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
