Description

ST 57 NW PORTBURY CHURCH LANE (north side)

2/165 CHURCH OF ST MARY
11.10.61
G.V. I

Parish Church (Anglican). C12; altered and extended early C13, c.1300 and
C14/C15; restored 1870-75. West tower, nave, north and south aisles, south
porch, chancel and chantry chapels. Coursed sandstone rubble with freestone
(oolitic limestone) dressings; C20 tiled roof. West tower is mid C15 of
4 stages with diagonal buttresses, and a plain embattled parapet with pinnacles;
polygonal stair turret projects at south-east, also with an embattled parapet;
2-light bell chamber windows with tracery of quatrefoils in circles; 3-light
west window and west door in moulded surround. North aisle: clasping buttresses;
embattled parapet with blank arcading; three 3-light Perpendicular style windows
with cinquefoil heads and chamfered mullions, all under square dripmoulds and
relieving arches; north door has a chamfered surround with a 4-centred head;
5-light east window of stepped, cusped lights; 3-light cusped, lancet west
window. Chancel: clasping buttresses; projecting north chantry chapels, the
west one has a triple lancet window with chamfered surrounds and the east one is
gabled and has 3-light Perpendicular style windows with cinquefoil ogee heads to
the tracery; east window is 3-lights, geometrical with intersecting tracery,
cusping and daggers; two 3-light, c.1300, Geometric windows on south side, one
with cusped intersecting tracery, dagger tracery and a quatrefoil above, the
other with stepped cusped lancets; priest's door with round arch on small
corbels. South aisle has an embattled parapet with a blank, panelled arcade;
angle buttresses with off-sets; 5-light east window with trefoil heads to
tracery, moulded mullions and 4-centred arch; two 3-light Perpendicular style
windows with cinquefoil heads to tracery and panelled lights above, all under a
square hoodmould. South porch is C15, 2 storeys with an embattled parapet and a
blank, panelled arcade; diagonal buttresses with off-sets, moulded doorcase.
Interior. C12 south door; 2 colonnettes, with scalloped capitals; the arch has
an interlocking key ornament which covers the intrados and
extrados and a chain of lozenges with fleurons; C15 image niche. Nave: 5 bay
arcades of double chamfered arches and piers without capitals, stops at the base
and square stone seats; full length stone seats run along the
north and south aisles; the east respond of the east bay of the north arcade
rests on a coarsely cut head; triple sedilia and piscina in south arcade,
trefoil heads and colonnettes with circular capitals; ogee headed stoup to east
of south door, hollow chamfered with fleurons; rere arches to north arcade
windows and east window of south arcade; large squint from north aisle; C19
roofs on a good collection of 44 carved corbel heads, late C12 in the south aisle,
late C14/C15 in the north aisle and late Ciileanly C12 in the nave; the nave
roof has crown posts. Tower arch is C15 with hollow and wave mouldings.
Chancel arch is c.1300, restored in C19, but it rests on late C12 piers of
5 clustered shafts, the innermost one has a keel moulding, with scalloped
capitals; the bases are 5 feet above the present floor level. Chancel: cusped
rere-arches on corbel heads of east window and eastern window of south wall;
triple sedilia and piscina with trefoil heads, roll moulding with a fillet,
carved head stops, columns with circular capitals; carved corbels for lamps and
lenten veil; restored wagon roof; Eastern chantry chapel has a fine ribbed,
pointed tunnel vault. Pulpit: C19, Perpendicular style wooden, on ashlar base.
Font: C12; square scalloped bowl on circular stem and square base. C14 bench
ends at eastern end of choir stalls; C14, re-used parts of benches in south
aisle. Monuments. North aisle: Thomas Cauldwell, died 1770, incised stone
tablet with round headed surround; brass to Sara Kemish, died 1621, with kneeling
and lying figures of children, C19 stone surround. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings
[of England : North Somerset and Bristol).]

Listing NGR: ST5029275436

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Mary's Church, Portbury at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7594404

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)