Church of St Mary

St Mary's is a parish church built between 1840 and 1846 to designs by A F Livesay (1807-1879), with revisions and completion by Sydney Smirke (1798-1882) from 1842 to 1846. The interior was refurnished and altered in 1871 by William White (1825-1900).

Materials and Construction

The walls are constructed of knapped flint with Caen stone dressings, covered by a pitched slate roof.

Layout

The church consists of a nave with clerestory, tall north and south aisles, lower north and south transepts, and an apsidal chancel. A tall west tower contains the principal entrance from the west, with two additional entrances to the south serving the south transept and nave. Below the nave lies a medieval crypt accessed by external steps on the north side.

Exterior

The church is designed in the Early English style with close reference to Salisbury Cathedral. The walls rise from a deep plinth, faced in flint with Caen stone dressings and detailing, and are crowned by a stone parapet. Both the side aisles and the clerestory feature paired lancet windows, elaborate corbel-tables, and flat or chamfered buttresses, most of which are gabled.

The eastern apse extends to full height, with broad three-light traceried windows surmounted by three untrefoiled lights, below paired lancets above. These upper lancets serve a void above the chancel, directing light into the nave. Two-stage gabled buttresses support the corners of the apse. On the north side between the apse and the north transept, the church projects outward to accommodate the organ and vestry.

The tower has angled buttresses to the lower two stages and clasped buttresses to the upper two stages. The lower-stage buttresses are gabled and flat-faced, while those of the upper stage are octagonal with their middle sections formed by slender columns. At the base of the tower on the western elevation, a deeply-splayed stone door architrave is formed of slender columns supporting Y-shaped detailing to the arch. Above this sits a tall west window composed of four lancets delineated by columnar-supported tracery featuring two smaller quatrefoils and a central six-sided example. The mid-stage of the tower has circular clock faces on the western and southern elevations, inset into recessed and stepped circular stone mouldings. The belfry stage displays a triple-arcade to all elevations with a central vented opening. Octagonal crocketed corner pinnacles with ball finials, connected by the pierced parapet above, complete the tower.

The western ends of the transepts each have a pair of lancet windows and terminate in chamfered buttresses. The south face of the southern transept features a five-light window with stone mullions in the form of columns, surmounted by Gothic arches whose intersections are marked by sculptured stops. Below this is a triple arcade of Gothic arches with gables above, each containing a quatrefoil carving surmounted by a carved cross. The central arch contains double timber doors with decorative strap hinges, a design carried across all external doors. The gable above has a circular rose window with columnar spindles, crowned by a stone wheel-cross. The entire ensemble is supported by gabled buttresses with octagonal decorative finials of coupled-columns. Further west along the south side is another entrance, located in a gabled porch surmounted by a stone cross. This porch has low-set buttresses either side of the double entrance doors and paired lancet windows to the side elevations. The north transept end wall is plainer, with three lancets (the central one taller), a small trefoil in the roof gable, and a stone cross as the gable's crown. The side elevations have a single lancet window.

Interior

Throughout the lofty nave and aisles there is a unified presentation of slender clustered columns supporting high Gothic arches and continuing upward through the clerestory, where they act as springers for the elegant quadripartite and rib-vaulted ceiling. The chancel vaulting is similar, as is that in the transepts, where the ceilings are lower. The walls throughout the church are plastered and painted, enlivened with sculptured heads and decorative mouldings including a characteristic corbel design which twists as it seats into the wall.

The chancel at the east end has an apsidal sanctuary separated from the nave by a screen of three pointed arches on slender, tall cast-iron columns. The wall above the screen features a mural painting of the Annunciation, the last visible intact component of the 1891 scheme of decoration, apart from a small patch revealed on one of the apse columns. Above this, a five-light window delineated by slender shafts illuminates the unusual void above the chancel. The lower part of the apse has a continuous arcade of detached columns and arches framing angel statues on brackets designed by White in 1887 and carved by Harry Hems, originally standing on the chancel screen. The choir and chancel are almost wholly paved with ornamental tiles, and a slab ledger commemorates Dr Goddard, the founder of the church.

