Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed building in the South Downs National Park local planning authority area, England. First listed on 5 December 1955. Church.

Church of St Mary

WRENN ID
silver-outpost-sedge
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
South Downs National Park
Constituency
Winchester MP: Dr Danny Chambers (LD)
Country
England
Date first listed
5 December 1955
Type
Church
Address
Church of St Mary, Itchen Valley, Winchester
OS grid reference
SU 532 322
Coordinates
51.08711, -1.24054
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Mary is a parish church built between 1768 and 1771. It is constructed of brick with Portland stone dressings and has an old plain tile roof with lead ridges. The church has a single cell and three bays, along with a west tower. The exterior features a moulded brick plinth, with bays divided by pilasters that have a plinth and cornice running around the building. The ends of the church have pilasters that clasp around the corners.

The church has a Venetian east window, and on the north side, there is a central door flanked by a window on each side. The south side features a door at the west and two windows to the east, all with arched openings made of rubbed brick and stone key blocks, along with leaded glazing. The doorways are adorned with stone rustication of alternating sizes, and there is a cornice all around topped with a battlemented parapet.

The tower consists of three stages, with clasping corner buttress pilasters, moulded brick strings, and battlemented cresting. Inside, the church is extremely well preserved, featuring plastered walls above a panelled dado that reaches the height of the box pews, along with cornices and a coved plaster ceiling. The reredos has an open segmental pediment, and there are wrought iron or lead altar rails. The pulpit, located in the center on the south side, has a domed tester.

The west gallery, dated 1771, houses a barrel organ in a Gothick case, which was given in 1848 by Lady Shelley. Below, there is a grey marble baluster font, and above it hangs the royal coat of arms of George III. All furnishings are made of Spanish mahogany, and there is an 18th-century brass chandelier.

The church contains several monuments, including one from 1751 to George Bridges made of yellow, grey, and pink marble, featuring an inscribed base above a sarcophagus with an urn between two columns supporting a broken pediment. There is also a monument from 1768 to the Marchioness of Carvarvon, who commissioned the church, made of pink and white marble with a long inscription panel and an obelisk flanked by urns. Other monuments include those to John Jeffreys from 1786, the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos from 1836, Mrs. Peel, daughter of Shelley, from 1865, and Sir John Shelley from 1866.

Local climate

Church of St Mary receives an average of 790 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 57% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 54% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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