Church of St Mary Magdalene

Details

SJ 80 SW
6/17

ALBRIGHTON C.P.
HIGH STREET (north side),
Church of St. Mary Magdalene

G.V. II*

Parish church; medieval and C19. Red sandstone ashlar walls (yellow to north aisle) with occasional patches of tile throughout; moulded cornice to north aisle wall; plain tiled roofs. C12 and later west tower in 3 stages with broad clasping buttresses; roll and fillet hood moulding and string course to first stage on south side; lancet windows to first stage, C12 round headed windows (southern with nook shafts) to second, pointed windows and C12 circular openings to belfry; Perpendicular battlements and gargoyles (c.1400). Nave, aisles (southern on site of mid C13 aisle, see old masonry in end walls), porch, organ chamber and vestry of 1853; C20 boiler house. Decorated style C19 2- and 3- light windows; round windows to end walls of north aisle, which is buttressed. East chancel window c.1300, 5 lights with reticulated tracery and transom, ogee heads to lights below, cusped quatrefoils in the head. West window on south side of chancel simpler reticulated tracery; 3 lights with trefoiled heads and cusped quatrefoils above, east window on south side of 2 lights has earlier cusped bar tracery; C12 blocked south doorway with 2 contemporary(?) carved heads in semi-circular recess above; diagonal buttresses to east wall. Internally much restored in 1853 by H.J Stephens of Derby. Nave roof lit by 2 dormers; outline of old roof pitch preserved on east wall of tower above blocked C12 round headed window with nook shafts. 3 lancets in tower have deep internal splays. Tower arch (c.1300) is triple chamfered. Nave arcades of 3 bays and chancel arch mid C19. Medieval trussed rafter roof to chancel. Plain C14 sedilia and piscina with chamfered recess above in south wall. Early C14 window in north wall, knocked through to form entrance to vestry. East and south windows have mid C19 glass. Choir stalls mid C19, altar rails 1895. Mid C19 box pews in nave and aisles. C19 parclose screen to east bay of south aisle. Hexagonal C17 pulpit. Octagonal mid C19 font. Late C13 tomb chest at west end of north aisle, uncovered in south aisle during 1853 restoration; trefoiled arches on short shafts along the sides with shields in the spandrels; the lid has a cross in a circle, the space between the arms filled by 4 small shields; a further 8 large shields cover the remainder of the lid. On north side of chancel an alabaster altar tomb, retaining traces of colour, to Sir John Talbot (died 1555) and his wife; 2 recumbent effigies, his feet rest on a lion; armorial devices and small figures flank the sides of the tomb between twisted colonettes. Against the south wall a plain table tomb with a crude cross carved in relief on its top commemorates the Duke of Shrewsbury (died 1718). An incised slab to the memory of Leonard Smallpece (died 1610) (now illegible) is built into the external east wall of the south aisle. The borough mace (1664) is in a wall case at the west end of the north aisle. Cranage, Vo1.I pp-1-3.


Listing NGR: SJ8093904427

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

255122

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cranage, DHS, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, (1908), 1-3

End of official list entry

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