Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, St Mary Cray

This medieval parish church probably dates from the 12th century in origin, with significant additions and rebuilding over subsequent centuries. The early 13th century saw the construction of the west tower and the north and south nave arcades. The aisles were rebuilt in the 14th century, with further work on the chancel undertaken in the 15th century. An early 16th century south chapel was added. The church was extensively restored between 1861 and 1863 by E Nash, with further restoration work carried out in 1876 and 1895.

The building is constructed of flint rubble with brick and stone dressings, and has a tiled roof. The plan comprises a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel with north and south chapels, and a west tower. There is a south porch and a south-east vestry.

The exterior was almost entirely renewed during the 19th century, though most of the tracery patterns appear to follow the original designs. The chancel has 15th-century style windows on the south and east sides, and a 13th-century style window with plate tracery on the north. A small, 19th-century lean-to vestry is attached to the south side of the chancel. The south chapel has a plain parapet concealing a low-pitched roof, with a window in early 16th-century style. The south aisle contains a single lancet to the west of the porch, entirely renewed in the 19th century, and a 14th-century style window with Kentish cusping to the east of the porch. The 19th-century south porch, which replaces a late or post-medieval porch, has an Early English style outer opening. The south door is 13th century with continuous roll mouldings and a hood mould with head stops. The north aisle and north chapel feature 14th-century style windows, all heavily renewed in the 19th century. The north aisle's west window has renewed Kentish cusping. The north door is 14th century with continuous chamfered mouldings and a hood mould. The slender west tower is topped by a shingled broach spire. The tower is undivided and has substantial 19th-century buttresses on the lower part, with renewed quatrefoil openings in the bell stage.

The interior is painted and plastered, and retains considerably more genuine medieval work than the exterior. The chancel arch is late 13th or early 14th century with two chamfered orders on half-round shafts with moulded capitals. A two-bay arcade from the chancel to the north chapel is 19th century in Early English style, with a stiff-leaf capital on the central pier and hood moulds with foliate stops. The arches between the aisles and chancel chapels die into the wall. The three-bay north and south nave arcades date to the early 13th century, featuring pointed arches on round piers with moulded capitals. The western and eastern responds on both sides are notably long, and the rood stair survives in the long east respond of the south arcade. The early 13th-century tower arch has chamfered imposts. A trefoil-headed stoup is located inside the south door. The 19th-century chancel roof features carved angels and shields along the wall plate.

The church contains a number of important fixtures and fittings. A trefoil-headed piscina is located in the south chapel, and a cinquefoiled piscina in the north chancel chapel. A late 15th-century screen survives in the south chapel, and an early 15th-century screen under the tower arch. A 19th-century timber pulpit of unusual square shape features open Decorated-style arcading and an eagle book rest. The 19th-century font is accompanied by mid-19th-century benches with doors and square ends, and 19th-century choir stalls with arcaded fronts. A late 19th or early 20th-century timber reredos contains carved figures of saints in 16th-century style niches. One fragment of medieval glass, in the south aisle, was brought from Westminster Abbey in 1991. The church also contains a notable collection of brasses, including those of Richard Abery, who died in 1508 and is depicted with his three wives, and Philadelphia and Benjamin Greenwood, who died in 1747 and 1773 respectively and are said to have the distinction of being the last pre-Oxford Movement brasses. A small hanging monument to Margaret Crewes, who died in 1602, features kneeling figures.

The earliest visible fabric in the church is the early 13th-century tower and 13th-century arcades, though the long east and west responds on both arcades indicate they were added to an earlier nave. The aisles were rebuilt in the 14th century, and the screens indicate 15th-century work on the church. The south chapel was added or remodelled in the early 16th century, and the former south porch, which was two storeys high, may also have been added in the 16th century. By the 19th century the church was in poor condition and underwent the extensive restoration programme detailed above.