Church Of St Mary

SU 64 SE BENTWORTH BENTWORTH

3/29 Church of St Mary

31/07/63 II*

Parish church. Late C12, early and late C13, restoration of 1849 and 1891. Flint walls and tiled roof. Aisleless chancel with small Victorian north vestry, nave with north and south aisles, west tower and south porch. The nave arcade (c1175) has 4 pointed Transitional arches, resting on Norman cylindrical columns with scalloped caps. The C13 chancel has 2 narrow lancets (c1200) on the north side, and 2 wider lancets (c1250) on each side of a priest's door on the south side, the triple lancets of the east window being framed (inside) in a hoodmould with dog-tooth ornament resting on slender jamb shafts with moulded caps; to the south of the east window is a piscina with trefoil head and short jamb-shafts: Perpendicular tower arch. The C13 table-top font has cusped recesses on the sides and the tub support, and 4 separate corner shafts with moulded caps and base; the oak cover is a panelled pyramid with a ball finial, and fascia around the base with raised letters "I am given by Martha Hunt Anna 1605". There are several wall monuments; one of 1606 to Nicholas Holdip, others of the late C18 and early C19, and some in similar traditional style of the early C20. Within the tower are the corner timber supports to the belfry. Externally, the building is Victorian, with plain roofs, flint walls with stone dressings; stepped buttresses, plinth, and in the nave coubled traceried lights. The bold west tower (1891) has diagonal buttresses with an elaborate arrangement of steps (some with gabled ornamentation), and at the top is a timber turret, surmounted by a broach spire.

Listing NGR: SU6681340702