Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

Parish church with a 12th-century font, the rest of the fabric dating to approximately the late 15th century, comprehensively restored in 1875 with further tower restoration in 1900–1901. The building is constructed of stone rubble with most dressings in Bathstone from the 1875 campaign, and has a slate roof with crested ridge tiles.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, south-east vestry and organ chamber, and south porch. The medieval fabric is Perpendicular in style, as are the details of the 1875 restoration. The porch, vestry and organ chamber were wholly constructed in 1875.

The south side is strikingly of the 1875 campaign, featuring 1 and 2-light trefoil-headed windows to the nave, south side of the chancel, and the lean-to vestry and organ chamber. The aisle and chancel windows are mostly 3-light replacements from 1875, possibly copying Perpendicular style. An unusually large porch contains north and south windows and an ornamental-stone cross on the gable. The north side retains replaced Perpendicular windows to the aisle and a rectangular rood loft stair turret. The 3-stage battlemented west tower features diagonal buttresses and a 3-sided north-east stair turret. The west doorway has cushion stops and a polychromatic arch, while a deeply recessed 3-light Perpendicular west window sits above. Belfry openings appear on all faces, with a bellringers' opening on the south face.

Interior

The interior features a Perpendicular arcade with nave and aisle roofs. Whitewashed plastered walls and masonry are evident throughout. The nave has an unceiled late 15th-century waggon roof, as does the north aisle. A 19th-century timber chancel arch crosses the space, while a chamfered 2-centred tower arch with a panelled soffit sits beneath. The conventional 4-bay Perpendicular north arcade extends one-and-a-half bays into the chancel. An 1875 arched brace roof covers the chancel, decorated with contemporary painted ornament. An 1875 arch into the organ chamber sits on a square abacus with well-carved foliage capitals. Doorways to the rood loft stairs have been restored.

The most striking interior feature is the chancel screen, dated 1624 and carved with the name of Bernard Seridge. Round-headed openings are divided by Corinthian columns. The cornice is decorated with bold carvings of vine arabesques, putti and Tudor roses. The screen is crowned with obelisks and two achievements, one displaying the Royal Arms and one displaying the Prince of Wales' feathers.

Fittings include a probably 12th-century granite font with a square decorated bowl on a cylindrical stem, though the corner shafts and base have been replaced. An 1875 stone pulpit, disfigured by grey and white paint, has 17th-century balusters to the pulpit steps. Low choir stalls of 1875 feature bold profiles. Plain box pews, probably of early 19th-century date, occupy the nave and aisle. Communion rails have ornamental iron standards. 19th-century commandment boards on tin have been resited at the west end of the nave.

Three interesting and rather unusual early 17th-century wall monuments are located in the north chancel chapel. On the north wall, an egg and dart stone frame surrounds a metal inscription commemorating Alice Steyning, died 1605, with a long personalised poem beginning "Alice daughter unto William Frye and Phillip Steynings wife/ (both squires) with her husband led a long and loving life/ 9 sons and daughters 5 she bare and then as turtle true/ (he dying first) she lived sole and would not chuse a new/". Adjacent to this, flanked by Corinthian columns, a wall tablet with memorial date 1606 incorporates high-quality brasses showing kneeling figures and armorial bearings. The original marbling and colour are rare survivals. On the south wall of the chapel, a wall monument to Henry Worth, died 1630, and other family members features Corinthian columns, a swan-necked pediment and good survival of ancient colour. Late 18th and early 19th-century wall tablets include two signed by Reeves and Son of Bath, and a pretty mid 19th-century Gothic tablet in the chancel to the Quartley family. Two large painted hatchments hang in the north aisle.

Stained glass includes late 19th and early 20th-century windows: a 1901 window in the nave signed by Lavers and Westlake; a south-west window in the chancel probably by Drake, memorial date 1876; an east window of the north chancel chapel probably by Beer and Driffield; and a west window in the north aisle probably by Powell. A brass plaque fixed to the tower records that John Coles Esq. paid for the complete restoration of the tower in 1900 and 1901 and "rendered valuable assistance" during the 1875 restoration.