Church Of St Mary

SALTFORD

ST6867 QUEEN SQUARE 739-1/6/89 (North side) 27/02/50 Church of St Mary (Formerly Listed as: KEYNSHAM QUEEN STREET, Saltford (North side) Church of St Mary)

GV II

Anglican parish church. C12 or possibly Saxon origin, some mid C17 rebuilding following Civil War damage in 1643; restored and remodelled in 1832, with much of walling rebuilt on earlier foundations. Coursed and squared limestone; uncoursed masonry to tower, the lower stage quoined; roof tiled in 1960, replacing Welsh slates and earlier stone slates. STYLE: Gothic. PLAN: 2-bay nave with long one bay chancel and west tower; north-east vestry. EXTERIOR: chancel on north and south walls has one 2-light 2-centre arched window with Y-tracery and lean-to north vestry with reset C15 head stops. South side of nave has C19 three-light windows with intersecting tracery. North side of nave, which has retained more medieval masonry, has (from east) a C18 2-light mullioned window with beaded surround, 3-light Perpendicular Gothic window and late C15/C16 square-headed window opening with double-chamfered surround and chamfered mullions, the latter with later replacement in part. 3-stage tower, with small square-headed and round-arched lights; C19 Norman Revival-style doorway to north, beneath much restored medieval 2-light window with C19 plate-tracery head; upper stage, rebuilt in C19, has round- and segmental-arched windows and is crenellated with corner obelisk pinnacles; early C19 lean-to to north. INTERIOR: plastered walls; plastered barrel-vaulted roof to chancel; chancel arch remodelled in C17, with semicircular arch set on moulded medieval (C14) piers; C19 collar-truss roof to nave. c1832 west gallery on slender cast-iron columns. FITTINGS: late C19 brass eagle lectern; pulpit made up from C17 fragments; pews of 1934. MEMORIALS: wall memorials mostly of C18 and C19 date, with one of 1639. STAINED GLASS: some C19 stained glass, including east window and red glass margin panes to chancel; fine First World War memorial windows to each side of nave: north-east to Francis Welford Ward, south-east to Arthur Harold Hobbs by Humphries Jackson and Ambler Ltd of Manchester. Notable example of a C13 font, with circular top on chamfered octagonal base with 8 well carved early Gothic style heads. HISTORICAL NOTE: a drawing in the vestry of 1789 shows the church with a gabled south porch and corbelling to the upper gabled stage of the tower, since removed. Pevsner gives an incorrect 1851 date for the restoration. Saltford Manor House (qv), Dovecote (qv) and Church form a good group. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 254; White E: Keynsham and Saltford: Keynsham: 1990-: 78, 83).

Listing NGR: ST6855967501