Church Of St Mary

928/1/104 HIGH STREET 07-JAN-52 (North side) CHURCH OF ST MARY

GV I

Revision Number: 2

HIGH STREET 1. 5180 (North Side) Church of St Mary SX 8060 SW 1/104 7.1.52. A 2. Formerly the Benedictine Priory Church of St Mary. The conventual buildings lay on the north side of the church (see Guildhall, Guildhall Yard). The town had the use of the building, and in 1432 on agreement was reached between Prior Stone and Mayor John Burhed for a complete rebuilding of the fabric, for which Bishop Lacy granted an indulgence. Nave, 1432-44; chancel, 1445-48; tower, 1449-59; screen 1459-60. The tower was built to the designs of master mason Roger Crowden, who may have been responsible for the work as a whole. 4 bay nave with aisles (outer north aisle added circa 1824 and remodelled circa 1869). 2 bay chancel with rood stair turret on north side (rood loft removed circa 1862 by Sir Gilbert Scott) and chancel aisle-chapels. Perpendicular style. Welsh slate roof with coped gables. Random Devonian limestone rubble with red sandstone dressings. The tower is entirely of red sandstone from Stoke Gabriel. Tower and chancel with set-back buttresses; nave and porch with diagonal buttresses. Crenellated aisles and chancel in white limestone with gargoyles and pinnacles. The 3 stage west tower was modelled on towers at Ashburton and Tavistock by the same minster unison, together with those at Buckland Brewer and Callington (Cornwall). The south (street) front of the truer of symmetrical composition with buttresses flanking a central stair turret. In a niche of the turret is a bearded, mitred head with the inscription "I made this tore", perhaps referring to Bishop Lacey, whose device, a knot, also appears on the screen inside. The tower is capped by a crenellated parapet and large, polygonal pinnacles. Aisles with 4 light windows with panel tracery; 6 light east window by Scott. Gabled south porch with battlements and pinnacles; enriched, arched doorways with C16 inner door decorated in Early Renaissance manner; ceiling with ribs and bosses. Interior with ceiled wagon-roofs with bosses in nave and chancel. Fine stone screen with 8 narrow, 2-light panels plus 2 for the doors to the nave; the sections separating the chancel chapels from the nave have 3 broader panels with depressed ogee arches, of which the middle ones serve as entrances; coved frieze and thin cornice. C15 octagonal front with quatrefoil panels. Stone pulpit with 2 tiers of cusped blank arches. Monument to Walter Smith (died 1555) in south chancel aisle.

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Listing NGR: SX8021960472