Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a parish church of considerable scale, originally built in the late 12th century due to the patronage of Horton Priory. The building was subsequently enlarged and modified over several centuries: a south aisle was added in the 13th century, a chapel in the 14th century, and the fenestration and tower top were renewed in the 15th century. The church underwent restoration in the late 19th century.

The building is constructed of flint with ragstone dressings and a plain tiled roof. It comprises a nave with a west tower, south aisle, and north porch, together with a chancel and south chapel.

The three-stage west tower is a particularly striking feature. The top stage is a 15th-century rebuilding in squared ragstone. The tower has label-headed belfry openings and a 19th-century Perpendicular-style west window. The west doorway is shafted in the 12th-century style, with a roll mould and hood. Large offset buttresses with five stages project from the south side.

The south aisle is buttressed by three offset buttresses and features raised brick eaves. It retains a restored 14th-century two-light window with a quatrefoil. A sharply pointed roll-moulded south doorway provides access. The nave incorporates a clerestory with three lancets on a string course. The south chapel displays 14th-century fenestration with encircled cinquefoils over cinquefoiled lights, surmounted by hoodmoulds on carved heads.

The chancel is notable for its architectural detail. It has pilaster-strip buttresses and a four-light Perpendicular east window with a string course and gable cross. The north wall contains two round-headed lancets. An unusual priest's doorway features a billet-moulded outer order, with the third innermost order displaying three lobed pendants suspended from a convex tympanum. The nave north wall contains a three-light Perpendicular window.

The timber north porch is distinguished by a moulded bargeboard with pendants and double boarded doors with mullioned sidelights. The inner door employs overlapped boards and strap hinges, set within a double wave-moulded doorway with a hood. A decayed water stoup survives nearby.

Interior

The interior reveals the building's constructional sequence and quality. A large plain 12th-century tower arch is accompanied by a pointed 12th-century inner arch with moulded abaci. Rebated lancet openings light the clerestory, and the roof incorporates four crown posts.

The south arcade consists of three bays of double-chamfered arches supported on round piers of Bethersden marble with deeply undercut capitals. An identical arch connects the south aisle to the south chapel.

A roll-moulded string course runs through the south aisle, raised over the doorway, and supports a lean-to roof.

The large chancel arch features nook shafts, voluted capitals, and abaci with carved head stops. The arch itself is roll-moulded and billet-moulded, with a hood above. The chancel string course is enriched with fleur-de-lys and dogtooth ornament. Attached shafts to the north and south of the chancel rest upon this string course, and a twisted capital in the south-west corner suggests that the chancel was originally intended to be vaulted. The present roof incorporates crown posts, with the easternmost bay ceiled. A 13th-century lancet reveal, now blocked, is visible, having been obscured by the construction of the 14th-century south chapel.

Two 14th-century segmentally headed tomb recesses or through-arches in the south chapel feature wave moulding and head stops, with an integral depressed arched doorway. The chapel itself has exposed jambs of earlier external windows on its west and north walls and retains a lean-to roof.

Fittings and Monuments

A notable reredos and altar in the chancel were raised around 1600 as a memorial to the Scott family. The reredos is a five-bay arcaded composition with Ionic pilasters and a frieze, with the altar featuring the progression of the family's armorial bearings from 1290 to 1562. Three cartouches at the top display coats of arms, the central one showing the full armorial bearings. An inscription reads: "The memorial of the just shall be blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot." The work was made for Reginald Scott, founder of the Magic Circles of England, U.S.A.

A round-headed aumbrey is set in the north wall. A restored trefoil-headed piscina in a square-headed surround is positioned as part of the easternmost tomb recess between the chancel and south chapel. The south chapel contains a cusped piscina and an aumbrey in its north wall.

A 17th-century altar table with twisted legs and fillet-moulded stretcher is present. A 17th-century lecturn and an octagonal pulpit (or a 19th-century reproduction in 17th-century style) also survive. Twentieth-century brass chandeliers and a screen to the tower are modern additions. Medieval quarter-log stairs are preserved in the tower.

The chancel north window retains original 12th-century floral glass, among the earliest surviving complete windows in the country.

In the chancel, a heart shrine dating to around 1300 is fashioned from Bethersden marble with an incised cross in a circle and side indents for mosaics or inscription. The back plate is trefoiled and triangular, decorated with ball-flower and crockets and a relief shield. The heart it contained is reputed to be that of William de Valence (died 1296) or John Balliol, founder of Balliol College.

A monument to Sir John Scott (comptroller of the Household to Edward IV, died 1485) occupies a tomb recess on the north wall. It is a traceried panelled chest with shields, fluted octagonal piers supporting a traceried frieze and battlemented top. The spandrels are grotesquely enriched, with a ribbed soffit. Two empty tomb recesses remain in the south wall.

The south chapel contains a hollow-chamfered tomb recess for William Scott, who rebuilt the chapel as Trinity Chapel between 1420 and 1430 (as recorded on associated brasses). A small coffin lid, possibly for a child, lies in the floor, decorated with a fleury calvary cross.

An 18th-century plaque with a brass shield and an apparently Welsh inscription is mounted on the north wall. A white marble architectural wall plaque on the south wall commemorates Arthur Scott (died 1756).

A small black marble wall plaque in the south aisle records William Richards, erected in 1672, with a Latin inscription in a raised and fielded surround topped by a scrolled and swagged cartouche and scrolled pediment.

On the nave north wall, a plaque to Ellen, wife of John Richards (died 1720), features a cornice and winged cherubs on the apron.

Two identical lead wall plaques on the south aisle and north nave walls commemorate the churchwardens and record the restoration of 1700, inscribed "T W" with relief roses and horses, recording Thomas Webb and Thomas Thompson.

Brasses

The south chapel contains several notable brasses. Sir William Scott (died 1433, swordbearer to Henry V) is represented by a large brass showing a knight with feet resting on a greyhound. Denis Harbord (died 1450) has a 35-inch brass of a woman with flowing hair. Sir William Scott (died 1524), a knight, has a 26½-inch brass. Dame Elizabeth Poynings (died 1528) is recorded on a 35½-inch brass.

The jousting helms of Sir William Scott (circa 1510) and Sir Thomas Scott (late 16th century) survive in the chancel.

The Royal Arms of George II are displayed in the south aisle.