Details
KNOWLE ST GILES CP CRICKET LANE (East side)
ST31SE CRICKET MALHERBIE
2/52 Church of St Mary Magdalen
4.2.58
GV 11*
Anglican parish church. C12 origins; but rebuilt c1855 by Rev J.M Allen, Staple and Munden, builders. Ham stone ashlar:
plain clay tiled roofs between moulded coped gables with a variety of finials, behind traceried parapets. three-cell
plan of 2-bay chancel, 3-bay nave and north transept, with a north-east corner vestry, south porch and north-west
tower, all in a scholarly Geometric style. Chancel has double plinth, trefoil traceried parapets, corner and bay
buttresses with panelled and gabletted tops, with crocketted pinnacles to corners: east window a 5-light with headstop
label, a trefoil vent over; a 2-light window on south side, east bay, with simple arched doorway up 4 steps to west
bay: further 2-light window on north side. The north-east vestry to match, but with flat roof behind plain parapet;
2-light flat headed window with square headstop label on north side, no external doorway; stairs down to boiler room
against east wall. North transept similar, but with Curvilinear tracery to parapets, and having corner gargoyles:
3-liqht north window, blank on east and west sides. Nave has Curvilinear traceried parapets; 2-light windows with
simple tracery to sides, but the west gable much more elaborate, with a 3-light reticulated window flanked by
ogee-arched niches holding C20 statues, a traceried trefoil gable light over, and the gable crowned with a crocketted
tabernacle. South porch has plinth, angled corner buttresses; trefoil-traceried parapets and moulded coped gable with
cross finial; 2-order outer arch with applied flower boss ornament and wrought-iron gate; single-order inner iron with
elaborate ironwork straps to door; side walls have 2 small sidelights, Tower of 3 stages, capped with a spire; angled
corner buttresses 2 stages hill, plinth; string courses, the top with flower boss ornament and corner gargoyles, then a
low castellated parapet; the spire small, with gabled windows to principal faces: in stage 1 the west face has a cusped
lancet window, and the north a moulded pointed-arched doorway; stage 2 has a flat-arched light with ogee tracery to
each face except the east, where there is a 2-stage octagonal-plan stairway projection; stage 3 has a 2-light
Curvilinear-traceried window with louvres on each side, set in a hollowed arched reveal with ballflower decoration and
headstop label. inside, the work scholarly and consitent: the chancel has a timber moulded rib and panel ceiling, an
ornamental carved stone dado, in elaborate piscina on the north side, and also a table-tomb in ojee niche. Chancel arch
finely moulded, the chancel floor of patterned encaustic tiles. Nave has open arch-braced collar-truss roof with
ornamental windbracinq; and fine moulded archway to north transept, and black-and-white diamond pattern stone floor.
North transept the Pitt family pew, with rib and tracery-panelled ceiling, ornamental fireplace with cast-ironback in
east wall. All fittings if the l850s, notably the octagonal wood pulpit on a slender base, the choir stalls, lectern,
pews (including a traceried front to the Pitt chapel), and a richly decorated octagonal font, which has a fine timber
openork cover. Memorials include the chancel table tomb, to Stephen Pitt-Harris, died 1848, and in the north transept
memorials to Stephen Pitt and George Pitt, both died 1865, both memorials by White of Pimlico. In nave a copy of the
Raghael Virgin and Child, with St John the Baptist and an angel, by a Miss B1andy. (Pevsner), N, Buildings of England,
South and west Somerset, l958).
Listing NGR: ST3612911540
