Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Parish church dating from the 12th to 15th centuries, with the east wall rebuilt in 1867 as dated on the rainwater heads. The church is constructed of ragstone with plain tiled roofs.

The building comprises a west tower, nave, chancel with a north vestry to the east and north chapel to the west, a north aisle to the nave, and a north porch.

The west tower is a three-stage 15th-century structure built of ragstone on a plinth with angle buttresses, a battlemented parapet with a gargoyled string below, and a north-east stair turret, also battlemented. The tower features cusped belfry lights, a three-light west window and a moulded west door, all with hoodmoulds.

The nave is plinthless and built of random flint, with the south-east corner incorporating tufa and tiles at the base and tufa at the top. It has two buttresses. A small worn rectangular stone scratch dial, possibly reset, is located to the east of a blocked south door. Three three-light Perpendicular south windows with hoodmoulds (one partly restored) pierce the south wall. The east gable contains one cusped light and one quatrefoil light above the chancel roof.

The chancel is also plinthless. The western third is of mixed random flint and stone, while the rest is either rebuilt or extended in the 12th century in random flint. The chancel has three buttresses. A restored three-light Perpendicular window is present in the western third, along with two hoodmoulded lancets and one flat-topped former lancet in the rest of the chancel. A narrow 19th-century shouldered blocked door in a restored flint patch to the east corresponds with a two-centred arched internal door. The east wall, rebuilt in 1867, is constructed of knapped flint with stone dressings on a plinth.

The vestry dates to the 15th century and stands on a low stone plinth over a vault. It is built of large random blocks of ragstone interspersed with flint, with a flint gable above a moulded string. A narrow square-headed two-light Perpendicular east window with hoodmould and a similar window in the north wall are present. The north wall is buttressed and features a chamfered three-centred arched doorway at the west end.

The north chapel is probably Norman in date. It is plinthless, constructed of random flint, with a roof higher than the vestry but lower than the north aisle and nave. It extends further east than the straight-joint in the south wall of the chancel but retains a partly blocked round-headed east window visible internally. A large three-light reticulated north window is a notable feature.

The north aisle comprises two sections. The 15th-century east bay projects further north than the chapel and is built of roughly knapped flint with stone dressings on flint and stone plinth. A rood loft stair turret in the same materials adjoins it at the east end, overlapping the north chapel. The north wall has a large three-light Perpendicular window with hoodmould. The rest of the north aisle dates to the 14th century, is in the same plane, but is built of coursed ragstone on a high stone plinth with two reticulated north windows and a similar west window, all with hoodmoulds, and has buttresses.

The north porch is 15th-century, constructed of coursed ragstone on a stone plinth. The gable is close-studded with moulded bargeboards and a central niche. It features a moulded four-centred arched outer doorway. The roof has a king-post with hollow-chamfered rafters, a moulded cornice and a broad moulded ridge-piece. The inner door has a moulded semi-circular headed architrave.

Interior Structure

The interior contains a four-bay north arcade to the nave. The three western bays are 14th-century with octagonal piers featuring moulded capitals and bases, and arches with one plain and one hollow chamfer. The east bay was remodelled in the 15th century with a similar pier with plainer bases and a larger arch of two hollow chamfers. The chancel arch and the arch between the north aisle and north chapel are also 15th-century, with two hollow chamfers and corbelled imposts. A two-bay 15th-century arcade to the chapel also has two hollow chamfers; the central pier has four attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases, whilst the east and west piers have corbelled imposts for the arch set on the remains of earlier rectangular piers with roll-mouldings to the corners. The tower arch is 15th-century.

Three blocked two-centred arched doors with hollow chamfers are present: one in the south wall of the nave, one at the west end of the north wall of the chapel, and one halfway up the east wall of the north aisle (the latter two are for rood-loft stairs). The door to the vestry has a three-centred arched head and moulded jambs. The north chapel has a round-headed window high in the east wall which is partly blocked by a later two-light and quatrefoiled window. A narrow blocked window, probably a lancet, in the north wall of the chancel is visible from the vestry. The three reticulated windows of the north aisle have slender shafts to the jambs with bell capitals and bases.

Roof

The nave roof is scissor-braced with collars, ashlar-pieces and tie-beams. The chancel roof is 19th-century. The vestry has a plain crown-post roof. The chapel has a plain collar-rafter roof with sous-laces and ashlar-pieces. The east end bay of the north aisle has a squat moulded king-post on a moulded tie-beam with hollow-chamfered rafters and ashlar-pieces. The rest of the north aisle has plain rectangular hollow-chamfered king-posts with broach-stops and four upward braces.

Fittings and Decoration

A 13th-century piscina with a large chamfered recess and a projecting sedile with shaped arms, moulded capitals and a cinquefoil head with hoodmould are located in the south wall of the chapel. The north chapel contains a 15th-century table tomb of Bethersden marble with panels carved with various motifs. A 15th-century octagonal font with a panelled steal and moulded base is present. Largely medieval stalls with moulded misericords and simple poppyheads survive, along with a seat in the north chapel in similar style dated 1862 with leaf hand-rests. A pulpit with back and tester is richly carved with Renaissance motifs; the tester is dated 1622 and the base possibly dates to 1574. Medieval and 19th-century lecterns with linenfold panelling and feet with toes are present. An iron-bound parish chest with carved feet survives. Much 17th-century panelling is incorporated into the nave pews. A heavy ribbed and studded medieval north door is notable. An 18th-century brass chandelier hangs in the chancel.

A large wall-painting on the south wall of the nave depicts St Michael weighing souls and is dated circa 1350 by Professor Tristram. A painting of a bishop appears in the west reveal of the east lancet in the south wall of the chancel.

Monuments and Memorials

A tablet in the west end of the south wall of the nave, with a cherub at the base and surmounted by a broken pediment with vase, commemorates Richard Bead, died 1723. A stone set in the south-east end of the chancel floor with a finely carved shield commemorates the Hon. John Hamilton Esq., died 1714. A brass in the north-east end of the chancel floor commemorates Robert Thompson, died 1642. A stone effigy of a robed and cushioned priest in an open coffin with a bar across, inset in the north wall of the chancel, has traces of paint and is said to represent a rector who died in 1327. A wall memorial in the north wall of the chancel, with a scroll-work base and painted shield surmounted by a broken segmental pediment containing a plinth inset with a skull and surmounted by a further painted shield, commemorates Henry Thompson, died 1648. A simple marble wall tablet on the north wall of the chancel, with a cherub at the base and an escutcheon above, commemorates Dame Alicia Colpeper, died 1737.