The pulpit, font, chancel screen, altar rails, clergy seats, and choir stalls are all by William White of 1871, with carving by Harry Hems. The pulpit is of unusual form, on a circular stone base, with a massive ramped marble hand rail resting on dwarf marble columns of varied colours with floriated alabaster capitals. The altar rails are on metal supports of original design, including wrought-iron twisted into plant tendrils. The choir and clergy stalls are of timber, pierced with quatrefoils and with poppy-head decoration to the ends. The back choir stalls are set into masonry dwarf walls with unusual foliated wings at each end. The font consists of a large marble bowl merging into supporting corner columns, standing on stumpy columns of marble with carved alabaster capitals. The font bowl has elaborate stylized foliage carving, and the wooden font cover is pyramidal, heavily crocketed, and decorated with inset coloured quatrefoils.

There are three elaborate classically-styled monuments in the chancel area. The first, for Richard Kemys (died 1611) and his wife and family, is made of painted plaster with columns topped by Corinthian capitals and surmounted by obelisks acting as pinnacles. It contains a figurine of Kemys holding a skull and his family kneeling in prayer, along with inscribed plaques, the family coat of arms on shields, and strapwork above. The second, to Richard Venables of 1613, is a flat-faced painted-timber memorial depicting an elaborate stone arch with a central dedication plaque. The third monument, of 1621, is formed of painted plaster framed by a cornice supported on columns with Corinthian capitals. It has richly decorated plasterwork including dragons to the base, and is surmounted by strapwork. Contained within are two kneeling figures—Richard Venables and his wife—who face each other in a prayer pose.

The south transept has two 18th/19th-century timber boards commemorating past charitable donors. The north transept is fitted out as a memorial chapel and divided from the church by a mid-20th-century timber parclose screen. The nave and aisles are of six bays, the aisles being extended by a bay on each side of the tower. The western bay of the north aisle is fitted as an open kitchen. The timber pews of 1871 in the nave are also by William White and are of simple sculptural design with distinctive n-shaped ends, in accord with his published views on practical church seating. The floor is largely of timber boards, with the stone-paved central, side, and transept aisles edged with ornamental tiles.

The tower has an open strainer arch facing east towards the nave. This once held the organ but is now open and may have been modified in the later 19th century. At the base of the tower (and throughout the church) there are a good number of 17th to 19th-century stone wall monuments. Notable examples include a plaque of 1609 to James Lamborne, a town gent; an armorial cartouche for James Walter (died 1778) and Elizabeth Walter (died 1779) surmounted by a sculpture of a graceful female figure mourning by a Grecian urn; a rectangular plaque originated in 1721 recording deaths of the Brice family through to 1899; and many plaques commemorating 18th and 19th-century members of the Pollen family.

Beneath the nave of the church is a substantial crypt reached by steps outside the north aisle. The crypt is vaulted with round brick arches on brick piers, and there are several ledger slabs set into the floor.

Stained Glass

The original window glass for the church was supplied by William Wailes of Newcastle. Where it survives (most notably in the apse), it has a coloured pattern or plain diamond quarries with coloured borders. Notable replacements include south chancel north and south east windows by Thomas Ward of 1851; the most easterly north aisle window, probably by Ward and Hughes commemorating an 1880 death; and the south chancel south window of 1874 by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake. Other makers include Mayer and Co of Munich. There are also artist-designed 20th-century feature windows including the south transept eastern window by Edward Liddell Armitage in 1934; the north transept eastern window (St Cecilia) by Wippell of Exeter in 1953; the south aisle window (The Tree of Life and the Holy Spirit) by Mel Howse in 2002; and the north aisle window by Deborah Lowe of 2008-2009.