Church Of St Mary

PLYMOUTH

SX5056SW OLD LAIRA ROAD, Laira 740-1/39/319 (North side) 01/05/75 Church of St Mary (Formerly Listed as: OLD LAIRA ROAD, Plymouth Church of St Mary the Virgin)

II

Anglican church replacing a mission church. Started to be built 1911, W end never completed as designed, by TR Kitsell of Plymouth on a site donated by Lucy Clark of Efford Manor. Rock-faced granite brought to course; slatehanging to W end; Bath stone to interior; dry slate roofs: steep roof to nave, lean-to roofs to aisles, steep pyramidal roof behind plain parapet of tower and octagonal roof to stair turret. PLAN: 2-bay nave; chancel; N and S aisles; SE tower; NE vestry and small W porch. EXTERIOR: mainly Perpendicular style, but with some curvilinear tracery and some lancets, built on a very sloping site up to the west and to the north so that there is a crypt under the S aisle, under the tower and under the chancel. 3-stage buttresses with cruciform finials/pinnacles to aisles and 3-light windows with varied Gothic tracery and hoodmoulds; crypt/basement under S aisle has 2 wide ordered segmental arches and recessed panels, the one on the right with 3 stepped windows, the one on the left similar except with a segmental-headed doorway on its right. Pairs of clearstorey windows to nave and well carved gargoyles by JB Hunt. Squat buttressed tower has narrow pointed doorway approached by steps between stair turret buttresses on the left; louvred segmental-headed lights to 3 sides of bell chamber; pointed 2-light window below to S wall and 3-light window to E wall, both with tracery and hoodmoulds; small crypt windows. Chancel has pair of lancets over crypt doorway in the angle and 2-light traceried window on its right; very fine 5-light E window with very intricate tracery over a panelled apron with central statue above a squat 5-light crypt window and the N wall has 2 lancets. INTERIOR: very fine carving of angels and dolphins by JB Hunt of Plymouth, arcade arches with late Gothic detail, sedilia with nodding ogee arch to the 1st seat and 2 more seats below trefoil-headed windows. FITTINGS: Arts and Crafts font with a grey Polyphant bowl, with slightly Art Nouveaux carving at the corners, on a green marble central shaft and spirally decorated corner shafts;

cover with crocketed spirelet supported by big volutes; reredos in SE chapel by one of the Pinwells. GLASS: mostly clear glass with patterned leading and some richly coloured glass to top lights. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Devon: London: 1989-: 644).

Listing NGR: SX5040556001