Church Of St Mary The Virgin

SO 91 SW SYDE SYDE VILLAGE

2/125 Church of St. Mary the Virgin

26.11.58

GV I

Parish church. Early C12 with C14 tower; chancel, vestry and porch all date from restoration c1850. Random rubble limestone; ashlar dressings; coursed and squared limestone to C19 additions; stone slate roof. Nave without aisles; west tower, north porch, south vestry and chancel. Central south doorway now blocked, with deep flat stone lintel and quoins; 2-light Early English lancet to left; buttress at west end extends from tower; to right C15 2- light with Tudor-arched heads. Central north doorway, square- headed as south with medieval door and C15 closing ring; C19 parapet gabled porch with chamfered pointed arch; C15 2-light to left at high level and C14 2-light with trefoil-headed lancets further left. Parapet gables topped by cross-gablet saddles to saddleback tower of 3 stages; clasping buttresses to west corners of lower stage; single slit window on south side of lower stage has slightly chamfered monolithic surround; pointed arched doorway enters ringing chamber on north side has plank door and is approached up external flight of stone steps abutting west end of nave; small trefoil-headed lancet to west face of ringing chamber; small trefoil-headed belfry opening in each tower face. East parapet gable to nave and chancel; tall east lancet; central trefoil-headed lancet to north and south walls. South vestry has parapet gables to east and west; shouldered archel south doorway with plank door; west facing trefoil-headed lancet. Interior is unscraped and limewashed: round-headed inner arch to north and south doorways; low blocked pointed arched tower doorway; unmoulded Norman chancel arch with chamfered abaci; chamfered pier jambs on west face; 3-bay C15 crown post nave roof. East chancel wall modelled by triplet, the central arched pierced by east window; round-headed and splayed openings to north and south windows; pointed arched vestry doorway; barrel roof to chancel. C19 timber chancel rail; partially defaced Stuart hatchment over chancel arch; C18 box-pews and pulpit; trefoil- headed image niche on east splay of nave window above pulpit; lead- lined C15 octagonal stone font with quatrefoil on each face and complex pentagonal stem with gabled buttresses. Small stained glass C15 roundel in C15 south window depicts St. James of Compostella. Gas-lit interior. Medieval coffin lid to west of north porch with incised cross. The interior of this small church has avoided the usual major C19 restoration, and the C19 replacement chancel is of an appropriately simple design. (N. M. Herbert, 'Syde' in V.C.H. Glos. vii, 1981, pp. 227-232; and D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979.)

Listing NGR: SO9492510826