Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Great Bedwyn

An Anglican parish church of late 12th-century, 13th-century and 14th-century origin, heavily restored in 1853–1855 by T.H. Wyatt. The building is constructed of flint with limestone dressings, a stone tower, and putlog holes visible. The roofs are covered in lead and tile.

The plan comprises a nave with aisles, transepts, a central tower, a chancel and a south vestry. The aisles have two-light windows with quatrefoil heads to the north aisle and square heads to the south aisle, all of 14th-century date but restored. The clerestory is lit by 2-light square-headed windows. The east and west windows are both 3-light and of 19th-century date. The chancel contains 13th-century trefoiled lancets and part-rendered walls, with a vault of the Ailesbury family beneath the east end. The tower rises in two stages with 2-light bell openings and a cusped openwork parapet. A north-east stair tower dates to 1840. A Greek inscription appears on a south aisle buttress alongside the initials CA, II 1684, and graffiti of cross-crosslets.

Interior

The nave has four bays with a pointed Transitional arcade displaying bold chevron and billet mouldings on square abaci and round columns with capitals strongly carved on a varied scalloped theme. Much has been restored. The roofs throughout are of 1853–1855, with hammerbeam trusses to the nave, carved with cusping. The crossing is of early 14th-century date with chamfered arches of equal height, as are the contemporary two-bay transepts, said to have been built by Sir Adam de Stokke before 1313. The chancel replaces a shorter chancel known from excavation and contains five bays with a 19th-century roof. A 19th-century vestry completes the plan.

Fittings

The font is a high tub on clustered Purbeck shafts, dating to 1854. The pulpit, placed in the crossing in 1854, is complemented by a second pulpit in the nave with limestone chequerwork and crocketed gabled motifs provided in 1982. An organ by T.W. Walker (1888) stands in the south transept. A wrought-iron chancel screen of 1852 by J. Easeby of Collingbourne Ducis replaced an original 14th-century oak screen, now positioned across the north transept. A 19th-century communion rail and encaustic tiles are present. In the south transept stands a naturalistic carved piscina and credence shelf with a nodding crocketed ogee canopy, mid 14th-century in date. The nave contains a mutilated figure of a seated Queen of Heaven carved into the east respond of the north arcade, said to be undamaged in 1860.

Monuments

In the chancel, the north side holds a wall chest tomb with an effigy of Sir John Seymour (died 1530), father of the Lord Protector Somerset and grandfather of Jane Seymour. The limestone effigy dates to 1530 but the chest was reset here from Easton Royal priory in 1590. The figure is armoured with hands in prayer, resting on a helm with carved wooden wings, a lion at his feet and a sword by his side. Above is a dedicatory inscription set in the wall with gadrooning and arms with ribbons; the chest displays shields (restored) and much ribboning. A wall monument of 1706 in black and white marbles commemorates Frances Devereux, Duchess of Somerset (died 1674), daughter of the Earl of Essex. It features a waisted table with three stages of panels surmounted by her bust, flanked by naked angels.

In the south transept, wall tombs with pointed wave-moulded arches contain, on the left, a cross-legged knight holding a shield and drawing a sword, said to be Sir Adam de Stokke, builder of the transepts, and on the right, his son Sir Roger de Stokke (died 1333), formerly with a long-footed brass. Linear cusping decorates the back. A wall tablet of 1862 in white marble on slate commemorates Louisa Potter.

The north transept contains three wall tablets of white marble on slate: of 1839 to William Gale Pike, of 1829 to William Pike, and of 1879 to Elizabeth Lidderdale. The nave has four 20th-century memorials.

Brasses

A brass of 1510 in the chancel commemorates John Seymour, eldest son of Sir John, with a devotional figure and inscription. A small brass to Lord Beauchamp is inscribed "BELLOCAMP' ERAM GRAIA GENETRICE SEMERVS TRES HABVI NATOS, EST QVIBVS VNA SOROR". A brass to Thomas Dogeson, vicar (1501), is in the north transept.

Wall Paintings and Glass

Figured wall paintings in the north and south transepts were discovered in 1842 and subsequently re-covered. The glass includes examples of good Victorian glass, including a window by Street. The chancel contains 16th-century yellow stained glass with arms of Jane Seymour, the badge of the Prince of Wales, a Tudor rose and an imperial crown, all brought from Wolf Hall in 1905.