Church of St Mary the Virgin

Details

WALTHAM LAG LANE (West side) SK 72 SE Thorpe Arnold 6/395 Church of St Mary the 1.1.68 Virgin (formerly listed as Church of St Mary the Virgin) GV II* Parish Church. C13, altered C14. Clerestory added and N aisle probably rebuilt C15. Nave re-roofed, tower, S aisle, porch and chancel arch rebuilt 1875-76 by R W Johnson. Chancel restored 1887. Coursed squared ironstone and limestone with limestone dressings, Swithland slate roof to chancel and porch, plain-tile roof to tower and lead roofs to nave and aisles. Chancel, aisled nave, S porch and W tower. 2-bay chancel has 3-light E window with intersecting tracery, 2-light windows to N and S with Y tracery, all with hood moulds and label stops. 2-light window to SW with straight head and ogee-arched heads to lights. Priest's door to S with stop-chamfered stone lintel. Nave has 3-window clerestory of 2-light windows with Perpendicular tracery with straight heads to N, and basket- arched heads to S, all with hood moulds. N aisle has 3-light E window with C19 foiled tracery, 3-light window to NE and 2-light windows to N-W and W end, all with C19 Decorated-style tracery and hood moulds. N door has double hollow-chamfered doorway and hood mould. S aisle has 3-light E window with intersecting tracery, larger 3-light window to S-E with similar tracery, 2-light window to S-W with quatrefoil to head and 2-light W window with Y tracery, all with hood moulds and label stops. Double hollow- chamfered S doorway with hood moulds and label stops, and old double plank door with wrought-iron hinges. Porch of 1875: shafts to doorway and small rectangular windows E and W with chamfered stone surrounds. Tower has 3 stages and lancet W window to bottom stage with hood mould and 2-light bell- chamber openings with quatrefoil to heads and hood moulds. Deep triple- chamfered plinth, string courses, pyramidal roof with weathervane to apex and ball-flower ornament to hollow-chamfered stone eaves. Aisles have off- set buttresses to angles. Interior: Chancel has ogee-arched piscina and C19 arch-braced collar truss roof. Double-chamfered chancel arch with polygonal responds. Nave has 3- bay arcades with moulded octagonal bases and capitals, octagonal piers, polygonal responds and double-chamfered arches. Capital to S-E respond has carved head flanked by lions heads. Perpendicular-style roof with C15 corbels supporting wall posts. Narrow double-chamfered tower-arch with polygonal responds innermost. Single arched Piscina in N aisle. Piscina in S aisle with trefoiled niche above. Font: Norman, circular, tub-shaped, with knight fighting dragon and two foliated crosses; octagonal moulding to base of bowl low octagonal stem and chamfered plinth. Pitch-pine choir stalls and pews. Stain-glass E window, S-E aisle window and W window of S aisle 1876 by Heaton Butler and Bayne.

Rev M T H Banks, Thorpe Arnold, The Story of its Church and People (Guide) 1980. Buildings of England, Leicestershire and Rutland 1984, p.406.

Listing NGR: SK7704620099

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

190340

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Banks, Reverend Mr MTH, Thorpe Arnold The Story of its Church and People, (1980)
Pevsner, N, Williamson, E, The Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland, (1984), 406

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