Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Market Lavington

An Anglican parish church of late 13th-century date, probably incorporating earlier fabric, with subsequent building of the 14th and 15th centuries. The church was restored around 1860 by the architect Ewan Christian and again in 1910.

The building is constructed of greensand and ashlar rubble with some limestone freestone. The nave and aisles have lead roofs, while the chancel, vestry and porch are covered with stone slates.

The chancel and nave date from the late 13th century. A north vestry was built in the late 13th or early 14th century, and the porch was erected while the aisles were widened during the 14th century. In 1910, the south aisle was extended eastward to form an organ chamber and choir vestry. The tower is of 15th-century date.

The chancel features two-light windows with 13th-century bar tracery on the north wall and a three-light east window with tracery renewed in the 19th century. The aisles have square-headed windows with trefoils over ogee triple lights set in deep chamfered reveals. The nave has single clerestory lights. The west tower has a tall lower stage with setback angle buttresses and an angled south stair, above which rises a crenellated bell stage with two-light openings. The west door is a three-light transomed window enclosed in a tall panelled reveal arch. The north vestry to the chancel stands at right angles and features a trefoil-headed west door and post-Reformation windows. The aisle extension contains a reset early 15th-century window and a parapet to the lower choir vestry. The south porch has a wide double-chamfered arch within raised moulding and a restored cinquefoiled inner doorway. During the restoration, numerous fragments of chevron, billet and shafts from a 12th-century church were built in. There is a 17th-century studded and panelled entrance door, and various external wall monuments are present.

Interior

The interior contains arcades of three bays with double-chamfered arches dying into slender piers, which Pevsner suggests may have been recut from a 12th-century arcade. The mouldings of the north-west arch continue to the floor. The walls were plastered in the 19th century. The roof has low pitches with five bays of 17th-century tied beam trusses incorporating king posts and curved braces. The aisles are ceiled on the rake, and the north aisle window openings continue down to low sills. An ogee-headed and cusped door from the north aisle leads to the rood stair, with two openings into the nave. A tall tower arch spans between the nave and tower. The chancel arch dates from the late 14th or 15th century. The chancel has a 19th-century open rafter roof. A moulded 14th-century door leads from the chancel to the vestry, and a south priest's door, now leading to the choir vestry, is also of this period. An early 14th-century piscina and a small squint from the vestry to the high altar are present. A 20th-century arch provides access to the organ chamber. The sanctuary dado is lined with glazed tiles with stencilled bands and marble. The vestry contains 18th-century fielded panelling.

Fittings and Furniture

The font is octagonal in shape and dates from the 14th or 15th century, standing on a short column. The 19th-century pulpit is a limestone octagon with carved roundels. The altar rail, of oak, dates from the 19th century. The reredos is limestone with an arcaded frontal gabled at its centre, also of 19th-century date. The organ is mid-19th-century work, restored by Osmund of Taunton. The pews are 19th-century. In the vicar's vestry are an early 18th-century table with stretchers and four stools, together with an early 20th-century eastern rug.

The vestry also contains fragments from a 12th-century church, including a fluted capital hollowed out to form a stoup and a shaft carved with foliage scroll.

Monuments

The chancel north wall contains six limestone and marble monuments. From east to west: a limestone monument of 1694 with a bolection-framed slate panel and gable, bearing a shield with cartouche, commemorating Francis Merewether and relatives; an 18th-century limestone aedicule with a marble tablet flanked by Corinthian columns supporting an entablature with arms above and an urn, with a fluted apron on a death's head corbel, to William Sainsbury (died 1704) and his wife; a framed panel of marbles and limestone with an open pediment on brackets, mantled arms and a putto on the apron, to Samuel Sainsbury (died 1708); a late 18th-century white marble monument against grey, designed by Flaxman, with an inscribed tablet surmounted by a pyramid and a relief of a mourning female leaning against an urn, flanked by short columns, to Thomas Sainsbury (died 1795); a limestone panel by Brewer of Box with carved pilasters and cornice, a shaped gable with urns and an apron with three putti, to William Merewether of Easterton (died 1783); and an 18th-century limestone tablet with a panel, cornice and scrolled pediment, gadrooned table and apron.

The south wall of the chancel holds a handsome tablet by Reeves of Bath, in marble on slate with a wide corniced panel on scrolled supports, a large urn and lamp above and an acanthus apron, commemorating John Legg (died 1802) and his sisters.

The nave north side contains an oval marble inlaid tablet by Brewer of Colerne with a husk surround, crested arms and a putto below, to Richard Legg (died 1778) and family; and a framed limestone tablet with cornice and mantled arms to Edward Pleydell-Bouverie (died 1889) and his wife. The south side holds a white marble tablet on grey to Thomas Stobbert (died 1860) and relatives.

The north aisle contains five wall monuments from east to west: an oval inlaid marble tablet by Brewer of Box with a husk surround, crested arms and putto, to John Shergold (died 1788); a panel in various marbles with recessed pilasters and pediment, crest and apron, to Richard Hayward (died 1726) and family; a gilded oval panel with foliage frame to Rev Thomas Tanner (died 1748) and his wife, with a photograph of his portrait hanging below; a white marble tablet on streaked red to Percival Oram (died 1917); and a limestone monument with marble panel by Brewer of Box featuring carved pilasters, cornice and shaped gable with urns and a putto, to Amran Edwards (died 1783). The aisle also contains a brass war memorial and three other brasses.

The south aisle holds three wall monuments: a white marble tablet on grey with a valence panel and tall urn over cornice against a grey pyramid, to Francis Draper (died 1802); a similar tablet without the urn, to Rev Joseph Legg (died 1798) and family; and an 18th-century Baroque limestone monument with a waisted shield and draped cartouche to an unidentified Shergold. The aisle also displays Royal arms on canvas over wood dating to 1744, four painted metal texts in the nave, and four hatchments recording Hon Duncombe Pleydell Bouverie (died 1850), Louisa widow of the latter (died 1852), and two further unidentified examples.