Church of St Mary the Virgin

Details

TM 07 NE WORTHAM RECTORY ROAD (NORTH SIDE)

1/174 Church of St. Mary the 29.7.55 Virgin (formerly listed as Church of St. Mary)

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Parish church. C12 tower, possibly C11; nave, aisles and chancel mid to late C14, clerestory added early C15, altered c.1790 with partial collapse of tower. Restored 1856, 1891-3, chancel reroofed 1904, south porch rebuilt 1908. Flint rubble, some herringbone coursing in tower, knapped elsewhere with some flushwork. Ashlar and red brick dressings, cement rendered aisles. Glazed pantiled roofs. Large round tower to west, nave with aisles and south porch, narrower and shorter chancel with a north vestry. 3-stage west tower with a diameter of 29 feet and 62 feet high is said to be the largest Norman round tower in England, originally possibly a watchtower for St. Edmund' s Bury. Since 1789 it has been open and ruinous. To west a floriated cross slab inserted below a large arched opening above which is a small round headed opening, 2 set backs to top which has collapsed to west. To east a large blocked opening once issuing into nave and 2 upper round headed openings. In upper stage to south a cusped lancet, to north a round headed opening. Perched on junction of tower and nave roof is late C18 weatherboarded bell- cote with louvred 2-light Y traceried openings, leaded ogee cap with a weather vane. Nave clerestorey: six 2-light Perpendicular windows to north and south, brick voussoirs, hood moulds linked as an impost band below which are flushwork panels with initials under coronets and various geometrical designs, short end buttresses to coped gable end parapets to shallow pitched roof. Unbuttressed north aisle: 2 tall 2-light C14 windows, rectilinear tracery with curvilinear heads, similar windows on east and west returns, towards west a double chamfered pointed arched doorway blocked with C19 squared flint, moulded course to plain brick parapet. South aisle is similar, towards east a C19 3-light window, restored windows on east and west returns, a 2 stage diagonal buttress to south west. From west bay is rebuilt gabled south porch, sundial over outer pointed arch, 2 stage diagonal buttresses to returns with 2-light windows, inner double hollow moulded pointed arch. Chancel: to south a central C14 low side door, heavily moulded pointed arch with shafted jambs, above an empty niche with a cusped ogee head, flanking 2 stage buttresses and tall 2-light window with hexagonal rectilinear traceried heads, moulded plinth and cornice to rebuilt embattled parapet, south east 2 stage diagonal buttress. To east panelled moulded plinth and a string course below a large 5-light window, complex curvilinear tracery, coped gable parapet with ridge cross to steeply pitched roof. To north two 2-light windows, one as on chancel to south, the other as on aisles; to north east is tall vestry with twin gables, plaintiled roof, 2 stage diagonal buttresses, a 2-light window and a stack to east. Interior: blocked tower arch, C14 double chamfered chancel arch, semi-octagonal responds with moulded caps and bases, outer chamfers have cusped stops. 3 bay nave arcades, double chamfered arches, octagonal piers with moulded caps and bases. 6 bay nave roof: alternating moulded arched braces and single hammerbeams, collars with short king posts, moulded purlins and ridge piece, traceried spandrels in arched braces to hammerbeams, brattished cornice along wall plates, restored mask corbels, rebuilt lean-to aisle roofs. 5 bay chancel roof of 1904 with arched braces, posts on mask corbels with canopied niches. In chancel: windows towards west have C14 shafted jambs to moulded rear arches, simpler mouldings to east except large east window which also has shafted jambs and an outer moulding, an elaborate stone reredos of 1856 with richly carved vinescroll ornament, panels with biblical texts in Gothic surrounds, to south a piscina with a cusped and crocketed ogee head. In north and south aisles simpler piscinae, chamfered and cusped, rear arches in aisles have simply moulded heads. C14 octagonal font, moulded cap and base to stem, masks to bowl with cusped and crocketed gabled faces, brattished head. In south aisle Royal Arms of Charles I, carved oak oval panel, also Betts family hatchments. C19 seating copies original with poppyhead bench ends with carved figures and animals. Some C18 barley sugar balusters used in C19 communion rails, fragments of C15 screen used in altar table. Chancel floor 3 C18 slabs with arms to members of Betts family, south aisle 2 medieval florated cross slabs. Some C15 glass fragments in east window.

Listing NGR: TM0835778806

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

280467

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry