Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A church of the 11th to 15th centuries, substantially altered in later periods. The building is constructed of regular coursed and squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings, roofed with Collyweston slate and lead. It comprises a nave, chancel, remains of a south transept, south porch, north organ chamber, and west tower.

The south elevation of the chancel displays a 2-window range of lancets under hood moulds with nailhead decoration, separated by an ashlar buttress. A 12th-century priest door to the left has a semi-circular head with zig-zag decoration. A low side window with an arch head marks the intersection of the former aisle transept and chancel wall. The chancel is topped with a steeply gabled roof of Collyweston slates behind a plain ashlar coping with finial. The north elevation of the chancel is similar, also featuring a 2-window range of lancets.

The south aisle comprises 4 bays with a 3-window range. The rightmost bay originally projected as the south transept and contains a 3-light window with intersecting tracery and carved label stops. The centre window has a triangular head with 3 cusped circles and carved label stops. The leftmost window is 2-light with a similar cusped circle. An ashlar buttress stands at the corner and between the centre and right windows. The aisle is topped with a lean-to roof and plain ashlar parapet. A 3-light east window with intersecting tracery and a single lancet in the west wall complete the aisle.

The south porch projects forward in a bay to the left of centre, with a gabled form. The outer doorway is double stepped and single chamfered, featuring quatrefoil responds and one order of shafts, with nailhead decoration to the steps and hood mould. The inner 12th-century doorway has a semi-circular head, nailhead decoration, and 2 orders of shafts. Single stage buttresses flank the outer doorway. The porch is topped with an ashlar gable parapet and 19th-century finial. A datestone reading EC/LS/1662 is set in the apex of the gable.

The north elevation of the nave comprises 3 bays. The centre and right bays contain 17th-century four-light square-head windows, separated and flanked by 2-stage buttresses. Two 15th-century two-light clerestory windows occupy the far left. The roof has a plain ashlar parapet to the centre and right bays and a castellated ashlar parapet to the left bay. An early 20th-century gabled organ chamber breaks forward at the far left, with two single-light square-head windows with roundels above in its north gable. The south nave clerestory features a 5-window range of 15th-century two-light windows similar to the north elevation, with the 2 rightmost bays set back slightly, corresponding to the line of the former south transept.

The west tower comprises 2 stages with 3-stage ashlar buttresses to the west-facing corners only; evidence of early foundations is visible at the base of these buttresses. A lancet window lights the lower stage to the west, and a small square-head window serves the lower west face of the upper stage. The bell-chamber openings on each face of the upper stage are 2-light with arch-head lights. The tower is topped with a castellated ashlar parapet with crocketed pinnacles at the corners.

The 3-light west window of the nave has hollow reveals and renewed 19th-century Perpendicular-style tracery, with flanking ashlar buttresses.

Interior

The south nave arcade comprises 3 bays of early 13th-century double chamfered arches with circular and quatrefoil piers bearing nailhead decoration. The east respond features a capital with carved heads. A similar arch gives access to the former south transept from the south aisle. A late 12th-century single stepped semi-circular arch with flat responds connects the nave to the former south transept, projecting forward from the line of the south arcade. The chancel arch is moulded and chamfered with semi-circular responds. The tower arch is a late 12th-century triple stepped and chamfered feature with polygonal responds, set in a square surround. A double chamfered arch with polygonal responds provides access to the organ chamber.

The south aisle roof retains some original timbers; other roofs are 19th-century replacements. An octagonal font on an octagonal base, probably modified, stands within the church. A double piscina with trefoil head openings and central column is positioned to the right of the altar. A trefoil head piscina occupies the former transept. Evidence of the jambs of a former east window survives in the chancel.

Stained glass includes a fragment of medieval glass in the south window of the former transept and 19th-century glass in the chancel. Early 20th-century furnishings are present throughout.

Monuments include fragments of stone coffin lids in the porch, an early 19th-century inscribed marble tablet to the Cheeseman family on the south wall of the nave, and an inscribed tablet recording the church's restoration in 1910 by the Brassey family of Apethorpe Hall.

Historical alterations include the demolition of the north aisle and transept, the truncation of the south transept in 1808, remodelling of the porch with a datestone of 1662, rebuilding of the tower in the 17th century, and a comprehensive restoration in 1910 with the addition of an organ chamber.