Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Barrington

This is an Anglican parish church of outstanding architectural interest, with origins in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, substantially rebuilt in the early 16th century, and comprehensively restored in 1880 by F.C. Penrose. The building comprises a nave with north aisle, a projecting porch towards the west end of the aisle, a chancel, and a west tower. It is constructed throughout of roughly squared and dressed limestone, with the tower built of coursed squared and dressed stone, more finely finished on the west face, and the chancel of coursed squared and finely dressed limestone.

The nave and north aisle date from the late 15th or early 16th century. The south wall of the nave features four tall three-light stone-mullioned windows set within rectangular surrounds, probably restored in the 19th century, each with a transom towards the top and cinquefoil-headed lights below, stepped hoods, and carved head stops to the left-hand window. A single 19th-century buttress projects halfway along this wall, with a 18th-century memorial to its right bearing a partially legible inscription and two winged angels' heads at the top. The nave clerestory contains four late 15th or early 16th-century three-light windows with cinquefoil heads and stopped hoods, with a moulded-string parapet above. The north side of the clerestory displays similar fenestration and parapet treatment.

The early 16th-century north aisle features three 19th-century three-light windows with cusped and ogee-curved heads and stopped hoods. The parapet has saddleback coping and a moulded string. Four headstones stand to the right of the central window: the left-hand stone bears no legible inscription, while the three to the right commemorate members of the Bridges family, with inscriptions dating to the 1790s and bearing foliate scrollwork and winged angels' heads.

The tower is of four stages, dating from the early 16th century, with lean-to extensions on the north and south sides. The west side contains 20th-century double plank doors within a paired moulded surround, above which is a blocked round-headed flat-chamfered window. The second stage features rectangular flat-chamfered windows, with a clock on the north side. The third stage displays paired belfry windows with trefoil or ogee heads and stone louvres. The fourth stage has single-light segmental-headed windows with carved spandrels. A battlemented parapet with crocketed pinnacles crowns the tower, with a moulded string and carved heads at each corner below.

The chancel is of 19th-century construction, fitted with diagonal and side buttresses. The north and south walls contain pointed single-light and two-light windows with scroll-moulded hoods and foliate stops. A 19th-century studded plank door with decorative brackets and a moulded stone surround occupies the centre of the south wall. The east window is a three-light composition with tracery and stops fashioned as carved heads. The porch, also of 19th-century date, has diagonal buttresses, a moulded pointed entrance with a hood featuring scrolled stops, and animal-head gargoyles on the sides.

Interior

The interior is plastered throughout. A late 12th-century semi-circular chancel arch of two orders separates nave from chancel: the inner order is plain, the outer combines chevron with primitive ballflower decoration, rising from two engaged columns with scalloped capitals. A double-chamfered pointed arch connects the nave to the tower base.

The nave arcade is of four bays, dating from the early 13th century, with cylindrical columns bearing deeply moulded octagonal capitals and water-holding bases. The early 16th-century flat panelled ceiling features decorative foliate bosses, with the main ceiling beams having moulded soffits and pierced brackets rising from carved head corbels, the latter possibly of 19th-century date. The floor is flagged, with decorative encaustic tiling to the sanctuary.

The chancel contains a three-bay arcade with 19th-century arch-braced trusses supported by carved head corbels of that period. Five finely carved medieval head corbels have been reset in the north wall of the nave arcade. A 15th-century image niche with brattished canopy is positioned over the west door. Byzantine-style metal hanging lamps hang in the nave.

Fittings and Monuments

The church contains early 20th-century pews, pulpit, choir stalls, and communion rail. A restored 15th-century limestone font stands inside the north door.

The monuments are of considerable interest and include a large marble monument to Jane Bray (died 1711) and Edmond Bray (died 1720) and other family members, featuring figures of children in period dress being conducted over clouds of heaven by a winged angel above the inscription. This monument was possibly designed by Francis Bird and carved by Christopher Cass. A recumbent limestone effigy of Captain Edmund Bray (died 1620), dressed in full armour, lies at the west end of the north aisle. The manor formerly belonged to the Bray family.

The chancel contains several monuments to members of the Talbot and Wingfield families, notably a large marble monument to Mary, Countess Talbot (died 1787), by Joseph Nollekens, featuring a half-draped female figure holding a medallion carved with a bust of the Countess. A Baroque marble escutcheon to James Stephens (died 1692), bearing a painted heraldic shield, is located on the south wall of the nave.