Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed building in the Bridgend local planning authority area, Wales. First listed on 26 July 1963. A Decorated Church.

Church of St Mary

WRENN ID
over-balcony-poplar
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Bridgend
Country
Wales
Date first listed
26 July 1963
Type
Church
Source
Cadw listing

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Description

The Church of St Mary is a Decorated Gothic church of cruciform plan with a crossing tower, likely dating to the 14th century. The walls are constructed of rubble stone, featuring a pronounced batter at the base instead of buttresses. A 19th-century moulded cornice runs along the nave and transepts, while the chancel has a plain corbel table. The roof is slate-covered with coped gables.

The south side of the nave contains two two-light windows, alongside a lower, 16th-century two-light Tudor window with a hood mould and square stops bearing saltire crosses. A centrally-placed porch features a segmental-headed doorway with 19th-century iron doors and a niche above, currently housing a statue of the Virgin Mary inserted in 1942. The south transept has a three-light window with reticulated tracery. The lower chancel has two two-light windows in both the south and north walls, and a doorway on the south side, slightly left of centre, with a continuous chamfer. The east wall features a three-light window with intersecting tracery. 18th and 19th-century grave slabs are embedded within the east and south walls. The north transept possesses a three-light window, and the north wall of the nave has three two-light windows. The west wall incorporates a five-light window with intersecting tracery above a west doorway, which has a two-centred arch and a continuous chamfer. All doors are from 1860 and have ornate strap hinges.

The two-stage crossing tower is topped with an embattled parapet resting on a corbel table, ornamented by grotesque figures at the corners. The bell stage has two-light Tudor windows with hood moulds and louvres, alongside a clock on the south side. Narrow windows are located in the lower stage, facing north, east, and south.

The nave features an open wagon roof. Fragments of stoups are visible by the south and west doors, and squints to the transepts are present in the east nave wall. The narrow crossing has low two-centred arches with continuous chamfers and a chamfered rib vault. The transepts have arched-brace roofs, ogee-headed piscinae, and squints with cusped heads leading to the chancel. Stone stairs leading to the belfry project from the west wall of the north transept, resting on a continuous corbel composed of two arcs. The chancel has a boarded wagon roof with embossed ribs, double sedilia and a piscina with cinquefoil heads under a continuous hood mould. A small corbel in the north wall originally supported a lenten veil. The east window contains stained glass by Morris & Co, designed by P.S. Webb with figures by P.P. Marshall depicting Christ rescuing Peter, Christ curing a woman, and Doubting Thomas; this is considered the only window where Marshall prepared designs for all principal parts. Two small 14th-century effigies are also present, representing Payn Turberville (died 1316) and a child. The crossing, south transept, and chancel have flagged floors with memorial slabs. Further 18th and 19th-century memorial tablets are set into the transept walls. A 19th-century octagonal font is adorned with alternate roundels and quatrefoils with foliage, over a frieze of billets and a square base. The bowl of a medieval font is located in the south transept, having previously been situated in the churchyard. A pulpit was installed in 1942.

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