Church of St Mary

Details

TL 12 SE KINGS WALDEN CHURCH ROAD (East side) Kings Walden

4/10 Church of St. Mary 27.5.68 I

Parish church. C12-C13 origin, early C13 nave arcades, late C14 W tower, C15 clearstorey, early C17 brick NE Hale family mortuary chapel now the vestry. Restored 1868 by Eden Nesfield when in partnership with Norman Shaw, with new S porch, refacing of nave, chancel and aisles, and part rebuilding of chancel and aisles. New oak chancel roof 1909. Flint rubble with coursed knapped flint facing and deep ashlar parapets to all except tower and vestry, with stone dressings. Tower has remains of plaster facing, Totternhoe stone dressings, and several SPAB type tile repairs to stonework. Oak arcaded S porch on flint and stone plinth. Red brick. Vestry in English-bond with oak window tracery. Steep old red tile roofs to chancel, S porch, and vestry, the rest low pitched behind crenellated parapets (plain to aisles). A village church of square ended chancel, N vestry, 3-bays nave, aisles, S porch, and large W tower. The chancel has a high open timber roof with embattled collar beams, and a patterned floor of coloured and encaustic tiles with several stone steps to sacristy. Brass inscribed to Sibbill Barber d.1614. C13 double piscina at SE with lancet window over. Elaborate C13 small S doorway with external jamb shafts and ironwork decoration to plank door. 3-lights traceried E window with stained glass by Kempe 1901, and similar window to S wall. Stone relief reredos, carved oak ciborium in arched recess to N of altar, and probably polychrome organ case and ironwork communion rail, from Nesfield's restoration with carved work by James Forsyth. Carved serpent by vestry door from Hall family crest. Alabaster wall monument to Timothy Sheppard, d.1613. Early C14 wide chancel arch of 2 chamfered orders with half-octagonal responds, moulded caps, and C15 Perp painted wooden screen with ogee traceried upper panels and cresting. The 3-bays nave has a plain open timber roof of king-post roof, tie-beams, wallposts and 2 large C15 stone corbells to E-truss. Narrow rood-loft doorway high up at NE. 3-bays N and S arcades have 2 chamfered orders, short circular pillars and Transitional scallop, waterleaf and trefoil caps. 3 3-lights clearstorey windows each side. The narrow N aisle has an open timber roof with some timbers of C15, a 3-lights pointed N window, a single-light trefoil W window, C14 pointed doorway and an image bracket to N of E window. Square-headed piscina at NE. The floor level of this aisle appears to have been lowered. Wall monuments to Roland Hale d.1688, and Richard Hale, 1689. Slightly wider S aisle extends a little to E overlapping chancel, with blocked N communicating door and a wall locker with door rebate to left. Cinquefoil C14 piscina opposite in S wall. C15 open timber roof, and C15 3-lights windows at E and S, and 2-lights at SW. The SE window has stained glass and inscribed stone tablet 1867 by William Morris of 3 archangels, uninfluenced by Burne-Jones. S doorway C15 of 2 moulded orders with 4-centred arched head under square head with quarterfoil spandrels, deep hollows, slender attached shafts with small angels below caps. Head-stops recut and C19 plank door of one leaf with elaborate wrought iron decorative hinge plates. Gabled S porch has arched entrance, cusped bargeboards, plaster-vaulted interior, and chip-carved roundels on corner posts one with chrysanthamum motif (also on rainwater heads). The massive W tower is of 3 stages marked by chamfered stone bands, stepped corner buttresses, projecting polygonal stair turret at SE carried higher than the parapet, C14 2-lights bell-opening on each face with quartrefoil in pointed head, small single-light window to middle stage, 2-lights C14 W window, and pointed W door with old oak door. Tower arch to nave C14 of 2 chamfered orders, 2-centred, with jamb shafts. The brick vestry is rectangular with moulded gable parapets, plinth, plat-band carried up over 2 depressed pointed segmental arched N window openings as a deep drip. Oak mullions to 3-lights windows formerly painted as stone, with old leaded lattice glazing fixed to ferromenta. More elaborate wooden tracery to interior may have been added. Pointed low doorway down steps in middle into vault. Similar E window. (RCHM (1911)135-6: VCH (1912)35-7: Kelly (1914)171: Pevsner (1977)218-9).

Listing NGR: TL1602323507

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

162802

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, A, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1912), 35-7
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977)
Kellys Directory in Hertfordshire, (1914), 171

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

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