Abbey Church Of St Mary, St Sansom And St Branwalader

The Abbey Church of St Mary, St Sansom and St Branwalader is a consecrated ecclesiastical building, formerly the church of a Benedictine Abbey. The main structure dates to the 14th century, with the upper part of the tower and north transept being 15th century. It was restored around 1790 by J. Wyatt, and further restored in 1865 by Sir Gilbert Scott. The building is constructed of stone and flint, with ashlar dressings, and has lead roofs with parapets.

The church comprises a choir with north and south aisles, north and south transepts, a crossing tower, and a west porch. The nave and aisles were not rebuilt after a fire in the 14th century. The east wall features a seven-light window with cusped lights, below which are remains of the former ambulatory's arches and vault. In the north wall, remnants of the former sacristy’s arches can be seen. This north wall has seven bays, buttressed with buttresses rising as pinnacles, and flying buttresses supporting the clerestory. The aisle has three-light windows with geometrical tracery, and a pierced parapet with quatrefoils. The clerestory windows are alternately of two and three lights, also with similar tracery and a similar pierced parapet. The north transept contains remains of arches and vaulting to the former cloister. It has a north window of eight lights, mullioned and transomed with perpendicular tracery, and again, a pierced parapet with quatrefoils and pinnacles. The west wall has built-up moulded arches representing projected nave and aisle walls, with attached shafts and moulded caps. Similar shafts and the beginnings of arches and walls relate to the projected nave and aisles. The crossing tower has flat buttresses rising above the parapet as pinnacles, with a pierced parapet matching the earlier style. In the belfry, each face has two two-light windows with perpendicular tracery. The 19th-century porch has a flat roof with a pierced parapet and gargoyles, and angle buttresses with gabled tops, featuring a pointed arched doorway. The west wall of the north transept has two three-light windows with perpendicular tracery, one extending to floor level. The west wall of the south transept has three upper windows and two lower windows, all with geometrical tracery. The south elevation of the choir mirrors the north side. The south transept features a seven-light window with geometrical tracery.

Internally, the choir’s first, third, and fifth bays from the east are filled in. There are columns with attached shafts and moulded arches, and quadripartite vaults to the choir and aisles. No triforium is present in the choir, but a gallery is located under the south transept windows. Lierne vaults are visible in the transepts, and a fan vault covers the crossing. A 14th-century pulpitum lies beneath the east tower arch. The church also includes a 15th-century reredos with canopied niches, a 14th-century sedilia to the south of the choir, and a 15th-century pyx shrine on the north choir wall. An 18th-century marble altar is situated in the south choir aisle, alongside an 18th-century monument by A. Carlini, dedicated to Lady Milton, in the north transept. Monuments to the Tregonwell and Bankes families are housed in the north choir aisle. The church is recognized as a building of major importance.