Old Church Of St Mary

OLD CHURCH OF ST MARY

A parish church dating from 1563, restored by Charles Barry in 1827-9, with a mid-20th-century spire and north aisle. The building is constructed of brick with stone window surrounds and a rendered porch, demonstrating good survival of 16th-century brickwork.

The church is rectangular in plan with aisles, a north-east vestry, and a west tower. The tower features a single hooded Y-tracery window on each face, a battlemented parapet with corner pinnacles, and a steep spire rising from its summit. At the base on the west side is a two-light arched mullion window with early-20th-century stained glass. The south facade displays a porch with hood moulding and decorated spandrels featuring trefoils, above which a plaque reads "1563 Ab alto". The south aisle contains two 16th-century Y-tracery windows set in exceptionally fine 16th-century brickwork, partly restored in the 19th century. The east front is dominated by a post-war reconstruction of a Tudor plate-tracery window using some original glass. The north facade is a post-war rebuild.

The interior features a small chancel with single 19th-century curvilinear clerestory windows to north and south and a black-and-white diamond-patterned marble floor. The nave has four 19th-century curvilinear clerestory windows on the north and south sides. The south arcade comprises three bays of low polygonal brick piers supporting four-centred chamfered arches, with a number of inexplicable blank arched recesses in the walls and two 16th-century windows fitted with 19th-century stained glass. The north arcade is modern and sympathetic, consisting of three bays of pointed arches with tracery windows. The rear of the church at the tower base contains two levels of gallery space, the upper level serving as the bell-ringers loft. The roof is canted with tie-beams and dates from the 19th century.

Seating comprises early-19th-century box pews throughout, except for 19th-century chancel pews. The church contains several notable monuments, including a 1580 tomb of John Dudley and an 1793 work by Thomas Banks commemorating Joseph Hurlock and his wife. The chancel displays early-19th-century fittings by Charles Barry, including painted panelling on three sides, pulpit, lectern, altar, and altar railings. A 18th-century clock is housed in the gallery.

The medieval church, constructed of stone, flint, and pebbles, contained a chapel dedicated to St Thomas and a rood requiring repair by 1500. In the 1560s William Patten, the local lord of the manor, undertook a substantial rebuilding despite the prevailing neglect of church fabric in that era. Patten added the west tower, south porch (which includes an 18th-century datestone recording the Tudor rebuilding), south aisle, and south-east vestry, effectively creating an entirely new church though the north aisle may have been retained. The south aisle housed his private family chapel.

A second north aisle was added in 1716-17, and the chancel was extended eastward in 1723. In 1728 new windows were installed at the west end, the south walls were raised and coped with stone, and the entire church except the new north aisle was roughcast. The church underwent repair and beautification in 1770, and the west end was raised to match the rest of the building in 1785. By 1791 concerns about capacity prompted consideration of replacement.

A survey in 1827 revealed a rotten roof and poor drainage, with coffins floating beneath the floor. Between 1827 and 1829 Charles Barry restored the church, increasing capacity from 499 to 700 sittings while preserving its village-like proportions and Tudor character. Barry extended the north aisle westward to align with the tower, added a second north aisle, introduced a clerestory to the nave, raised the floor and ceiling, removed the 18th-century parapets, and replaced the roof and wooden spire. The spire was rebuilt in 1928, and the south aisle render was removed to expose the early brickwork. Bomb damage in 1940 resulted in the construction of a new north aisle and north-east vestry in the post-war period.

The church was superseded as the main parish church when a much larger church was built across the road in the 19th century by George Gilbert Scott. The new church, with capacity for 1,300 people, opened in 1858, and there were concerns the rector intended to demolish or repurpose the old building. However, congregations exceeding 300 continued to attend, and the bishop promised the old church would remain as a chapel of ease despite the title and endowments transferring to the new church. St Mary Old Church has continued in worship to the present day and shares a vicar with its successor.