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
