Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Hemyock

Parish church with an early Norman tower, substantially rebuilt in the 19th century to designs by Richard Carver of Taunton, though respecting certain intriguing peculiarities of the medieval plan. The building is constructed of random rubble flint with Ham Hill stone dressings and slate roofs.

The plan comprises a west tower, south tower porch, nave, north and south aisles, south porch, chancel, north-east chancel chapel, vestry and sanctuary. Carver virtually rebuilt the entire body of the church while retaining the tower and parts of the original ground plan.

The tower has three stages with crenellations. Early Norman arches survive to the north, south and east; there is no evidence of a west arch, though it may have been destroyed when a late 19th-century west window was inserted. The north arch is visible externally. Significantly, there is no masonry joint between the west face of the tower and the adjoining south tower porch, and the quoining of the south-west angle stops at the parapet level of the porch, suggesting they are contemporary builds. The north-west angle has been disturbed by the addition of a buttress.

A particular puzzle of the plan concerns the relationship between the tower and the body of the church. The south wall of the tower porch lies on the line of the old nave south wall; consequently the present south arcade, the tower arch facing the nave and the chancel arch are all off-centre to the present nave. This has led to suggestions that the west tower may once have been a crossing tower, though the proximity of a stream to the west and the absence of evidence for a west tower arch complicate this interpretation. A medieval flight of stairs runs from the tower porch to what is now a west nave gallery, entering the nave west wall at a point between the line of the present south arcade and the south impost of the Norman east tower arch. Their original destination remains unclear, though a screen intended to house relics (comparable to that at Ottery St Mary at the west end of the Lady Chapel) has been suggested.

Exterior details include the south tower porch, also crenellated, with a steeply pointed arch and diagonal buttresses; a 3-light late 19th-century Perpendicular window; lancets to the second stage; and 2-light square-headed 15th-century belfry openings, that to the south blocked by an inserted clock face. The south side has three bays including the porch, with 3-light late 19th-century Decorated Ham Hill stone windows. The chancel has 19th-century fenestration except for the east window, which may be medieval, featuring uncusped intersecting tracery. The north side has four bays, the easternmost north window possibly early 16th-century, the others 19th-century.

The interior has a 3-bay arcade with octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. The nave has a 19th-century arched brace roof, while the chancel has a ceiled plaster ceiling. The wide arch between chancel and north chancel chapel features an openwork trumeau, possibly early 16th-century. Norman tower arches retain unchamfered flat imposts with capitals having chamfers and narrow abaci set deeply into the walls.

Other medieval work includes a pointed and cusped recess in the sanctuary east wall and a piscina in the south aisle. An early 13th-century font, probably of Purbeck marble, has a square bowl with round-headed blind arcade supported on four detached shafts. The church contains a good set of 1840s benches and a gallery supported on slender posts with arcaded and decorated frontal. There is a stone reredos.

The stained glass includes an important 1840s east window with armorial shields in a completely pre-Ecclesiological style, and chancel south windows probably by Clayton and Bell.

Monuments include a plaque in the sanctuary north to Reverend J Land (died 1817) with a shelf above supporting the scholar's books, and opposite a marble mural monument to various members of the Rayner family.