Church Of St Mary Magdalen

Church of St Mary Magdalen

Anglican parish church of 12th-century origins, substantially rebuilt around 1855 by the Reverend J.M. Allen with builders Staple and Munden. The church is executed in ham stone ashlar with plain clay tiled roofs set between moulded coped gables carrying a variety of finials, all behind traceried parapets. The building follows a scholarly Geometric style.

The plan comprises three cells: a 2-bay chancel, a 3-bay nave, and a north transept. The arrangement is completed by a north-east corner vestry, a south porch, and a north-west tower.

The chancel features a double plinth with trefoil traceried parapets, corner and bay buttresses topped with panelled and gabletted forms and crocketted pinnacles. The east window is a 5-light opening with headstop label and a trefoil vent above. A 2-light window appears in the south side east bay, with a simple arched doorway rising 4 steps to the west bay, and a further 2-light window on the north side.

The north-east vestry is designed to match, though with a flat roof behind a plain parapet. It has a 2-light flat-headed window with square headstop label on the north side and no external doorway; stairs descend to a boiler room against the east wall.

The north transept is similar in character but carries Curvilinear tracery to its parapets and corner gargoyles. Its north-facing wall bears a 3-light window, while the east and west sides are blank.

The nave displays Curvilinear traceried parapets with 2-light windows of simple tracery to the sides. The west gable is far more elaborate, featuring a 3-light reticulated window flanked by ogee-arched niches containing 20th-century statues, a traceried trefoil gable light above, and a gable crowned with a crocketted tabernacle.

The south porch sits on a plinth with angled corner buttresses, trefoil-traceried parapets, and a moulded coped gable topped with a cross finial. The outer arch is 2-ordered with applied flower boss ornament and a wrought-iron gate; the inner arch is single-ordered with elaborate ironwork straps to the door. Side walls carry two small sidelights.

The tower rises in three stages and is capped with a spire. Angled corner buttresses extend two stages up, with a plinth and string courses. The upper string course carries flower boss ornament and corner gargoyles, followed by a low castellated parapet. The spire is small, with gabled windows to the principal faces. In stage one, the west face has a cusped lancet window and the north a moulded pointed-arched doorway. Stage two features a flat-arched light with ogee tracery on three faces; the east face instead has a 2-stage octagonal-plan stairway projection. Stage three carries a 2-light Curvilinear-traceried window with louvres on each side, set in a hollowed arched reveal with ballflower decoration and headstop label.

Interior

The interior is scholarly and consistent throughout. The chancel features a timber moulded rib and panel ceiling, an ornamental carved stone dado, an elaborate piscina on the north side, and a table-tomb in an ogee niche. The chancel arch is finely moulded, and the chancel floor comprises patterned encaustic tiles.

The nave has an open arch-braced collar-truss roof with ornamental wind-bracing and a finely moulded archway to the north transept. The floor is of black-and-white diamond pattern stone.

The north transept houses the Pitt family pew, which features a rib and tracery-panelled ceiling and an ornamental fireplace with cast-iron back in the east wall.

All fittings date from the 1850s and are notable for their quality. These include an octagonal wood pulpit on a slender base, choir stalls, lectern, and pews (the Pitt chapel pew has a traceried front). A richly decorated octagonal font stands beneath a fine timber openwork cover.

Memorials

The chancel table-tomb commemorates Stephen Pitt-Harris, died 1848. The north transept contains memorials to Stephen Pitt and George Pitt, both died 1865, executed by White of Pimlico. The nave displays a copy of the Raphael Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist and an angel, painted by Miss B. Blandy.