Church of Saint Mary

Details

ST51NE MUDFORD CP

6/83 Church of Saint Mary

19.4.61

GV I

Church. Mostly early C14 and C15. Local lias stone cut, squared and random coursed with Ham stone dressings; Welsh slate roofs between coped gables, behind battlemented parapets to nave, with stone slates to North chapel and lead to porch and Tower. 2-cell plan with 2-bay chancel and 4-bay nave with added North chapel, South porch and West tower. Chancel plinthed, with half-height corner and full height bay buttresses, no parapets, C17 cuboid sundial as finials to gable coping; 3-light East window with reticulated tracery, arched label without stops, and 3-light North and South windows with C15 tracery in hollowed recesses with angled label moulds squared stopped; on south side also small iron barred leper window blocked internally, and small pointed arched doorway East of buttress. Nave plinthed, with full height offset buttresses between bays, battlemented parapets, corner gargoyles; windows have C15 tracery in deep recesses; pointed arched moulded doorway in North wall opposite South porch. North Chapel probably C16, with 2- and 3-light debased Tudor windows, very plain. South porch has angled offset buttresses, battlemented coping and parapets, moulded pointed arched inner and outer doorways the inner having C18 pair of fielded panel doors; stone benches; cinquefoil arched recess in East wall; date on roof timbers 1685. Tower of C15, in 3 stages divided by string courses; clasping corner buttresses, battlemented parapet with small corner and intermediate pinnacles, corner gargoyles; Arched moulded West door under square label with mutilated finials, foliated spandrils, above a 3-light C15 traceried recessed window of which the head passes through the string course; above on West side the remains of a cruciform carving under a square label, on the North and South sides of stage 2 small 2-light windows with wood baffles; to stage 3 larger 2-light windows with wood baffles on all 4 sides with arched labels and head stops. Stair turret on North-east corner with weathervane finial, clock face on East side. 5 bells dated 1582, 1621, 1623, 1664 and 1666, all by Purdue family of nearby Closworth. Chancel and nave have timber rib and plaster elliptical barrel ceilings, with a wide C18 semi-circular chancel arch and similar arch to North chapel; Tower arch 2-centred with panelled reveals. Nave windows have moulded internal reveals. Choir stalls incorporate remnants of medieval screen, pews with doors and wood pulpit of early C17; Font is C15 octagonal, lead-lined with carved band of Somerset Quarries, lilies, over a squashed quatrefoil band, with bracket taper into traceried stew. North Chapel, originally a chantry, now houses the organ. Memorials include one to Christopher Raymond, died l123/4 in North chapel, and incised flag in nave aisle floor to Edward Minchington died 1719. The church, like that at Yeovilton, (qv), was virtually demolished by the collapse of tower during a freak storm in Septenber 1309; a few earlier fragments were reused. (Francis Goulding, Ashington, Chilton Cantelo, Mudford: the Story of Three Somerset Parishes, 1982).

Listing NGR: ST5736819945

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

262693

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Goulding, F, Ashington Chilton Cantelo Mudford The Story of Three Somerset Parishes, (1982)

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.