Church of St Mary the Virgin

Details

BRISTOL

ST5678NW CHURCH CLOSE, Henbury 901-1/17/1323 (South side) 08/01/59 Church of St Mary the Virgin

GV II*

Church. c1200 nave and lower tower, early C13 upper tower, chancel and S chapel. N chapel and restoration by T Rickman 1836, further restoration by GE Street in 1875-7. MATERIALS: Pennant rubble with limestone dressings and a slate roof. PLAN: chancel with chapels, aisled nave with porches and W tower. Late Norman doorways to S and N, much restored Early English nave, chancel and tower, Perpendicular Gothic Revival-style nave windows. EXTERIOR: chancel, set obliquely to nave, has an E gable with 5 stepped lancets, and a low C19 north vestry with segmental-arched door and 3-light window in a label mould and parapet; the E gables of the chapels have C19 Perpendicular-style 4-light windows with panel tracery. C19 north chapel has 3 stepped lancets with head and foliate hood stops and a diagonally-set E buttress; 3-bay N aisle has varied buttresses, 3-light Perpendicular windows at each end and a central window with 4 ogee-headed lights in a square head above the porch, and a C19 crenellated brick parapet; the crenellated porch has an arch and hood with a steel ogee gate and brick parapet; inside is an important early C13 segmental-arched doorway with moulded doorway reveals, a stilted arch on attached shafts and trumpet capitals and outer moulded reveal, and a small trefoil-headed niche with crockets; clerestory of c1300 has trefoil-headed windows. The S chapel has 2 triple stepped lancet windows, and an octagonal ashlar stack behind the parapet. S aisle as the N, with a wide porch with trefoil-headed side windows with splayed inside reveals. A massive square 3-stage tower the width of the nave has a much restored trefoil-headed doorway and matching hoodmould, under a 3-light plate tracery window of 3 stepped lancets and trefoil spandrels; narrow second-stage lancet, and 2-light belfry windows with Y-tracery and ogee heads; corner gargoyles and a C19 parapet of coursed Lias; on the N side is a shallow, square stair turret with arrow slits, and an octagonal clock in a label mould with the inscription PULBRIS ET UMBRA SUMUS; N aisle has a wide, plain 4-light window with vestigial cinquefoil heads and a label mould with face stops; the S aisle has a W window as those on the sides. INTERIOR: C19 reredos of cuspate panels, side buttresses and a foliate frieze; C13 piscina has a cavetto-moulded arch forming a cusp at the top, in a semicircular arch on attached shafts and bell capitals; the E window has a pointed rere arch with banded shafts. 3-bay chancel has square-section pointed arches on square columns with half-round shafts to each face, and a waggon roof with cuspate principal rafters; tall matching chancel arch. 6-bay Transitional nave of round shafts to round bases, slightly raised on the N side, round moulded capitals and square-section gently pointed arches; C19 east bay and good C13 respond corbels at the W end, either side of the triple-chamfered arch to the tower, with no capitals and widely splayed reveals; deep, splayed clerestory windows with wide trefoil-headed rere arches, set above alternate piers; C19 stilted waggon roof, the principals decorated with sunken quatrefoils; the aisle roofs bear on good corbel heads, painted to the S: the N aisle is pitched, the S a shallow tie-beam roof. FITTINGS: Coat of Arms; octagonal black marble font 1806; C19 round, stone pulpit, with pointed and trefoil panels; brass eagle lecturn; C19 choir stalls with open, cusped fronts. MEMORIALS: C17, C18 and C19 monuments include a wall monument to Robert Southwell, d.1633, a marble panel and curved obelisk with child's heads, shield and urn finial; wall monument to ? Elizabeth Cromwell, d.1674, by Grinling Gibbons, a wide sarcophagus with a gadrooned top, and an obelisk under a baldacchino with wide drapes held by putti; wall monument to Edward Capel, d.1681, an oval panel in a scrolled surround with swag, winged cherubs and a shield; wall monument to Edward Sampson, d.1695, a panel with flowers and gadrooned base, apron with a shield and winged skull, and a segmental pediment with cherubs and an urn; wall monument to Edward Southwell, d.1705, a black panel, apron and sides with rocaille, and an obelisk with garlands and finial; wall monument to John Astrey, d.1712, an aedicule with fluted Corinthian pilasters, rocaille apron and a top with cherubs to a foliated shield; wall monument to Christopher Cole, d.1736, a marble aedicule with a swept top above the entablature; wall monument, inscription lost, with a sarcophagus bearing a rotund urn, backed by an obelisk with swag and a cartouche; wall monument to John Sampson d.1753, a pedimented panel in coloured marble with bracketed sides and an apron, and an obelisk with swag and palm leaves; wall monument to Mary Teast, d.1766, by Drewett 1790, a marble panel with fluted sides and slate obelisk with relief of a female figure leaning on a vase; wall monument to Catherine Lewis, d.1782, a pointed-arched panel flanked by urns on a slate background; wall monument to Edward Sampson, d.1795, a panel with apron and shield, and acroteria to an obelisk with a draped urn; wall monument to Catherine Cave, d.1836, a bowed panel to an obelisk with a bowl of flowers and a dove and clouds in relief. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 466; Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural History: Bristol: 1979-: 20).

Listing NGR: ST5633278790

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

379138

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958), 466
Gomme, A H, Jenner, M, Little, B D G, Bristol, An Architectural History, (1979), 20

End of official list entry

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