Church of St Mary

Details

CALLOW CP - SO 43 SE 6/24 Church of St Mary GV II

Parish church. Rebuilt on site of earlier church in 1830 by L Johnson and enlarged 1884 by Lloyd Oswald. Squared and rock-faced sandstone with sandstone dressings and Welsh slate roof. West tower, two-bay nave, one-bay chancel, vestry and organ chamber. West tower is embattled above corbel table and has three stages divided by strings. Top stage has a pair of chamfered lancets to each face. Middle stage has one central lancet to each face except the east. Entry is in south side under 2-centred arch with stepped lancets above the lintel of the doors. On north side of tower is rock-faced late C19 gabled vestry with a pair of north-facing trefoil- headed lights and a west doorway above the lintel of which is carved scallop- ing. Nave has a pair of 2-light windows to each side. All four have pointed lights, quatrefoil tracery and moulded cills. Verge with gable cross and cresting along the ridge. Organ chamber over cellar on north side of chancel has rock-faced sandstone like the vestry and the same type of trefoiled lights, one pair to the north and another to the east. Doorway to west is also similar to that of vestry. Small ridge stack to north gable. Chancel has one trefoil- headed light to the north and a lancet to the south. The east window has three stepped lancets in a 2-centred arch with moulded label. Above the outer lancets is a pair of oculi in plate tracery. The cill is moulded with foliated ends. Verge and cresting like those of nave with stump of gable cross. Interior has stained glass window inscribed DARE QUAM ..... in north wall of tower which is obscured from light by the later vestry. On the same wall are wall monuments from the earlier parish church. One in stone with slate plaque is for Henry Pearle, died 1670 " ... at the English factory of Bantam", has scrolls to top, shield-of-arms and apron. Alongside is one for Elizabeth Jones, died 1744 with oval slate inscription panel and stone Rococo cartouches to margins. Beneath is a small corbel bracket in the form of an angel holding a book. On the west wall of the same tower vestibule are monuments to John Whitmore, died 1768, Francis Brickenden, died 1838, and Ann Brickenden, died 183.(?). Roof of nave has three trusses resting on corbels. Each has swept braces, lower and upper collars. The latter are intersected by central posts rising from the lower collars to the ridge. Chancel has open wagon roof. Chancel arch is 2-centred with moulded label returning outwards as a string. Stained glass east window of The Crucifixion is for Caroline Horton, died 1878, Daniel Dimery, died 1877 and John Horton, died 1878. North window depicts Christ with the inscription "I AM THE TRUE VINE/ I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE". South window of Christ and the Children is for Sybil Horton, died 1884, the infant daughter of Rev A W and Harriot Horton. C19 oak altar table with three trefoil-headed openings to front. Pair of oak chairs, probably late C17, in Caroline style with scrolled decoration to back, twisted rails and stretchers. Oak Communion rails with twisted cast iron columns and wrought iron scrolls and crosses. To north side set in an arch beneath a hoodmould is a two-manual organ inscribed BRINDLEY & FOSTER/ 1887 SHEFFIELD with exposed pipes, trefoiled and quatrefoiled panels and two swivelling brass sconces. In the organ chamber is a fireplace with a 2-centred arch flanked by two oculi in style resembling the east window. Pine desk and bench with openwork trefoiled decoration and brass sconces. Nave is divided from chancel by low stone wall decorated with row of small blind round-headed arches with battered cills. The wall rises to a stone plinth supporting five-sided pine pulpit. Each side is decorated by two trefoil-headed openings above which are four rectangles and cresting. On the pulpit is a brass book-wedge and two brass candlesticks. Font probably C13, has cylindrical stem on octagonal base. The rounded bowl has convex sides and a trefoil-headed niche on the south side. Stained glass in easternmost window of south side for Mary Dimery, died 1896 with Christ and St Peter. Nearby is a wall monument for Daniel Dimery, died 1877 and churchwarden for 57 years, in stone and white marble with neo-Egyptian acroteria and pediment. The window opposite is for W H S Horton, died 1895, and depicts Christ with his flock and as Light of the World. Brass lectern, twisted shaft and two scones. In the west wall is a small loop beneath a triangular-headed surround giving sight from middle stage of tower. (BoE, p 97 ; RCHM, Vol I, p 34-5).

Listing NGR: SO4947934368

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

155324

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Herefordshire I South West, (1931), 34-5
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Herefordshire, (1963), 97

End of official list entry

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