Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

This is a parish church at Stelling Minnis with construction spanning the late 12th or early 13th century through to the 18th century, with significant 14th and 15th-century additions.

The exterior is built principally of galleted flint with stone dressings. The tower, at the west end, is constructed of galleted flint interspersed with sandstone blocks towards its base, with red and grey brick bands and dressings. The south face of the tower is tile-hung. The rest of the church is flint with stone dressings, except the chancel which has some stone interspersed. Plain tile roofs cover the entire structure.

The building comprises a west tower, nave, south aisle, south porch, and a chancel that is slightly narrower than the nave.

The west tower dates to the late 12th or early 13th century. It has no visible plinth or stages and is barely taller than the south aisle. A plain parapet, mostly brick with rendered stone copings, crowns the tower. There is a north-west angle buttress and a single west buttress. The north face has a rectangular lancet with chamfered stone head and brick jambs. The tile-hung south face is unpierced. The west face contains a chamfered rectangular lancet towards the top, a smaller similar lancet towards the centre, and a small cinquefoil-headed single-light window with squared head, hollow spandrels and hoodmould with wage stops. A small plain-chamfered pointed-arched west doorway without hoodmould provides entry.

The south aisle is of late 12th or early 13th-century origin with 14th-century fenestration. Its west end is flush with the west face of the tower, and it has no plinth. The aisle is gabled with two south buttresses. A plain-chamfered pointed-arched west window lights the west end. No windows exist west of the porch. East of the porch is a single-light 14th-century window with trefoiled ogee head and no hoodmould. The east window is 14th-century and pointed-arched, containing three trefoil-headed lights with tracery of intersecting glazing bars featuring trefoils and quatrefoils, with a moulded hoodmould.

The south porch is 18th-century, constructed of red and grey brick in Flemish bond with a flint panel to the gable end. It has a half-hipped plain tile roof. The outer doorway has a cambered wooden head. The inner doorway is late 12th or early 13th-century and features a moulded pointed-arched opening with central roll-and-fillet moulding springing from slender shafts with moulded capitals and bases, and a scroll-moulded hoodmould. The double doors are 18th or early 19th-century with flush panels.

The chancel is late 12th or early 13th-century with no plinth. North-east and south-east angle buttresses support the structure. The eaves are similar to those of the nave but the ridge is slightly lower. Two plain-chamfered pointed-arched south windows and one to the north light the sides. The east window is 14th-century and pointed-arched, containing three trefoil-headed lights with tracery of quatrefoils and sexfoils in ogivals, and a moulded hoodmould.

The north elevation of the nave features a short, broad pointed-arched two-light window with trefoil-headed lights and quatrefoiled ogival tracery, with a scroll-moulded hoodmould with image stops. A plain-chamfered trefoil-headed light without overall architrave is positioned towards the centre, with another towards the west end. A low plain-chamfered pointed-arched doorway is situated to the west of centre.

Interior

The arcade between the south aisle and nave consists of a single broad rebated arch springing from engaged semi-octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases, probably replacing a former two-bay arcade in the 18th century. The chancel arch is pointed and plain-chamfered with plastered piers and high chamfered imposts, probably altered in the 18th century. The tower arch is pointed and plain-chamfered, dating to the 13th century, with hollow-chamfered imposts and the east leading edges of the wall below chamfered with bar and cushion stops.

The nave roof is ceiled except for a central tie-beam with a tall rectangular crown post with broadly-chamfered edges, bar stops and four head braces. The chancel has a collared common rafter roof with sous-laces. The south aisle roof is ceiled with two tie-beams.

The church retains notable fittings including a roll-and-filleted 13th-century stone string to the east end of the south aisle. An aumbrey and piscina occupy the east end of the south wall of the chancel, with the piscina in a rebated rectangular recess and the aumbrey trefoiled and rebated immediately above. An octagonal stone font with moulded base, buttressed stem and bowl with two trefoil-headed relief panels on each face is present.

An 18th-century set of altar rails features turned balusters, moulded handrail and quirk-beaded newels with polygonal finials. Chandeliers hang within the church. An 18th-century hexagonal three-decker pulpit with sunk moulded panels, panelled back-board and hexagonal tester occupies the centre of the north wall of the nave, facing the south aisle. An organ sits to the west side of the pulpit. Three west-facing box pews stand to the east side of the pulpit. Box pews along the south side of the nave and in the south aisle face the pulpit, leaving a gangway between the south porch and nave. An 18th-century gallery with finely-dentilled frieze and moulded cornice with panelling above spans four columns across the south aisle. A wooden hat-rack stands opposite the south door. Box pews in the chancel face north and south. The floor is pamment. The pulpit and pews represent relatively unusual survivals in this area.