Parish Church of St Mary

Details

810/1/10
BRIDGE STREET (East side)
PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY

24-OCT-50

II*
Church comprising C14 west tower, nave of 1828 by architect James Trubshaw, and chancel of 1877.

MATERIALS: Dressed and coursed sandstone with plain tile roof.

PLAN: Aisled nave with opposing north and south porches, west tower and small projecting chancel.

EXTERIOR: Early C14 tower with angled buttresses and hexagonal stair turret to north west corner. The recessed spire has four regular spaced bands of crockets and lucarnes on alternating faces. The battlemented parapets were added to the tower during 1828 construction phase.
The long and wide nave is in typical Commissioner's Gothic style (although not paid for by the Commissioners). It has a series of six long two light windows with one reticulation unit at the top alternating with shallow chamfered gabled buttresses. There are battlemented parapets and octagonal angle pinnacles. The later C19 chancel has stepped buttressing with a large Decorated east end window and plain parapets. The church has figurative stops to the drip moulds to most doorways and windows.

INTERIOR: The nave comprises a series of thin octagonal piers supporting a Tudor-arched roof with intersecting rafters and purlins. Colonettes extend below the springing of the roof supported by rounded corbels. The galleries to the north and south retain their early C19 box pews.
The chancel has a closed boarded roof with central perforated closed truss supported on corbelled brackets. The east window is accommodated by a hammer-beam profile framing on the chancel gabel.

FITTINGS: Stone octagonal font dated 1839 and wooden octagonal pulpit richly carved with Perp. motifs and open work panels, accredited to Trubshaw.

MONUMENTS: monuments of note include the C16 alabaster chest tomb with recumbent figure of a Lady, probably of the Kynnersley family. There is also a chest tomb to Thomas Kynnersley and his wife, dated 1550, with incised slab and baluster-pilasters to the side interspersed with kneeling figures. The north aisle has an elaborate alabaster war memorial with names of the fallen from both World Wars and more recent conflicts.

HISTORY: The present church was built in the C14, probably a rebuilding of an earlier church. This work has been attributed to the famous medieval mason Henry Yevele.
In 1648 the Duke of Hamilton, commander of the Scottish Engager Army, was taken prisoner at Uttoxeter following his defeat at the Battle of Preston. Scottish soldiers were imprisoned in the church for some time during August of that year following his capture and were responsible for considerable damage to the building.
In 1828 the nave was rebuilt by local architect and engineer James Trubshaw (1777-1835). From a family of masons, Trubshaw worked under James Wyatt at Fonthill Abbey, Buckingham House and Windsor Castle in the late C18 before returning to Staffordshire to work on many notable projects in the county including churches, bridges and private houses. Trubshaw often worked with his son-in-law Thomas Johnson as at St Mary's.

Summary of Importance: St Mary's retains a considerable amount of C14 fabric in its west tower and spire which is complemented by the 1828 nave by notable local architect James Trubshaw. This juxtaposition of medieval and C19 craftsmanship reflects the church's continued importance within the town and adds significantly to its architectural and historic interest.

SOURCES
Bayliss, A. 1978. The life and works of James Trubshaw. Star Press, Stockport.
Harvey, J. 1984 (rev. ed.). English Medieval Architects. Alan Sutton, Gloucester.
Pevsner, N. 1975. The buildings of England: Staffordshire. Penguin, London. p.290
St Mary the Virgin, Uttoxeter. Parish leaflet.


This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 17 August 2017.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

272896

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Bayliss, A, The Life and Works of James Trubshaw, (1978)
Harvey, J, English Medieval Architects, (1984), 290
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Staffordshire, (1974)

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 17 August 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/13423

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