Church Of St Mary

SO 93 SE DUMBLETON LITTLE WASHBOURNE

5/87 Church of St Mary

4.7.60

GV II*

Small Anglican church in care of the Redundant Churches Fund. C12 altered C18. Nave limestone rubble; north wall and upper part of south wall rebuilt C18; chancel rubble with some squared and dressed stone, stone slate roof; rendered bell turret running east from the junction of the nave and chancel. Nave south wall: three C20 raking buttresses; pointed C18 window with a dressed stone surround towards the east end. Panelled C18 door in poor state of repair at time of resurvey, March 1987, within a pointed dressed stone surround. Pilaster buttresses and string course at the west end. Central pilaster and string now interrupted by a pointed C18 window with leaded panes. Nave north wall three C20 raking buttresses. Chancel south wall: single C20 raking buttress towards the east end. Two C20 raking buttresses at the east end flanking a C18 pointed window with a dressed stone surround and leaded panes. Single raking buttress to the north wall with C12 slit light to the right. All C18 windows with leaded panes. Belfry with pyramidal roof with weatherboarding towards the top. Flat gable-end coping to the nave. Stepped coping to the chancel. Limewashed interior with a 5-bay nave with C20 roof trusses and 2- bay chancel with early roof trusses, collar and tie-beam trusses, one with braced collar. The easternmost truss is close to the east end suggesting the chancel may once have been longer. Flagged floor. Small C12 chancel arch with jamb shafts with scalloped capitals. Two stone steps at the centre of the west end of the nave. Late C18-early C19 octagonal stone font in C14 style opposite the south door. C18 panelled box pews retaining their original seats. Fine C18 octagonal pulpit with star-shaped marquetry inlay on each side; sounding boarding with fluted frieze and large star inlaid in paler wood. Simple C18 communion rails with stick balusters. C18 communion table with marble top. White and grey marble monument to William Hill, died 1786 on the north wall of the chancel, heraldic shield and urn, with some details missing above. Traces of wall painting on the south wall of the chancel comprising a text with strapwork border, further running band motifs at top mostly in red and yellow. Reused fragment of moulded C13 stonework above. Rectangular pattern in red with rosette decoration in the splay of the chancel north window. (D. Verey, The Buildings of England: The Vale and the Forest of Dean, 1980)

Listing NGR: SO9891433437