Church Of St Mary

CHURCH OF ST MARY, KEMPLEY

This former parish church, now in the care of the Department of the Environment, is a Norman building substantially developed and altered over eight centuries. Dating from the 12th century with significant additions and modifications in the 13th, 14th, late 17th, 19th, and 20th centuries, it represents a complex architectural palimpsest.

The church is constructed of squared, coursed stone with ashlar dressings and stone slate roofing. It comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch. The south elevation displays a squat west tower with three large square-set buttresses projecting southward in multiple offsets. Pointed lancet windows pierce the tower at ground floor and above. A sundial sits on the right above the buttresses. The eaves are slightly projecting with a low pyramid roof surmounted by flat-roofed, square, louvred dormers on each face and a weathervane topped with a gilded cock.

The south porch is a notable timber-framed structure on a stone plinth, its open end framed by arch braces with moulded edges. It contains a cambered tie beam and collar. The left side comprises two panels high with curved braces halved over a rail, brick infill below, and wattle and daub above. The right side has a lower rail with board below and rendered infill above, probably originally containing a central window—one mullion survives. Inside, a half truss repeats against the nave with clasped purlins and curved braces but no ridge timber.

A 12th-century boarded door with original half-moon hinges occupies a flat-headed opening with flanking columns bearing scalloped capitals with volutes. Above it sits a semi-circular tympanum carved with a tree of life and chevron moulding beneath a plain hoodmould. To the right is a two-light reticulated-tracery window, and a late 17th-century segmental-headed window with leaded lights served the pulpit. Three late 17th- and early 18th-century headstones stand against the wall below.

The nave is set back from the chancel by a chamfered plinth. A blocked doorway appears on the left; a mid-20th-century concrete buttress faced with sawn stone supports the wall on the right. A trefoil-headed lancet opens to the right.

The east wall displays a widish semi-circular headed lancet with roll moulding and a small lancet in the gable, topped by a small stone cross on the ridge. The north side has the tower flush with the nave and a very small buttress at its foot, two lancets, and roofing matching the south side. A semi-circular headed wide 17th-century window with chamfered edge and original iron opening light lights the nave; a set-back for the chancel contains an arched doorway with irregularly placed stones, its original boarded door and hinges intact. A buttress on the left mirrors the south side configuration, with a window. The west face is a plain wall spreading into a south buttress flanked by very small buttresses and a large plinth. An inscription on the quoin of the main south buttress commemorates John Prescott, who died in 1693. Two lancets and matching roof complete this elevation.

INTERIOR

The nave interior shows thin plaster over stonework. The original boarded door to the tower, with half-moon hinges and flanking corner columns bearing scalloped capitals, opens beneath a plain semi-circular tympanum with roll moulding and chamfered hoodmould. A semi-circular headed window above has a stepped sill.

The chancel arch is in two orders: the inner arch features Ionic volutes to its capitals with roll moulding, while the outer arch has scalloped capitals with chevron moulding to both arch and hoodmould. A flat-headed boarded door to the chancel roof space opens above on the left. A trefoil-headed piscina sits by the pulpit.

A flat boarded ceiling rests on exposed joists, all except the easternmost six chamfered, each sitting on a moulded baluster-like pilaster mounted on a corbel at each end (these actually replace ashlar pieces). The dates "TH 1670" and "1671" are carved respectively on one pilaster and one joist, with traces of painting visible on the joists. Above sits the original 12th-century roof with high collars featuring two vertical struts and housings for original lower collars (slightly above the present ceiling) and three hangers, with angle struts now on each side.

The chancel has plastered walls with roll moulding to the east window. A semi-circular headed aumbry on the left opens to a plastered barrel vault ceiling above. The roof comprises three bays of late 19th- or early 20th-century king-post trusses with iron bolts and one pair of purlins. Square holes left by scaffolding erection are visible in the tower.

The church contains the most complete sequence of medieval wall paintings surviving in England. The chancel frescoes, dating to circa 1130–40, display six apostles in niches on each side with chequerwork on window reveals and architectural features above. Roundels crown the east window, with a bishop to the south. Christ in majesty dominates the vault with seraphim and the symbols of the four evangelists.

The nave paintings span two periods on the south wall, one above the other, featuring a chequerwork pattern and possibly a doom scene. The east wall shows a wheel of life with figures to the east, likely from the 14th century. The north wall also bears paintings from this scheme.

A semi-octagonal wooden pulpit, either Jacobean or from 1913, stands in the chancel; single 17th-century pews remain at the rear. A plain circular font on a stem, brought from Blaisdon in 1913, occupies its traditional position. A marble wall monument of 1722 to the Pyndar family features Doric pilasters, a cornice, urn and lamps with gadrooning and consoles; a late 17th-century monument by the door is also present. The east window contains glass by Kempe dating to 1876. A 14th-century chest completes the furnishings.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND RESTORATION

The building began as a Norman church, with the tower added in the 13th century and the porch constructed in the 14th century. Wall paintings were discovered in 1872 by John Middleton and restored in the 1950s by Mrs. E. Baker. The church underwent major restoration in 1913 by Temple Moore, when the gallery was removed (either then or in the 1870s). Further restoration occurred in the late 20th century.