Description

ASHILL CP ASHILL VILLAGE
ST31NW
2/1 Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(formerly listed as Church of St
Mary)
4.2.58
GV II*

Anglican parish church, C12 or C13, with various later alteration, Local stone rubble, with some grey lias stone, Has
stone dressings; plain clay tiled roofs with coped gables, and bands of scalloped tiles to chancel. Two-cell plan of
single-bay chancel and 3-bay nave, with north and south porches and west tower, Chancel plain, with cill-high plinth,
on east side; east window 3-light C15 traceried, set in hollowed recess under square-stopped arched label; north window
a 2-light, probably C19, in moulded reveal; on south side two 2-light plate-tracery windows with plain arched labels,
and between them a small moulded pointed-arched doorway. Nave also plain, with buttresses to corners at west end; on
south side two 2-light late C15 flat-arched windows with cinquefoil cusped ogee-head lights and quatrefoil spandril
under deep square labels having shield stops; one similar window west of north porch, and to east a C19 reconstruction
of a C13 plate-traceried window. Simple south porch, the pointed-arched doorway almost totally blocked and a small C20
window inserted: north porch also plain, with chamfered segmental-pointed outer arch, and semi-circular arched ribbed
ceiling vault; stone bench seats; the inner archway of C12 or C13, stilted segmental with chevron decoration, the side
shafts octagonal on plan with one cushion and one scallop capital. The west tower in 2 stages; plinth, angled corner
buttresses with offset to nearly full height, string courses, corner gargoyles to top, battlemented parapet; moulded
4-centre-arched west doorway in rectangular recess with quatrefoil panel spandrils and deep square label; above a
3-light 4-centre- arched window with simple C16 or C17 tracery set in deep hollowed recess with label over; otherwise
stage one plain: to second stage are 2-light C15 traceried windows with horizontal baffles, that on the south face part
blocked; additional small rectangular window below in west face: on north- east corner a rectangular plan stair turret
to above tower height, crowned with weathervane dated 1867. Interior not accessible, but reported is a chancel arch
with chevron decoration, altered, with two blocked recesses for side altars; inner shafts and rere-arches of Decorated
period to chancel windows; cinquefoil rere-arch to north-east nave window, Fittings include an early C17 pulpit, and a
C15 octagonal font. In the north wall of the nave two early C14 tomb recesses, one with the effigy of a lady of c1300,
the other is of a knight of c1380. (Pevsner, N. Buildings of England South and West Somerset, 1958),

Listing NGR: ST3211617263

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17553932

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas