Church of St Mary the Virgin

Details

TL0279 TITCHMARSH CHURCH STREET (South side)

14/200 Church of St. Mary the Virgin 25/05/67 (Formerly listed as Church of St. Mary)

GV I

Church. Mid C12, C13, C15 and C16, restored late C19. Squared coursed limestone with limestone ashlar tower and lead roofs. Aisled nave, chancel, north chapel, north transept and south porch. South elevation of chancel is a 3-window range of tall, 3-light, Perpendicular windows with 4-centred arch heads. Priest door to right and 2-stage buttress to corner. Shallow gable roof with castellated ashlar parapet and finial 5-light Perpendicular east window with 4-centred arch head. North elevation of chancel is one-window range with 2-light window with Y-tracery. Arched recess below window. 4-light Perpendicular east window to north chapel has 4-centred arch tread. North elevation of north chapel is a one-window range with a blocked square-head opening. Lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapet. C19 vestry attached to north chapel has one 2-light north window, and doorway in return wall, both with carved label stops. South aisle of 4 bays, 3-window range of 3-light Perpendicular windows with 4-centred arch heads. Lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapets. Similar 3- and 4-light west and east windows. 2-storey porch to left of centre, is c.1583 for Pickering family. Roll-moulded outer arch with semi-circular responds and similar restored inner doorway with cluster shafts. Restored 2-light square-head windows to south and east faces of first floor. Shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapet and finial. North transept has 3-light Perpendicular window with 4-centred arch head, in north elevation. Shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapet. North aisle is a 2-window range. 4-light Perpendicular window, with mouchettes and 4-centred arch head, to left, and 3-light Decorated window, with intersecting tracery, to right. Lean-to roof with plain ashlar parapets. 2-light square-head west window. Nave clerestory of 5-window range of 3-light Perpendicular windows with 4-centred arch heads. Shallow gabled roof with castellated ashlar parapets and finial. Fine C15 west tower of 4 stages with plinth. 3-stage set-back angle buttresses to lower 3 stages. Plinth with quatrefoil frieze and with double quatrefoil frieze above. West doorway with crocketed ogee head and quatrefoils and mouchettes in the spandrels. Flanking pointed-head niches with cusping and C19 statues. Quatrefoil frieze between each stage. 3-light west window in second stage has panel-tracery and flanking niches, with pinnacles over, and C19 statues. Blind 2-light west window, with transom, in third stage is flanked by similar niches. Similar blind window in east face and similar windows in north and south faces have brick infill arranged to form lattice panels. Pairs of 2-light bell-chamber windows with transoms, to each face of upper stage have similar lattice brick panels. Double diamond and quatrefoil frieze above with panelled and crocketed pinnacles at corners. Similar diagonal pinnacle at mid point of each side with ogee head and crocketed castellations between. Interior: 3-bay nave arcade of double-chamfered arches. North arcade is C13 with circular piers and nailhead decoration to the capitals. South arcade is early/mid C14 with circular piers and stiff-leaf decoration to the capitals. Double-chamfered chancel arch with polygonal responds and triple-chamfered tower arch with hollowed responds and castellated capitals. 2-bay arcade of double-chamfered arches to north side of chancel is similar to north arcade of nave. Double-chamfered arches to north transept and north chapel have bracketed responds. Priest door in south wall of chancel has C12, reset, arch head with zig-zag decoration. Trefoil-head piscina to left of altar and C19 copy to right. Squint with gabled head and cusping alongside; priest door between. C19 and C20 roof structures with remains of Perpendicular arched-braced trusses, with corbels, in north transept. C19 font and pews and early C20 screen and pulpit. Monuments: low tomb recess in south aisle with decorated slab. John Creed died 1701; plain tablet below south aisle east window. Sir John Pickering died 1703 and family, inscribed tablet, north wall of north chapel, with flanking pilasters, pediment and urn. Major Richard and Mrs. Jemima Creed died 1704 and 1705, tall inscribed tablets to left and right of south aisle east window. John Pickering died in infancy 1712, plain chest-tomb in north chapel. Theophilus Pickering died 1710, painted panel in north chapel depicting bust with flanking pilasters, by Elizabeth Creed, sister of the deceased. Gilbert Pickering died 1721 and wife, inscribed panel below previous monument. John Dryden, poet, and his parents, painted panel in north transept, c.1722 also by Creed. Various members of Pickering family, C18 inscribed tablet with scroll surround, north wall of north chapel. Colonel John Creed died 1751, inscribed tablet with pediment and obelisk over, south wall of south aisle, by Edward Bingham. Mrs. Elizabeth Creed, white marble urn on black base in south aisle window sill; by J. and J. Coles of Thrapston and Huntingdon. Hugh Richard, plain oval late C18 tablet on west wall of south aisle. 2 late C19 tablets with Gothic surrounds to south wall of chancel. Various inscribed tablets in floor including matrices for brass. C19 wall paintings in chancel. C19 stained glass to all chancel windows, panel in south aisle east window, and belfry window. The room over the porch, which is no longer accessible, was originally the private pew of the Pickering family. (V.C.H.: Northamptonshire, Vol.3, p.142; Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.142).

Listing NGR: TL0220579866

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

424624

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (1961), 142
Ryland, W, Adkins, D, Sejeantson, R, The Victoria History of the County of Northampton, (1930), 142

End of official list entry