Church of St Mary

Details

CALNE

ST9970 CHURCH STREET 755-1/5/41 (East side) 19/05/50 Church of St Mary

GV I

Church. c1160-70 nave, late C14 St Edmund's N chapel, c1470 N porch, late C15 clerestory and nave roof; tower, chancel and crossing rebuilt c1638; W end, S porch, chapel and S transept rebuilt 1864; restored 1864 by Slater. Limestone ashlar and rubble, stone slate and lead roof. Norman nave, Perpendicular the rest, except for C17 Gothic Survival tower and chancel, and C19 Perpendicular Gothic Revival S porch, chapel and restoration work. PLAN: cruciform plan with an aisled nave, N and S porches and chapels, N transept tower, and chancel with N chapel and vestry and S chapel. EXTERIOR: rubble chancel has angle buttresses, plinth and low parapet, with a C19 four-centre arched 5-light window, with 2-light C17 mullion windows in each side with labels; side chapels have 3-light E windows, and the mid C19 NE vestry has a crenellated parapet and 2-centre arched N doorway. N elevation of N chapel has two 3-light flat-headed windows with labels. 4-stage tower has setback buttresses with attached pinnacles on the offsets, deeply moulded plinth and a crenellated parapet with corner pinnacles; 3-centre arched N door with original plank and batten door and hood, with a 3-light window above with intersecting tracery; 2-light Y-tracery windows, paired to the belfry, the E side has blind second-stage window and a clock to the third stage in a lozenge moulding. Nave, aisles and porches have cornices and moulded crenellated parapets with corner crocketed pinnacles, the nave with a continuous moulding and pinnacles to attached buttresses between the windows. 2-bay St Edmund's Chapel divided by buttresses with 2-light trefoil-headed windows, and a small doorway across the angle with the tower; 2 gargoyles to the cornice. Gabled N porch has a 2-centre arched doorway with hood mould and cusped octagonal stops; inside a good lierne vault with foliate bosses, timber boss to the pendant, church doorway with hollow moulded surround and shield hood stops, smaller similar entrance to N chapel. 2-bay aisle has wide 3-light flat-headed windows and 4-centre arched 3-light W window. 5-bay clerestory has 3-light windows. Gabled W end has a C19 5-light window similar to the E end, with a canopied statue niche in the gable above, and a C17 two-centre arched doorway in a label with shields in the spandrels, and a ribbed 2-leaf door. S aisle and clerestory as the N. C19 S porch has attached columns with moulded capitals, and 3 good C15 gargoyles to the E side; 2-bay S chapel, and gabled S transept with setback buttresses and a 2-centre arched window. Ashlar S chancel chapel with 2 flat-headed 3-light C17 windows. INTERIOR: details include chancel with C17 timber roof with moulded ties, arch braced to corbels; C19 piscina and sedilia with attached pinnacles; 2-bay open sides have Tuscan columns and responds to the chancel arch, to round arches, responds to 4-centre chapel W arches and crossing. Nave has mid C12 Transitional arcade with round columns, mid C17 rebuilt wide flat shafts with responds at E end, with scallop capitals and square bases, the E arches 2-centred, the rest have round arches with a single step, with nail-head hood moulds. Five C12 columns to N side, the first from the E with a carved corner head to the capital, some with beads to the scallops, and billet hood moulds; W responds, 2 of the S columns rebuilt C19. C12, probably reset, 2-centre arch to N porch door with chevron moulding and billet mould. Good shallow C15 tie beam roof with alternate king posts on king and bishop head corbels, and Perpendicular tracery, and plain ties with cresting on the principal rafter. FITTINGS: fine chest dated 1579, inscribed on inside of lid QER/XXI, with 3 early C17 locks, set within a large oak trunk; C15 octagonal font with curved base, and panelled sides with quatrefoil heads; in the S chapel, a reset C15 piscina with cinquefoil head; C19 pulpit with the 12 Apostles to the sides; 1890 reredos by Pearson, lowered 1936; organ case and altar in S chapel designed by CR Ashbee, made by Alec Miller of the Campden Guild in 1907. Mid C19 bench pews. MONUMENTS: wall tablet to William Norborne, d.1659; wall tablet to Benedict John Angell, d.1836; reset in the S porch, 3 wall tablets to Boswell, King of the Gipsies, with a central horse relief. HISTORICAL NOTE: the former crossing tower and spire fell in 1638, destroying the chancel, and was rebuilt over the N transept: it is a notable example of Gothic Survival work. Inigo Jones is anecdotally associated with this phase, and reported to have surveyed the old tower in c1640. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Wiltshire: London: 1963-1975: 154; Marsh AEW: History of the Borough and Town of Calne: 1903-: 150).

Listing NGR: ST9990670913

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

455165

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, (1975), 154
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, (1963), 154
Marsh, A E W, A History of the Borough and Town of Calne, (1903), 150

End of official list entry

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