Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Barnes

Parish church with a complex development spanning nearly nine centuries. The core dates to approximately 1100–1150, with extensions around 1200 to the east and west that formed an aisleless church with small chancel, now represented by the south aisle and Langton Chapel. A west tower was added in the late 15th century and externally refurbished in 1953. A northern chapel built in 1777 was removed in 1852 when a north aisle was added. This was replaced by a nave and north aisle constructed between 1904 and 1908 by architect Charles Innes, but this structure was destroyed by fire in 1978. The porch was remodelled in 1852. Following the fire, a comprehensive rebuild was completed in 1984 by Edward Cullinan, Mark Beedle and Alan Short, architects, and Matthew Marchbank and W.S.Try (Joinery) Ltd. This new structure attaches to the north of the 13th-century church and 15th-century tower and incorporates some reused 19th-century fabric. Surviving earlier fabric was reroofed.

Early medieval fabric consists of flint rubble construction, with 12th and 13th-century work internally faced in chalk. Eaves were raised in brick, probably in the 15th century. Brick buttresses are present throughout. The east end displays flint rubble with brick quoins, upper gable and infill. The north wall is flint rubble with brick infill, part rendered in 20th-century work. The south porch is rendered. Roofs are tiled.

The south aisle and Langton Chapel preserve a section of the original 12th-century single-cell building's south wall. The existing south wall, west wall, much of the east wall, and sections of the north wall from the extension of around 1200 survive, forming what was originally a nave and chancel. The north wall was largely removed when the church extended northwards in the 18th and 19th centuries, or was rebuilt after 1978. The west end was altered when the tower was added around 1485.

The south wall features a blocked 12th-century entrance with an adjacent blocked window, both visible internally. A simple chamfered doorway entrance from around 1200 is set within a porch that was restored and dated internally to 1852, featuring a rendered exterior with tile roof and moulded stone outer arch. A western south window dated 1907 internally comprises two lights. Between brick offset buttresses stands a largely 19th-century restoration of a tall cusped three-light window, and a restored three or four-light window with uncusped plain tracery under a three-centred hood mould, dated to the 15th or 16th century. An eastern two-light window, dated 1863 internally, represents a remodelling of an earlier Y-tracery window. A wall tablet to Edward Rose, 1653, is executed in black marble set within a repaired stone architrave. A tablet to Elizabeth Mitchell sits on a buttress as a moulded stone aedicule with skull apron.

The east end displays flint rubble with possibly 15th-century brick infill, stock brick quoins, and gable. Three stepped lancets with stone cills are set under a continuous hood mould. These lancets were previously blocked and were uncovered and restored in 1852. A vesica appears in the gable. A stone gable cross and kneelers are present.

The north wall's eastern section dates to around 1200, while the remainder was incorporated into the 18th and 19th-century church. The majority is now a later 20th-century rebuild with two reset 19th-century cusped chancel lights, formerly from the north wall of the larger church. The eastern end retains part of a damaged Dawson monument dated 1859, an inscribed tablet with naval insignia and figures of a weeping mother and child.

The tower stands in three stages with a faceted stair turret at the south-east angle and diagonal buttresses. The tower is constructed of red and brown brick with stone dressings. A west doorway features a plain 20th-century architrave. A three-light west window sits in a restored architrave. Above is a rectangular brick ringing chamber opening with timber louvres, and similar plain rectangular bellchamber openings to each face also with timber louvred windows. A plain parapet sits above a moulded band. The south face displays a clock and sundial, both dated 1794 and made by A & J Thwaites of Clerkenwell, both of which have been restored and refurbished. The former nave roof profile is visible on the east face of the tower.

The 1984 nave is aligned north–south. A former mid-19th-century three-light east window, previously reset in 1904, was reset as the north sanctuary window. Remaining 19th-century lancets from the former north wall are set into the south wall of the parish rooms.

Interior

The church is noted for the rare survival of early wall treatment. A blocked early 12th-century doorway and section of window are evident. A blocked window or squinch lies to the east of the chancel arch. The tower arch probably dates to the 15th century. A small stair doorway is set under a chamfered four-centred arch, and a four-centred arch marks the inner face of the west doorway.

The chancel arch rests on simple faceted piers, with the southern pier partly blocking an earlier window. All roofs date to 1984; the chancel roof incorporates four surviving angel bosses from 19th-century restoration. A carved figure, a fragment of a former screen, is attached to the south chancel pier.

The sanctuary, now Langton Chapel, features a floor of William de Morgan glazed mosaic tiles in green, blue and buff, laid in 1902 in memory of Alexander Nesbitt.

The south wall was exposed during restoration following the fire and reveals substantial wall painting. The blocked 12th-century doorway arch is painted in a probable late 12th-century red single-line masonry pattern, with outer blocks alternately painted yellow ochre with red ochre marbling and white with umber marbling to resemble Purbeck marble. This pattern is thought to have continued to the north face of the wall, defining the doorway. A plain single-line masonry pattern appears above and to the east of the current south doorway. Several applications of 14th-century double-line masonry pattern in red are present, some with stencilled six-petal flowers. A fragment of a blocked window or squinch to the east of the chancel arch is painted in imitation Purbeck marbling overlaid with double-line masonry, extending over the cill. The eastern-most window retains fire-damaged 14th-century masonry pattern with stencilled flowers. The east wall bears fire-blackened paintwork and some dark paintwork framing windows that preceded the fire. Late 14th-century stylised vine leaf scrolls with double-line and dot masonry pattern and wavy lines between define the former roof line, with a small section of double-line masonry pattern. The west wall contains fragments of 14th-century double-line masonry pattern and post-Reformation text in blackletter script.

In situ monuments include a tablet to John Squire, 1662, Rector 1660–1662, an oval wall monument with bay leaf border, fire-blackened.

Resited monuments include a brass to Edith and Elizabeth Wylde, 1508, reset in the north wall of Langton Chapel with its matrix remaining on the chapel floor. A brass to the Hoare family is reset in the north wall of the chapel, from a floor slab relocated within the rebuilt east transept. Remains of a wall monument to Sir Richard Hoare, died 1787, comprising a putto set over an inscribed panel, are preserved. A marble tablet dated 1914 commemorates James Forster. Additional resited brasses in the new building include memorials to John Ellerton, 1826–93, former Rector and hymn writer and hymnologist; Lewis Loche, rector 1884–91; and Elizabeth Beale, 1901, schoolteacher.

Bells date to 1575, 1616, and 1637, with the remainder cast in 1897.

The 18th and 19th-century boundary wall to the south-west, west, north and north-east incorporates inset memorials. To the north is the Fletcher monument, 1726, an inscribed stone tablet under a red brick semicircular arch. A similar eroded monument appears on the east wall. A lychgate commemorates the coronation of Edward VII, 5 April 1903.