Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Parish church, 1853-1863, built on the site of an earlier church, with the tower restored in 1966. Designed by architect Benjamin Ferrey and built by Henry Davis of Taunton. The church is constructed of random rubble chert stone with Ham stone dressings and an ashlar plinth. The roofs are plain clay tiles, except for a concrete double-Roman tile roof to the east range of the south aisle, and coped verges throughout.

The church comprises a south-west tower, a six-bay nave, four-bay north and south aisles with a south chapel and north-east organ bay, and a chancel.

The three-stage tower features a parapet with quatrefoil panels and trefoil-heads below. Setback buttresses rise to the south-west corner, topped with a continuous hoodmould framing a two-light mullioned and transomed bell-opening. The upper portion is louvred, the lower containing Somerset tracery. A four-light window with reticulated tracery decorates the south front. The west door has an ornately moulded architrave and hoodmould featuring ivy and acanthus leaf decoration, with decorative hinges to the double doors. A two-stage bell-turret in the south-east corner has a pointed arch opening to buttresses, with a doorway set square into the angle of the turret.

On the south front, there is one two-light window to the left and two to the right of a full-height gabled porch with a steeply pitched roof and setback buttresses. The porch has a moulded pointed arch opening with a crocketed niche above containing a statue of Christ by Forsyth, flanked by two empty round-headed niches. These rest on a moulded string with a step inscribed 'Prepare to meet thy God'. The porch ceiling is a quadripartite stone vault carried on angel corbels, with two-light windows on the returns, a moulded arch inner doorway, and a door with decorative hinges.

The south chapel has a buttress at its junction with the south aisle, and a door with two-light windows on its south and east fronts. The chancel features setback buttresses with gargoyles and decorative cornice, a three-light south window, a five-light east window, and a three-light north window. The organ bay has a three-light window on its east wall. The north front has a projecting bay beyond the line of the nave, with three two-light and one three-light window set between buttresses, a two-light west window to the aisle, a lancet and two-light window to the north front of the nave, and a diagonally buttressed west end with a six-light window of flowing tracery.

Interior

The interior is rendered with stencilled and painted inscriptions below the wallplate in the nave and along the extrados of the arcade. The chancel is faced with moulded plaster tiles. A Perpendicular-style chancel arch features green marble columns with decorative capitals. A low wall with an arcade of marble columns is closed by brass double gates. The organ bay has a chamfered arch dying into imposts, with a four-bay stone screen. A pointed tower arch opens to the nave.

The chancel arch roof is braced with angel corbels and features a decorative wall plate with stencilled decoration on the rafters. The south chapel and aisles have monopitch compartment ceilings. The organ bay has an archbraced roof. The nave features a magnificent six-bay hammerbeam roof with decorative corbels and crocketed niches containing statues of the twelve Apostles by Earp. The tower has a groin-vaulted roof carried on corbels with angels playing musical instruments.

The chancel contains a reredos of alabaster and purple marble depicting the Deposition, carved by Forsyth and dated 1888 in memory of the Reverend E J Lance. Ninton tiles floor the sanctuary. Three-seat sedilia of Ham stone and alabaster, brass altar rails, and carved choir stalls are also present. A striking memorial to Madelina Louisa, who died in 1839, is set beneath the north window in the chancel, also by Forsyth. The south chapel has a trefoil-headed aumbry with a one-and-a-half-bay screen to the chancel.

The organ, built by Sweatland of Bath and rebuilt by Osmonds of Taunton in 1972, features stencilled pipes. A pulpit of coloured marble is decorated with crocketed niches for figures. The church also contains a brass lectern and good brass sconces.

The octagonal font is carved with scenes of the Baptism and has an ornate cover and pulley presented by Henry Davis, the builder.

Stained glass fills all windows. The chancel windows are thought to be by O'Connor, the west window and tower window by Clayton and Ball (the former dated 1914), the lady chapel window and one in the north aisle by Kempe.

Historical Note

The original lead spire or fleche was removed in 1937, to the detriment of the design. The recent reroofing of part of the south aisle with concrete tiles is also considered unfortunate. The Church of St Mary is regarded as one of the finest nineteenth-century church interiors in Somerset.