Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a parish church of considerable importance, with a nave dating from around 1200 and significant later medieval additions. It stands on the east side of the High Street in Brading and is built of Isle of Wight stone rubble with a stone steeple and tiled roof.

The west tower is of late 13th-century date and rises in three stages. It has processional access running from north to south, with large chamfered arches on the west facing sides of this passage. The middle stage features a double lancet window beneath a single pointed arch. Above this rises a recessed stone spire with pseudo-machicolations and an iron weathercock, reached by an external wooden ladder to the bell chamber.

The north aisle, dating from the 13th century, has three Perpendicular double cinquefoil-headed windows with dripmoulds and a pointed arched doorcase. Its roof features four pseudo-gables with 19th-century brick ridge tiles and a cross-shaped saddle stone. The south aisle also dates from the 13th century and contains four triple cinquefoil-headed lights in arched surrounds with dripmoulds. A gabled south porch of 15th-century date occupies its centre, though it was not in use at the time of survey; it has offset buttresses and an arched doorcase with hood moulding, and is topped with a cross-shaped saddle stone.

The chancel is of 13th-century origin but was lengthened to the east in 1865 during a restoration by the Oglander family. Its present east gable end dates from 1866 and contains a triple lancet window with elaborate floral corbel stops. The church also possesses two chapels: the south or Oglander chapel to the south of the chancel, and the north or De Aula chapel to the north. Both are 15th-century in date. The Oglander chapel has two triple cinquefoil-headed lights in arched heads with dripmoulds separated by a buttress and a cross-shaped saddle stone. The De Aula chapel has two 15th-century cinquefoil-headed lights in arched surrounds, buttresses, and a 13th-century arched doorway.

Interior

The nave has north and south arcades of around 1200 with round piers and multi-scalloped capitals on square abaci with chamfered corners. The roofs of the nave and aisles date from 1866 and feature a cornice with a row of shields.

The church contains three wooden hatchments in the north aisle. There are two fonts: a small octagonal stone font lead-lined and dated 1631, and a larger square stone font whose upper part appears to be fashioned from a 13th-century stone capital, with a 19th-century base. An oak parish chest with stylized wooden claws, dated 1634 and bearing the initials DN and IF, survives from the 17th century. Three 18th-century basalt tomb slabs remain in the floor of the north aisle.

The east end of the north aisle contains a marble effigy of Elizabeth T A Rollo (died 1875), depicted as a child asleep on a mattress.

The chancel has a two-bay arcade opening to the south or Oglander chapel, with piers of eight shafts and eight hollows and four-centred arches of complex moulding. The north aisle has a two-bay arcade with plain octagonal piers supporting similar complex arches. A 12th-century pillar piscina with spiral decoration adorns the south wall of the chancel. One 18th-century black basalt tomb slab and a Purbeck stone slab to John Curwen Constable of Porchester (died 1441) bearing a figure in armour and an elaborate canopy in perspective are preserved here. A 17th-century oak communion table remains in use.

The south or Oglander chapel is remarkable for containing one of the finest collections of monuments on the Isle of Wight. The north wall features the tomb of Sir Oliver Oglander, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey (died 1536), with a chest incorporating figures of a kneeling father, four sons, a wife and three daughters beneath cinquefoil-headed arches. Adjoining to the east is the tomb of Sir John Oglander the Diarist (died 1655), with a recumbent oak figure in full armour with crossed legs and a heraldic lion at his feet, resting on a stone chest and imitating 14th-century effigies. The figure is shown on a half-rolled-up mat. Above this, in a round-headed stone niche, stands a small monument to his son George Oglander (died 1632), also featuring an oak recumbent effigy on a half-rolled mat.

The south wall contains the tomb of Sir William Oglander (died 1608), with a recumbent oak effigy in an attitude of prayer on a half-rolled-up mat with a heraldic lion at his feet, all set upon a stone chest. Adjacent to the west is the tomb of Sir John Oglander (died 1483), a stone chest tomb with quatrefoil and arch decoration and blank shields. Further west stands the tomb of Sir Henry Oglander (died 1874), a chest tomb in Arts and Crafts Jacobean style designed by J C Powell in 1897 of marble, alabaster and mosaic with two small white marble angels at the front by Henry Pegson. Six 18th-century basalt tomb slabs to members of the Oglander family and one hatchment are also present.

The north or De Aula chapel contains two chest tombs. In its south wall is a stone chest tomb with three cusped lozenges to William Howlys (died 1520); in the north wall is an almost identical chest tomb to his wife Elizabeth.

Nunwell House served as the family seat of the Oglanders.