Church of St Mary Magdalene is a Grade II* listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 22 May 1969. Church.
Church of St Mary Magdalene
- WRENN ID
- swift-railing-thyme
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Tiverton and Minehead MP: Rachel Gilmour (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 22 May 1969
- Type
- Church
- Address
- Church of St Mary Magdalene, Clatworthy
- OS grid reference
- ST 052 309
- Coordinates
- 51.06994, -3.35354
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Mary Magdalene is a parish church located in Clatworthy Village. The tower dates back to the 12th century, while the nave was rebuilt in 1872, and the chancel was reconstructed and the tower altered between 1860 and 1883. The church is constructed from random rubble local stone with flat bedding in the tower, Bath stone dressings, and features slate roofs with coped verges and decorative ridge tiles.
The building includes a west tower, a two-bay nave with a north aisle, a chancel, and a north-east vestry. The tower is crenellated and has two stages, with buttresses only on the east front. It features a string course, louvred lancet bell-openings, and a string course that is interrupted by the voussoirs of an earlier window opening. Below, there is a three-light 19th-century west window. The tower has a stepped buttress rising to a lancet and a 19th-century porch with a moulded semi-circular arched entrance that has a hood mould. Inside the porch, there is a moulded pointed arch inner doorway with a square hole in the left jamb and remains of unidentified medieval stonework. The porch also includes a 19th-century roof and a panelled door.
To the right of the porch, there is a three-light window with a hood mould featuring face terminals, similar to other windows. The junction with the chancel has a gabled top to the buttress, and there are two two-light windows on the chancel, along with a three-light east window. A chamfered semi-circular headed doorway to the vestry is likely reset, and there are two lancets on the north front, as well as two two-light windows in the nave, one of which is at the west end where the aisle wall incorporates a tower buttress.
Inside, the church is rendered, with a 19th-century chancel arch that has a corbelled inner arch resembling that of the tower. The chancel features 19th-century scissor truss roots and a wall plate, while the aisle has a lean-to roof. The church contains 19th-century fittings, including a notable brass lectern with sconces, possibly made by Hardman of Birmingham.
Local climate
Church of St Mary Magdalene sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 83% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 19 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
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- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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