Details
LITTLE HOUGHTON BEDFORD ROAD
SP8059 (North side)
11/125 Church of St. Mary the Virgin
03/05/68 GV II* Church. C13-C15, altered late C18/early C19. Body of church rebuilt 1873 and
otherwise restored by Charles Buckeridge at cost of £3,000. Coursed ironstone
rubble and coursed squared ironstone with ironstone and limestone dressings,
plain-tile and lead roofs. Chancel, organ chamber/vestry, aisled nave, south
porch and west tower. 3-bay chancel has 3-light east window with C19 reticulated
tracery, a 2-light window to north with C19 Decorated tracery and pair of
similar windows to south all with hood moulds; diagonal off-set buttresses and
stone-coped east gable with kneelers. C19 vestry/organ chamber continues north
aisle and has 3-light window to east and north, the latter with straight head,
both with hood moulds. Nave has 3-bay clerestory of 1873; 2-light windows with
straight heads and hood moulds and plain stone-coped parapet. Aisles have
2-light windows with C19 Decorated style tracery, except for 3-light east window
to south aisle with C19 intersecting tracery, all with hood moulds, and plain
stone-coped parapets. South aisle overlaps chancel. South door of c.1200 has one
order of shafts with leaf-crocket capitals, moulded imposts and round arch with
two flat steps; stone to arch of alternating limestone and ironstone. South
porch has doorway with 2 orders of polygonal shafts, moulded capitals and
triple-chamfered arch. Tower has 3 stages. Pair of C19 cusped 1-light windows to
west with hood moulds and chamfered lancet window to next stage north side. C13
former bell-chamber stage has 5 blank arches to each side with round shafts and
blocked chamfered lancet windows flanking central blank arch. C15 top stage has
2-light bell-chamber openings with Decorated tracery and hood moulds. Off-set
angle buttresses and quatrefoil frieze of limestone to base of battlemented
parapet. Interior: chancel has 2-seat sedilia grouped with piscina with
ogee-arched heads to arches and trefoils to spandrels. Double-chamfered arches
to former north and south chancel chapels with polygonal responds. Similar
chancel arch. Nave has 3-bay arcades probably both of 1873, with octagonal
piers, polygonal responds and double-chamfered arches. Triple-chamfered tower
arch. Font has circular bowl with flat attached shafts carrying rough
single-scallop capitals, supported by four octagonal colonnettes round central
bar stop-chamfered support. C18 charity board. 3 stalls in chancel, possibly
continental with winged lion arms and lion's feet. C19 reredos with terracotta
panels. C19 stain-glass windows to chancel; east window by Clayton & Bell,
c.1873. Monuments: wall monument of coloured marbles to William Ward, d.1737,
his wife Bridget, d.1735 and their 7 children erected 1775 by their two
surviving daughters Mary and Dorothy by William Cox of Northampton with apron,
obelisk background, cartouche of arms and lamp finials.
(Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: 1973, pp293-5; VCH: Northamptonshire:
Vol IV, 1937, pp269-270; Little Houghton Coronation Scrapbook, 1953)
Listing NGR: SP8034059629
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
235525
Legacy System:
LBS
Sources
Books and journals Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (1973), 293-5 Ryland, W, Adkins, D, Sejeantson, R, The Victoria History of the County of Northampton, (1937), 269-270
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
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