northern face has a central 4-centred archway with a richly moulded ashlar surround and hood mould. Ashlar panels in the spandrels are carved with coats of arms, now weathered. Above this is a further ashlar panel with moulded brick surround, formerly reading "ORATE PRO AIABS THOME SECKFORD ARMIGERI ET MARGARET UXORIS" (now indecipherable). Above this is a canopied niche with moulded miniature buttresses at either side, each having crocketed pinnacles. A battlemented parapet with ashlar coping surmounts the whole. On the octagonal buttresses are a pair of stone carvings of winged angels of early 16th-century date; the angel at left holds a prayer book, while that at right is much weathered. The sides of the porch have arcades of flushwork tracery to the plinth and each has a central window of two lights with a 4-centred head and chamfered brick surround. To the left of the porch is a late-Perpendicular window with brattished stepped transoms, some tracery replaced in the 19th century, a lancet light to its left, and a buttress at the extreme left with two offsets.

The Nave

The south face of the nave has walling almost entirely rebuilt around 1850. Three buttresses are present; that at the extreme right has three offsets and a gabled top, while that at left has ashlar panels carved with floral bosses. The left-hand window of three Perpendicular lights was replaced in the 19th century. A Perpendicular window of 2-lights to the right of centre has flower ornament to the spandrels. A 19th-century copy of this appears to the right, of less depth. A doorway to the left of centre has a chamfered surround and hood mould, dating to the 19th century.

The Chancel

The chancel has a ridge of less height than the nave. The north face has a lancet window at right and a priest's door to right of this with chamfered surround and hood mould. A Decorated 19th-century window of 2-lights with quatrefoil heads and a dagger quatrefoil to the apex stands to the left. The eastern Decorated 19th-century window has three lights with quatrefoil heads and quatrefoils to the apex. The south face displays two Decorated windows with cinquefoil heads; that at right has a higher sill than that at left.

Interior

The interior of the porch features a hammer beam roof of two bays, with wall posts springing from floral bosses. The hammer beams have rounded ends. Arched braces connecting the two beams have carved foliage and coats of arms to the spandrels. Four-centred arched braces connect the hammer posts to heavily moulded cambered collar beams, with moulded purlins above. The upper portion of the central truss appears to have been replaced. Heavily moulded deep cornices appear at either side.

The doorway to the church has a moulded surround with hollow chamfer and wave mould, with a hood mould above. At either side are blank ashlar shields in relief. The double doors between are heavily moulded and divided into traceried panels containing simple linen-fold panelling. The central closing stile is attached to the right-hand door, making it wider. This stile and the two hanging stiles have canopied niches containing image stools on which stand figures of female saints or angels with splayed hands. At the level of the springing of the arch runs a deep band of sinuous ornament, above which are a series of maces; those to the side curve inwards with the arch.

The nave roof is of common rafters with collars and angle braces. Panelling before the ashlar posts has moulded cornices above and below with brattished enrichment. A series of fine decorated benches, mostly carved around 1845-50 by Henry Ringham but following the pattern of and incorporating portions of 15th-century benches (none of which now survive complete), are present. The bench ends have poppy head finials and buttressed arm rests with decorative finials showing eagles, dogs, the pelican in her piety, and other motifs.

An octagonal Jacobean pulpit features arched panels to the sides with jewelled rustication and dentilled cornice. A panelled back supports a sounding board with carved panels, dentilled cornice, and acorn pendants at the corners. The base and extension of the back panelling are the work of Ringham, as are the reading desk and lectern in Jacobean style.

An octagonal font of 13th-century date has shallow, paired, recessed arches to each face of the bowl. A central circular shaft is present, together with eight subsidiary shafts at the angles, which may be of later date.

The chancel has a roof similar to that of the nave. Choir stalls by Ringham incorporate no earlier work and have finials to the ends representing the crests of prominent local families.

Monuments

A wall monument to Thomas and Margaret Seckford, dating to 1583, is positioned on the south nave wall. It consists of a central rectangular metal panel bearing coats of arms with an architectural surround. Paired Doric pilasters with cabling to the lower bodies stand to either side on a panelled plinth. A correct entabulature appears above, with inscription to the central frieze and lateral metopes. A pediment surmounts the whole with a coat of arms to the tympanum.

A monument to John and Anne Clenche, dating to around 1629, is located on the south chancel wall and is executed in alabaster. A central rectangular aedicular surround of white alabaster contains half-length busts of John (right) and Anne (left) with clasped hands and prayer books set before them. Black marble square pillars stand at either side. A rectangular panel below contains figures of four male mourners in half-relief, all kneeling; those two at left have painted skulls to their right, and a reading desk appears in relief at the extreme right. A black marble apron below bears an inscription. Surmounting the whole are three coats of arms, two obelisks, and two spiked balls.

Black and white marble pavement squares in the nave and chancel were laid in 1792.

The southern chancel window has a lowered sill forming a sedilia, to the left of which is a piscina with an opening of one halved arch to the reveal and a full arched opening to the chancel. A colonette at the corner has a moulded base and capital. Ogee arches with cusps and hollow chamfered surrounds complete the opening.