Church of St Mary the Virgin
CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN, BEDFORD ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1041558
- Date first listed:
- 03-May-1968
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary the Virgin
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN, BEDFORD ROAD
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2003-11-08
- Reference:
- IOE01/11212/15
- Rights:
- © Mr Roger Ashley. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1041558
- Date first listed:
- 03-May-1968
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary the Virgin
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN, BEDFORD ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY THE VIRGIN, BEDFORD ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- West Northamptonshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Little Houghton
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 80340 59629
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
Ryland, W, Adkins, D, Sejeantson, R, The Victoria History of the County of Northampton, (1937), 269-270
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (1973), 293-5
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 07-Jun-2026 at 15:22:22.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.