Church Of St Mary

TM 37 SW CRATFIELD CHURCH ROAD

5/45 Church of St. Mary 7.12.66 (Formerly listed under General

• I

Parish-church. Medieval, restored 1879 and 1889. Nave, chancel, north and south aisles, west tower, south porch, north vestry (originally the guild chapel of St. Edmund). Flint and stone rubble, with small remains of plasterwork; there is some coursed work to the tower and the vestry; stone dressings; slated roofs to nave and chancel. Tower with mid C15 features but earlier core: the west face has 2-stage diagonal buttresses and a fine doorway with an enriched moulded arch; the hoodmould has carved stops in the form of lions and well-preserved carved spandrels showing a wild man and a dragon; to either side of the doorway are empty cusped niches; above the doorway is a 3- light window with enriched reveals. 2-light bell chamber openings; carved stone parapet with crenellations and corner pinnacles. 4-bay aisles: the south aisle is C14, with 2 original windows and others of C15; the north aisle is C15 with original windows and doorway. C15 porch with an empty niche over the entrance arch and a crenellated stone parapet. Knapped flint clerestory of 10 bays. Chancel with C14 core and windows of C15, some restored; C14 Priest's doorway. 5-bay aisle arcades with octagonal piers. Late C15 arched- braced nave roof of 5 bays. Good 5-bay arched-braced chancel roof with 3 tiers of embattlements to the wallplate. The north aisle roof (restored) has carved wooden corbels supporting the wallposts. At the east end of the north aisle is a cinquefoil-headed piscina. Good enriched doorway from chancel to vestry with original door. Fine C15 font, the bowl. carved with the Seven Sacraments (2 panels missing); richly carved stem with figures under canopied niches and further seated figures around the base; the font stands on a 2- stepped plinth, the upper step carved with blank tracery. The aisles have a set of 20 benches, probably of C17, with unusual volute-type stylized poppyheads. Late C19 pulpit incorporating some early C17 carved panels. Part of C15 rood screen against west wall of nave. Wall monument to Sarah Mynne (d.1724) in north aisle. Several C17-C18 ledger slabs at west end of nave, 2 with brass inscriptions. Fragments of medieval glass in tracery of south chancel windows. Graded I for medieval fabric.

Listing NGR: TM3138474826