Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A parish church of multiple periods spanning the 13th to 20th centuries. The church comprises a four-bay nave, south tower and porch, chancel, south chapel, and a long north vestry range, all single-storey. It was substantially rebuilt in 1675-79 following the collapse of the earlier nave in 1673. The rebuilt nave was constructed by E. Taylor, F. Jones and J. Hill. The church underwent restoration in the 19th century, with a 20th-century vestry added.

The south facade presents a three-stage tower as the dominant feature. The tower sits on a moulded plinth with diagonally-set corner buttresses and features a slight offset at the top of the first stage. Above this is a trefoil-headed lancet window with a diamond-set board containing a clock face. A moulded string course runs below a two-light mullion-and-transom window with reticulated tracery, the lower lights blank and upper lights louvred, without a hoodmould. A plain string course sits below the battlemented parapet. An octagonal spire with ribbed arrises rises from the tower, punctuated by two lancets with hoodmoulds at cardinal points, the lower part louvred. The spire apex is crowned with a flat-topped capital and an iron weather-vane with a gilded cock.

The nave extends behind the tower, constructed in squared, coursed stone to the south tower and chapel with ashlar openings, while the nave itself is of ashlar. The nave has plain plinth and a large diagonal corner buttress. Its windows are stepped three-light mullion-and-transom designs with segmental heads to the lights and sunk spandrels, set beneath segmental hoodmoulds with leaded lights. A moulded string course sits below battlements, with decorative corner finials and gable copings, repeated finials at the apex.

The south chapel extends two bays beyond the tower, with moulded plinth and string course at window-sill level. A two-light window with cinquefoil heads and hoodmould appears on the left. The priest's door is covered by a 17th-century gabled porch with a steep segmental head, cutting into the tie-beam. The porch has wrought-iron gate and side lights with pendants to the projecting wall-plate ends. Its sides feature brick plinth with iron bars above between splat balusters. A 19th-century three-light window with stepped lancets under a nearly semi-circular head and hoodmould is set beyond a square-set buttress. A diagonally-set corner buttress marks the further extent.

The chancel is set back beyond, its lower portion hidden by a boiler house, with a 19th-century two-light window above displaying Perpendicular tracery. A diagonally-set corner buttress is present. The west end features a large central buttress, with five-light windows matching the south wall of the nave on either side and a three-light mullioned window in the gable centre lighting the roof.

A timber-framed porch extends to the south chapel. The roof materials vary: slate covers the nave and vestry, while tiles cover the chancel, south chapel, and porch.

Interior

The porch is double with boarded doors, one leaf having a wicket cut through, all under a moulded stone surround. A fan vault spans the porch interior, with a bell-hole visible.

The nave floor is stone-paved with memorial slabs defining walkways, arranged four by two. The stone walls have been scraped and feature giant unfluted Ionic pilasters on tall bases at bay divisions, with half-pilasters in the corners. The tower base retains diagonally-set corner buttresses on the south side and a rounded projection containing spiral stairs, with a blocked door at its foot and another above that formerly served a gallery. A line of the medieval roof remains visible above.

Ionic pilasters carry flat timber lintels to the openings serving the chancel and south chapel, with elliptical relieving arches over these openings. At the west end, an 1839 panelled gallery front features a centre that breaks forward, carried on cast-iron columns, with infill added in the late 20th century. Reused dado panelling with scratch moulding forms the base. A panelled, boarded ceiling with slight camber spans the interior.

Above, the roof comprises eight bays of single-span king-post trusses with four pairs of purlins and no ridge piece. Scissor bracing connects the king posts, with windbraces between trusses in the lower slope. This roof design, attributed to E. Taylor (whose monument stands in the churchyard), is similar to Wren's roof for the Sheldonian at Oxford.

A two-bay simply-moulded arcade with circular columns separates the chancel from the south chapel. The chancel walls are plastered, with north windows matching the nave. The chapel walls are scraped. Both spaces feature arch-braced collar rafter roofs, the chapel distinguished by a moulded longitudinal rib.

An aumbry with cinquefoil head and ballflower decoration sits in the chapel. An octagonal 17th-century wooden pulpit stands in the nave, with panelled sides, pulvinated frieze, and panelled base, originally fitted with two brass gas lights now converted to electricity. A circular 17th-century stone font with acanthus leaves on the bowl, swags on the stem, and moulded base is present. A former stone reredos fixed to the tower base displays a cambered top with three cherubs' heads, clouds and rays of light above a wrought-iron panel.

The pews date to the late 19th century and likely incorporate parts of earlier box pews. An 18th-century organ features square corners and lyre tops, with an oval topped by a swept gable and urn finial between them, carved musical instruments appearing over the keyboard. Two floor memorial slabs are set up in the porch, alongside the base of a Saxon cross.

A late 14th-century altar tomb of a knight and lady occupies the chancel arcade. Fine wall monuments include examples from 1690 and circa 1714 in the chancel, the latter adorned with putti. Five wall monuments appear in the chapel, one a 16th-century brass. Fourteen wall monuments from the 18th and early 19th centuries are distributed in the nave. Notably, a nave monument to Mrs. Bourchier (died 1784) is reputed to be by Flaxman, depicting an angel on a cloud holding a book with a phoenix above.

Historical Context

The nave was rebuilt between 1675 and 1679 following its collapse in 1673. The structure originally featured galleries on three sides with the pulpit positioned at the centre of the north wall, a layout subsequently reordered during the 19th century.