Church Of Saint Mary

Church of Saint Mary

This church is predominantly of the early 14th and 15th centuries. It is constructed in local lias stone, cut, squared and random coursed, with Ham stone dressings. The roofs are of Welsh slate between coped gables, behind battlemented parapets to the nave, with stone slates to the north chapel and lead to the porch and tower.

The building follows a 2-cell plan comprising a 2-bay chancel and 4-bay nave with an added north chapel, south porch, and west tower. The chancel is plinthed and has half-height corner and full height bay buttresses, with no parapets. A 17th-century cuboid sundial serves as finials to the gable coping. The east window is a 3-light design with reticulated tracery and an arched label without stops. The north and south windows are 3-light openings with 15th-century tracery set in hollowed recesses with angled label moulds with squared stops. On the south side there is a small iron-barred leper window (blocked internally) and a small pointed arched doorway east of the buttress.

The nave is plinthed with full height offset buttresses between bays and battlemented parapets with corner gargoyles. The windows contain 15th-century tracery in deep recesses. A pointed arched moulded doorway in the north wall faces the south porch.

The north chapel, probably of the 16th century, features 2-light and 3-light windows of debased Tudor design that are very plain. The south porch has angled offset buttresses, battlemented coping and parapets, and moulded pointed arched inner and outer doorways. The inner doorway has an 18th-century pair of fielded panel doors. Stone benches line the porch, and there is a cinquefoil arched recess in the east wall. Roof timbers are dated 1685.

The tower is of the 15th century and rises in three stages divided by string courses. It has clasping corner buttresses, a battlemented parapet with small corner and intermediate pinnacles, and corner gargoyles. The arched moulded west door is set under a square label with mutilated finials and foliated spandrels. Above it is a 3-light 15th-century traceried recessed window whose head passes through the string course. The remains of a cruciform carving under a square label appear on the west side of the second stage. Small 2-light windows with wood baffles are positioned on the north and south sides of stage 2. Stage 3 has larger 2-light windows with wood baffles on all four sides, each with an arched label and head stops. A stair turret on the north-east corner is topped by a weathervane finial, with a clock face on the east side.

The five bells are dated 1582, 1621, 1623, 1664 and 1666, all cast by the Purdue family of nearby Closworth.

The interior of the chancel and nave features timber rib and plaster elliptical barrel ceilings with a wide 18th-century semi-circular chancel arch. A similar arch leads to the north chapel. The tower arch is 2-centred with panelled reveals. Nave windows have moulded internal reveals. The choir stalls incorporate remnants of a medieval screen, and there are pews with doors and an early 17th-century wooden pulpit. The font is 15th-century octagonal, lead-lined, with a carved band of Somerset stone depicting lilies over a squashed quatrefoil band, resting on a bracket taper into a traceried stew.

The north chapel, originally a chantry, now houses the organ. Memorials include one to Christopher Raymond (died 1523 or 1524) in the north chapel and an incised flag in the nave aisle floor to Edward Minchington (died 1719).

The church was virtually demolished by the collapse of its tower during a freak storm in September 1309, similar to the fate suffered by the church at Yeovilton. Only a few earlier fragments were reused in reconstruction.