Church of St Mary (Church of England)

Details

TRING RURAL CHURCH LANE SP 81 SE (West side) Puttenham 3/126 Church of St. Mary 30.11.66 (C of E) GV I Parish church. Early C14 nave and aisles (proportions 1:2 suggest fabric of narrow nave may be older); early C15 W tower, nave clearstorey and elaborate nave roof; chancel largely rebuilt 1851 for Rev Thomas Holme retaining older features; S porch rebuilt 1869 and again in general restoration 1888-9 by Carpenter & Ingelow for Rev Robert Merrick when chancel floor raised and relaid, roofs repaired and tower parapets and turret-top rebuilt. Structural repairs and restoration 1934-5 by Sir Albert Richardson. W window restored 1971. Uncoursed limestone walls to aisles with knapped flints set in the wide joints, more closely jointed without flints in N clearstorey, tower of large coursed blocks of Ketton stone with regular squares of knapped flint giving chequered effect, chancel faced in uncoursed knapped flint over a stone base course with stuccoed buttresses lined as ashlar, S clearstorey faced in grey knapped flint, half-timbered porch on high stone and flint side-walls, steep red tiled chancel and porch roofs, low pitched metal roofs elsewhere. A small Dec and Perp church serving a shrunken medieval village, with aisled nave, lower square ended chancel, embattled low W tower, and gabled S porch. The chancel has a buttress in the middle of the N and S walls, diagonal buttresses at E end; and a spartan interior with 3-light pointed E window only, C15 pointed piscina with hollow chamfered mouldings in 2 orders in S wall, roundheaded trefoil cusped piscina in N wall, slabs with brass indents within C18 turned alter rails, 6 roundels of C15 encaustic tiles against N wall of chancel, C17 heavy oak pew, reading desk with C15 poppy-head ends, softwood arch-braced collar roof of 6 short bays, plate dated 1851 over pointed S door, and small painted C18 framed board on N wall with text from Psalms CM ver 2.13. Encaustic tile floor of 1889. The nave of 3 bays has tall 3-bay arcades of slightly different dates in the early C14 both with slender octagonal piers, moulded bases and fine moulded caps and pointed arches of 2 orders, plain chamfered on the S but wave-moulded on the N. The E end of the S arcade is carried on a head corbel. The C14 chancel arch with half-octagonal responds has a similar design to the S arcade. The clearstorey has simple 2-light Perp windows in the middle and eastern bays only. Unusually rich and elaborate early C15 open timber roof of 3 bays is the finest feature of the church with heavy roll-moulded rafters, ridge, purlins, principals, sub-principals, and cambered tie-beams with large standing figures as wall-posts on small stone corbels to tie-beams, half life-size figures under the wall ends of the sub-principals, and large carved bosses to intersections. The 4 standing figures on each side are saints each standing on birds with necks outstretched. The smaller figures on the sub-principals have diadems and hold blank shields. 2 bosses have the arms of Zouch and Wykeham, another a rebus for Hutton. The contemporary 5-bays roof of the S aisle has similar but is said to have been renewed. Pierced medieval carved wooden cresting with vine scroll pattern, perhaps from a rood screen, has been fixed to the S aisle wallplate. The nave has also several massive oak benches with moulded rails of C17 or earlier, early C17 hexagonal oak panelled pulpit with carved panels of a lozenge below and coiled scaly serpent above on each side. A similar panel with serpent is incorporated in the C19 wooden lectern. Stone font with plain circular bowl, stem and base, medieval re-cut and C17 wooden cover. Painted panel of Royal Arms of George III, 1760, over chancel arch, and hatchment on W wall. 2 C18 framed boards with Commandments flank the C15 oak door with C17 moulded battens on outside to give panelled appearance. Simple 2-light Perp E windows to aisles. N aisle 2 N windows of late C15 differ, one of 3 cinquefoil lights under a segmental head, the other of 2-lights with pierced spandrels under a 4-centred arched head. This has a composite roundel of medieval stained glass. Similar 3-light window in E part of S aisle, 2 light Perp window in W part. C19 small painted organ in middle bay of N aisle. 4-centred arched piscina in S aisle with chamfered jambs and pyramid stop. Crested deal screen c.1889 in tower arch with pointed deal door and ornamental hinge plates. A painting of James Stevens who died in 1911 aged 103 hangs in the S aisle. Low massive W tower has a projecting rectangular SE stair turret rising higher with a wind-vane, and its E face a continuation of the E face of the tower, giving an appearance of greater breadth to the tower. Chamfered plinth, chamfered string course, embattled parapets, belfry opening in each face of 2 trefoil lights with quatrefoil in the head (restored) over 3-light W window of late C15 style with cinquefoil lights (restored) over late C15 pointed W doorway (patched). In the tower base the vestry has 2 C18 painted framed panels with Lord's Prayer and Creed, and framed plan of 1883 signed by Carpenter & Ingelow architects. In VCH(1908) said to be dedicated to Our Lady. of outstanding interest for its C14 nave and C15 elaborate nave roof. (VCH (1908)263-4: RCHM(1911)165-6: Kelly(1914)194: Pevsner(1977)273-4: Vincent(1983)12,16).

Listing NGR: SP8852014927

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

355762

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1908), 263-4
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 273-4
Kellys Directory in Hertfordshire, (1914), 194

Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)

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