Church Of The Nativity Of The Blessed Virgin Mary

Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ringstead

A church of the 12th to 14th centuries, substantially restored in the 19th century. Built of squared coursed limestone and ironstone with ashlar spire and lead roofs.

The building comprises a nave, chancel, north aisle and chapel, north and south porches, and a west tower.

The south elevation of the chancel features a range of three tall 3-light windows with Decorated flowing tracery. The south chapel has a range of two 2-light square-head windows with 19th-century renewed tracery, beneath a lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapets; its east window is a single 3-light square-head opening. The south elevation of the nave displays two tall 3-light Decorated windows with flowing tracery beneath a shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapet.

Between the window range sits a 14th-century gabled south porch, featuring a roll-moulded outer arch and vaulted roof. Its inner arch is from the late 12th century, stepped with nail-head decoration and one order of shafts.

The north aisle has a range of three windows: 2- and 3-light Perpendicular windows to the left and one 2-light 19th-century window to the right. The wall to the left of centre breaks forward slightly. The lean-to roof has ashlar gable parapets and a corbel table decorated with faces.

A Perpendicular porch to the right of centre features a roll-moulded outer arch with ballflower decoration and four orders of shafts (some now missing), topped with a stiff-leaf finial and gabled roof with plain ashlar parapets. Its 13th-century inner arch has roll moulding and one order of shafts.

The north nave clerestory comprises a range of five 2-light windows with plate tracery. The north chancel clerestory, to the right, has a range of two 2-light square-head windows.

The west tower rises in two stages, the lower subdivided. Its west face has a tall lancet with stiff-leaf decoration at the head. A broach spire sits on a corbel table with three tiers of lucarnes; the first tier contains two 2-light bell-chamber openings with Y-tracery and one order of shafts.

Interior

The nave arcade comprises five bays of double chamfered arches with quatrefoil piers. An octagonal respond at the east end forms a cluster with responds to the chancel arcade; the west end has no respond. A double chamfered chancel arch with stepped octagonal responds leads to a triple chamfered tower arch with three orders of shafts.

The chancel arcade has three bays of double chamfered arches with circular piers and octagonal responds. The chancel roof structure, dating to the 19th century, features moulded corbels.

To the right of the altar is a piscina with ogee head, alongside which sits similar triple sedilia with mouchettes in the spandrels. Remains of a double aumbry with trefoil heads survive to the left of the piscina. The base of a stone screen between the chancel arcades is visible.

A 19th-century stone pulpit with marble shafts stands in the nave. An octagonal font on a shafted base is present. The north door, probably of the 15th century, is of plank construction with strap hinges.

Monuments include various 18th and 19th-century marble tablets in the belfry. The monument to Reverend Francis Sawyer Parris, in 18th-century style on the south wall, comprises a circular tablet on a broad obelisk with a shelf below holding books and an ink well. A black and white tablet by Coles to Joseph Beelse (died 1807), on the north wall, features a foliage surround and urn above.