Church Of St Mary

Church of St. Mary, Canons Ashby

This is a significant parish church, substantially built in the 13th and 14th centuries with later additions and modifications. The church comprises a nave, north aisle, and a prominent north-west tower, with ironstone ashlar walls and limestone dressings throughout, beneath lead roofs.

The most distinctive feature is the north-west tower, a mid-14th-century structure of three stages with angle buttresses rising almost to the belfry stage, and additional buttresses to the middle of each side on the first stage. All buttresses are topped with crockets. The base is articulated with blank arcading that continues from the west front of the north aisle, distinguished by cusped heads and trefoil ornaments in the spandrels rather than capitals. A pair of 2-light Decorated windows sits above the middle buttress on the west side, with taller 2-light Decorated belfry windows all carrying hood moulds. The belfry stage itself has chamfered angles and a striking double row of ballflower ornaments. The tower is crowned with a battlemented parapet and large plain pinnacles at the angles, finished with simple finials.

The west front of the nave displays an impressive Early English portal of four orders, featuring stiff-leaf capitals and a richly moulded arch embellished with nailhead ornament within the outer moulding (though much of this is now broken). Flanking the doorway on both sides are two bays of blank arcading with clustered shafts, stiff-leaf capitals, and moulded heads with inner trefoil arches, each crowned by narrow hood moulds with label stops. Above the west door rises a large 5-light Perpendicular window with a flat ogee arch, hood mould with label stops and a crocketed finial. The nave front is defined by offset buttresses. At the south-west angle stands a square turret with an incomplete octagonal top.

The north aisle front continues the blank arcading of the west front across three bays, but with simpler moulded capitals. A single 1-light Early English window with outer shafts and capitals sits between the arcading bays, with its moulded head and those of the arcading fashioned from contrasting white limestone.

The south wall, rebuilt in the 16th century and with the east wall also substantially renewed in that period, is of two bays defined by Doric pilasters rising from high bases and joined by a chamfered plinth. A plain band runs between the capitals, above which sit two 3-light arch-mullion windows. The east wall, similarly rebuilt in the 16th century, is dominated by a tall 5-light arch-mullion window of considerable height, with a small blocked pointed arch window immediately above it. To the north of this window is a blocked doorway of many-moulded arch leading to the now-demolished cloister, with outer moulding extending onto the capital and shaft. The 15th-century west window survives.

Internally, the church contains an exceptionally fine collection of fittings and monuments. The most striking interior feature is the wall painting surrounding the head of the east window, dating to around 1710, which depicts cherubs holding back crimson draperies to reveal a Holy Dove in a sunburst above the window. The east window itself is a 1918 stained glass composition. The communion rail and panelled pulpit are contemporary with the wall painting, both of balustered and panelled design respectively.

The nave arcade opens into the north aisle across two bays. The arches are moulded with three hollow chamfers and have conical foot-pieces. The piers are octagonal to the east, with a semi-circular middle pier and a polygonal shafted half-pillar to the west. The arch opening to the north-west tower is double roll-moulded and carries a hood mould. To its right is a blocked doorway, originally providing access to the demolished cloister, with a shallow pointed arch and roll moulding.

The roofs are of 19th-century construction: the nave roof is a tie-beam design, while a lean-to roof covers the north aisle. A Perpendicular octagonal font with blank tracery panels occupies the interior, its design notable for having only one repeated panel pattern.

The church is unusually rich in commemorative monuments. Wall monuments to the Dryden family date from the 18th and 19th centuries, whilst two brasses from the 16th century survive in situ. The two most prominent monuments are to John Turner Dryden (died 1797) and John Edward Turner Dryden (died 1818), both executed by Rossi. A particularly significant survival is the funeral achievement of Sir Robert Dryden (died 1708), comprising a complete set of heraldic regalia: banner, two pennons, helmet and crest, wreath and mantling, tabard, shield, gauntlets, spurs, and sword. A series of eleven painted funeral hatchments, also associated with the Dryden family, provides a substantial record of their genealogy and heraldic status. A 17th-century chamber organ completes the collection of historic fittings.

The present church represents substantially the nave portion of a much larger structure. The nave was originally 96 feet in length and was followed by a long aisless chancel, now lost. The church was originally the principal building of an Augustinian priory, and retains the status of a peculiar—a church outside the normal parochial structure.