Church of St Mary

Details

SO 7225-7325 NEWENT CHURCH STREET (north side)

13/107 Church of St. Mary

2.10.54

GV I

Parish church; C13, C14, C15, early C17, 1675 nave by E.Taylor, F. Jones and J.Hill, restored C19, vestry C20. Squared, coursed stone to tower, south chapel and vestry, ashlar openings and spire, ashlar nave, timber-framed porch to south chapel; slate roof to nave and vestry, tiled to chancel, south chapel and porch. 4-bay nave, south tower and porch, chancel, south chapel, long north vestry range, single storey. South facade, 3-stage tower, diagonally-set corner buttresses, moulded plinth. Moulded surround to pointed doorway, wrought-iron gates with decorative feature over top rail. Slight offset top first stage, above trefoil-headed lancet, diamond-set board with clock face. Moulded string, 2-light mullion-and-transom window, reticulated tracery, no hoodmould: bottom lights blank, upper louvred. Plain string below battlemented parapet. Octagonal spire with ribbed arrises, 2 lancets with hoodmoulds at cardinal points, lower louvred. Flat- topped capital to apex, iron weather-vane, gilded cock. Nave behind, 1 bay on left: plain plinth, large, diagonal corner buttress; stepped 3-light mullion-and-transom window, segmental heads to lights, sunk spandrels, under segmental hoodmould: leaded lights. Moulded string course below battlements: decorative corner finial, gable copings, finial repeated at apex. To right of tower nave as on left, 2 windows, save the first reduced to two-thirds by tower: square-set corner buttress. Beyond 2-bay south chapel, moulded plinth, string course at window-sill level. Two-light window left, cinquefoil heads, hoodmould. Priest's door covered by C17 gabled porch; steep segmental head to opening, cutting away tie-beam; wrought-iron gate and side lights, pendants to projecting wall-plate ends. Sides brick plinth, iron bars above between splat balusters. Beyond square-set buttress, 3-light Cl9 window, stepped lancets under nearly semi-circular head, hoodmould. Diagonally-set corner buttress. Chancel set back beyond, bottom hidden by boiler house: above 2-light C19 window, Perpendicular tracery; diagonally-set corner buttress. Left return (west end) large central buttress, 5-light windows as south wall nave either side, 3-light mullioned in centre of gable lighting roof. Interior: porch, double, boarded door, wicket cut in one leaf, moulded stone surround. Fan vault over, with bell-hole. Nave, stone-paved floor with some memorial slabs to walkways, 4 x 2, scraped stone walls, giant, unfluted Ionic pilasters on tall bases at bay divisions, half pilasters in corners. Tower base with diagonally-set corner buttresses on south, rounded projection for spiral stairs, blocked door at foot, similar above for former gallery: line of medieval roof visible above. Ionic pilasters carry flat timber lintels to openings to chancel and south chapel; elliptical relieving arches over. West end 1839 panelled front to gallery, centre breaks forward, carried cast-iron columns: infilled below late C20; reused dado panelling with scratch moulding. Panelled, boarded ceiling with slight camber. Above 8-bay roof, single-span king-post trusses, 4 pairs purlins, no ridge piece, scissor bracing betweeen king posts, windbraces between trusses in lower part of slope, design similar to Wren's roof to Sheldonian, Oxford, by E.Taylor, monument in churchyard, (q.v.). Two-bay simply-moulded arcade between chancel and south chapel, circular column. Chancel walls plastered; north windows match nave. Chapel walls scraped. Both arch-braced collar rafter roofs, chapel with moulded longitudinal rib. Aumbry in chapel, cinquefoil head, ballflower decoration. Octagonal C17 wooden pulpit in nave, panelled sides, pulvinated frieze, on panelled base: 2 brass gas lights altered for electricity. Circular C17 stone font, acanthus leaves on bowl, swags on stem, moulded base. Former stone reredos fixed to tower base, cambered top, 3 cherubs' heads, clouds and rays of light, over wrought-iron panel. Late C19 pews, probably reusing parts of box pews. Organ C18, square corners, lyre tops, oval with swept gable and urn finial between, musical instruments carved over keyboard. In porch 2 floor memorial slabs set up; base of Saxon cross. Late C14 altar tomb of knight and lady in chancel arcade. Fine 1690 and c1714 wall monuments in chancel, latter with putti; 5 wall monuments in chapel, one a C16 brass: fourteen C18 and early C19 wall monuments in nave, 1 on tower to Mrs. Bourchier, died 1784, said to be by Flaxman, angel on cloud with book, phoenix above. Nave rebuilt 1675-79 following collapse of earlier one in 1673, (see H.Colvin for details); originally with galleries on 3 sides, pulpit centre of north, reordered C19. (H. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 1978; D. Verey, Gloucestershire, The Vale and the Forest of Dean, 1970; Clutton and Niland, The British Organ, 1963.)

Listing NGR: SO7235125957

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

125639

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 2 The Vale and The Forest of Dean, (1970)
Colvin, H M, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, (1978)
Clutton, , Niland, , The British Organ, (1963)

End of official list entry

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