Church of St Mary Magdelene

Details

ST 77 NE TORMARTON C.P. CHURCH STREET (east side)

6/243 Church of St. Mary Magdalene

G.V. I

Parish church. Norman origin, C12 chancel arch, 2 lower stages of tower and string courses on chancel, C14 aisle, porch rebuilt C17, south porch and north vestry 1853 by T.H. Wyatt. Limestone coursed freestone, first 2 stages of tower in rubble with stone dressings and quoins, stone tiled roofs with raised coped verges and cross finials to chancel and aisle. West porch, west tower, nave, south aisle, south porch, chancel, north vestry. Decorated style north windows in nave, Perpendicular style aisle windows and top stage to tower. 2-storey gabled west porch has west door with pointed arch and chamfered surround, double doors with strap hinges, 2-light mullion and transom window above, trefoil heads to upper lights and hood mould, similar blocked door north and south, stone gutters. 3-stage tower has lancet north and south at first stage, stage has blocked window north and south, rectangular lancet to west and small carved head set in stonework above; south west stair turret in 3 stages with plinth, string courses and small lancets; top stage of tower, short, has 2-light window with trefoil heads, pierced stone tracery and hood mould north and south, 3 similar windows east and west with continuous hood mould; buttresses, clasping buttress with bench-mark to north west, string courses, cornice to top stage with 2 gargoyles north and south with waterspouts to north, embattled parapet. Nave has three 2-light windows with elongated quatrefoils at top with hood mould to north. South aisle has weathered buttresses, two 3-light windows with hood mould and mask stops, similar 3-light east window, low string course. Gabled south porch with finial has pointed arched door in chamfered surround with broach stops, hood mould with mask stops, trefoil-headed light to each side, pointed arched inner door in hollow-moulded surround. 2-bay chancel has 3-light Decorated east window with hood mould and 4 trefoils in upper section, lower billet moulded string course returned to north and south, upper wheat ear moulded string course carried round buttresses; to south, site of former rood stair in angle with aisle, 2-light pointed arched window with hood mould, lancet, low blocked rectangular leper window to right; to north, small gabled vestry with trefoil headed door and pair of trefoil headed lights to west, chancel has lancet and 2-light window with hood mould. Interior: west porch has stone benches to sides, inner double door with pointed arch and surround of 2 chamfered orders, hood mould, pointed arched light above, 5-bay roof with arched-brace, collar and collar purlin. Tower has pointed arched door to stair, transitional pointed tower arch in 2 chamfered orders, slender jamb-shafts with embryonic stiff-leaf ornament on capitals, C19 wooden screen at base of tower arch. 3-bay nave has roof with tie- beam and supporting brace pierced with quatrefoil, hexagonal king-post, queen- post to each side, collar and upper king-post, braces to all upright members, moulded stone corbels; windows with chamfered rere-arches to north, south arcade of 3 bays, piers with semi-cylindrical shafts alternating with concave mouldings, moulded bases. South aisle has common rafter roof, passage squint to chancel with chamfered ribs to vault. Chancel arch has outer orders of chevron mouldings and inner order of roll-moulding, large inner jamb-shafts with heavy moulded block capitals, 2 slender jamb-shafts to each side with narrow moulded capitals, cable-moulded shaft-ring, moulded base. Chancel has 5-bay roof, ceiled, with painted moulded ribs and bosses, brattished wall-plate, high round arched recess to each side of east window, south piscina adjoining blocked leper window, trefoil-headed door to north vestry. Fittings: font in tower of early C13, scalloped bowl supported on keeled shafts; Jacobean carved polygonal wooden pulpit in nave; C19 panelled pews; hatchment in south aisle, 1842, recording gifts to parish. Monuments in chancel: C14 matrix of lost brass of Sir John de Rivere, c.1350, showing outline of foliated cross and knight holding model of a church; marble tablet with urn, to Joseph Haycock, 1756, marble tablet simulating parchment, to Lord William Somerset, 1851, by Tyley of Bristol; marble tablet, to Jane Grey, 1798; marble tablet by Cooke of Gloucester, inscription panel to Lady William Somerset, 1843, missing; neo-Greek marble tablet, to Helen Somerset, 1849, by Tyley of Bristol. In nave: brass of a man in civilian clothes, with hare, bell, cherries and Latin inscription, to John Ceysill, 1493; marble tablet, to Nathaniel Osborne, 1799, by Reeves of Bath. In south aisle: stone tablet with verse, to Gabriel Russell, 1663, stone tablet to his wife, Katherine, 1667; baroque stone tablet with cherubs, heraldry, surmounted by red hand, to Edward Topp, 1699. Glass: chancel east, north and south window by Ward and Hughes, 1868; east window in aisle by Heaton and Butler, 1867; central north window in nave by Alexander Gibbs, 1871. (Sources: Verey, D. : Buildings of England Gloucestershire : The Cotswolds. 1970).

Listing NGR: ST7695278847

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

398097

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1 The Cotswolds, (1970)

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