Church Of St Mary The Virgin

3343 ABBOTTS ANN ABBOTTS ANN 10/31 Church of St. Mary The Virgin 20.12.60 I

Parish church. 1716. Brick, with stone dressings, and a slate roof. The building replaces an earlier church, and was paid for by the estate owner Thomas 'Diamond' Pitt, a former governor of Madras and father of the Earl of Chatham. The structure is of classical form, with symmetrical or regular elevations, with an aisleless nave of 4 bays, chancel, west tower incorporating the entrance, and a small Victorian vestry south of the chancel. The walls are of brickwork in Flemish bond with blue headers, and Bath stone features; weathered coping to the parapet, moulded cornice, corner pilasters, moulded plinths: plain architraves to the openings, round-headed windows and doorways with Keystones. The tower has 3 stages, separated by moulded stone bands, the top stage has a cambered head to the opening, the middle stage has a small oval window (clock face on the west) above a window with a cambered head, and the lower stage has a recessed brick panel above an opening: the west side his"the arched door- way, with moulded impost, plain pilasters and arched cornice: the south side has a rectangular (staircase) projection with a small window above a tiny door- way. The easternmost group of windows (chancel and 2 eastern bays of the nave) have been filled (C19) with traceried coupled lights, and the parapet of the tower is crenellated, with corner Gothic pinnacles. Inside, the simple classical appearance is enhanced by oak panelling, in the sanctuary and as a dado to the rest of the chancel and to the nave: the pews have doors and include a family pew: the pulpit is a panelled octagon. There are communion rails and a wood octagonal font of baluster form, with stoneware bowl and decorative wooden cover. A gallery occupies the west bay of the nave, with panelled front, 2 Tuscan columns, with pilasters against the side walls: 2 panels are lettered (one about a bequest of 1728, the other about, the church rebuilding of 1716). There are wall monuments of the late C18 and early C19 date, and inside the porch (the lowest part of the tower) is a painted Royal Coat of Arms of G II 1728: against the east wall of the nave on each side are mid C19 Prescriptions. A feature of the church is the series of Virgins' Crowns, hung from the cornice of the coved ceiling of the nave, the medieval tradition of maidens' garlands having continued into present times; the garlands are left to hang until they drop and the oldest surviving is dated 1740. This is a virtually unaltered Georgian church, complete with fittings.

Listing NGR: SU3283743570