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
