Details
ST2229 KINGSTON ST MARY CP
KINGSTON ST MARY VILLAGE
12/110 Church of St Mary
25.2.55
GV I
Parish church. C13 nave and aisles, C14 chapels, late C14-early C15 South chapel extended one bay East, circa 1490
tower, early C16 chancel rebuilt, nave reroofed, South aisle extended 2 bays West, porch added, church refenestrated,
mid C19 West gallery removed, 1867 organ chamber added, C17 alterations including windows removed, latter replaced by
Perpendicular style windows, tower reroofed 1952, and restored 1976-8. Red sandstone random rubble, Ham stone dressings
and ashlar porch, squared and coursed stairturret, slate roofs, coped verges. West tower, 4 bay nave, 4 bay South
aisle, 3 bay South chapel, South porch, 5 bay North aisle, North East organ chamber and chancel. Flamboyant 3-stage
crenellated tower, crocketed pinnacles with bracketed pinnacles set at angles, decorative pierced merlons, set back
buttresses crowned with pinnacles, pinnacles set in angles, string courses, gargoyles, each face with pierced 2-light
mullioned and transomed bell openings, Somerset tracery and pinnacled shafts, angels on 3 faces carring second stage 2
light mullioned and transomed openings with Somerset tracery, flanked by empty crocketed niches, pinnacles in angles,
West door 4-centred arch, decorative spandrels flanked by empty crocketed niches, full height North East stair turrut
with pyramid ashlar roof and weathervane: South aisle pierced parapet with quatrefoil decoration, West end 3-light
window, South West corner single storey porch, cambered gable with similar pierced parapet, gargoyle, diagonal
buttresses, moulded arched opening flanked by empty crocketed niches, fan vaulted ceiling, 4-centred arch doorway,
decorative spandrels, ribbed C15 door, to right on South aisle damaged blue lias memorial stone to Bult family, three
broken pedimented 2-light windows between stepped buttresses, 3-light East window to chapel with 4 centred arched
doorway right, decorative spandrels, above blue lias tablet with skull to George Knight, died 1681, diagonal buttresses
to chancel, 5-light East window, 3-light on North front, 2-light to vestry, North aisle without parapet, three 3-light
windows between stepped buttresses, lancet at West end. Interior: rendered. 4 bay arcade, C13 circular piers with
double chamfered arches, Perpendicular arches to chapels, 2 bays betweeen chancel and South aisle with rosette
capitals, Eastern bay lower, moulding of 4 centred tower arch reaching to wagon roof, tower unusual in that wider North
South, decorative wooden chancel arch carried on stone corbels. Ribbed wagon roofs with boses to nave and chancel,
decorative wall-plate to latter, C19 ribbed wagon roofs to aisles, 4-panel moulded compartment ceiling to tower.
Blocked 4-centred arch rood loft opening in North aisle wall, unglazed 3-light Perpendicular window with ferramentee at
East end of North aisle, South aisle aunbry. Large table tomb without effigy to Sir John de Warre in South chapel, late
C14, Ham stone with polished Purbeck marble slab, cusped ogee decotated sides with Heraldic shields, repainted 1936,
C20 glazed Gothic style screen West end, organ above. Poor box dated 1676. Perpendicular font, wooden canopy and pully
dated 1900. Brass chandelier by Thomas Bayley of Bridgwater dated 1773. Very good collection of early C16 benches end
bench ends in nave, one dated 1522. Hexagonal pulpit, 1742, with inserted stair, Unusual pair of lead-panels dated 1706
and 1779 inscribed with names of churchwardens and plumber, recovered from roof during 1952 restoration. C17 Italian
painting of St Catherine of Alexandria in handsome contemporary frame in South aisle. In South chapel warble and slate
tablet by Greenway of Bristol to Coplestone Warre Bamflyde, died 1791, the gentleman architect who lived at
Hestercombe, Cheddon Fitzpaine (qv). (Pevsner, Buildings of England South and West Somerset, 1958; H F Ellis, The
Parish Church of Kingston St Mary, 1980; Photographs in NMR).
Listing NGR: ST2228929712
