Description

BITTERLEY

SO57NE Church of St Mary
482-1/6/74
12/11/54

GV II*

Church. C12 and C13 with C17 alterations, restored 1876 and
1880. Stone rubble and coursed stone rubble with ashlar
dressing. Plain-tile roof with ashlar-coped gable.
PLAN: chancel, nave with south porch, west tower.
EXTERIOR: chancel with C19 pointed arched east window of 4
lights. North wall with 2 lancets, one blocked, flanking
paired cusped-lancet window with trefoil. South wall with
restored pointed arched window of 3 cusped lancets and
labelmould, priest's door with shouldered stone slab lintel
and plain chamfered jambs, single buttress with offsets. Nave:
south wall with 2 restored Decorated-style pointed arched
windows, 3 cusped lancets with labelmould and head-stop to
right, 2 cusped lancets with quatrefoil to left, buttresses
with offsets and gablets. Restored north wall mirrors south
wall, with additional octagonal stone chimney shaft set on one
buttress. Late C19 timber-framed south porch set on stone
plinth with arch-braced truss opening. C19 south door within
restored C13 pointed arched opening with roll and fillet
moulding. Tower: 3 stage tower. Lower 2 stages of coursed
rubble walls with ashlar dressings on ashlar plinth with roll
moulding and short clasping buttresses. Single lancet on each
face at lower stage and C19 paired lancets at middle stage.
Top stage is a late C19 timber-framed belfry with short broach
spire.
INTERIOR: chancel roof truss is restored crown-post with swept
braces to principals with carved pierced quatrefoils and
carved straight tie beam. c1924 rood screen in C15 style
supporting rood loft. Loft with original mullions and
traceried panels supporting beam enriched by additional deep
perforated trailing ornament and cresting. Nave: C19 trussed
rafter roof. C17 pulpit. C12 font with shallow round-arched
arcade carving with foliage above. Restored tower arch of 2
orders with original filleted shafts. Abaci mainly restored
but with vestiges of stiff-leaf capital decoration. 3 C15
bells.
Monuments in chancel. Wall tablet with effigy of Timothye
Lucye d.1616: kneeling figure set between 2 columns under
corniced canopy with armorial tablet over. 10 Walcot family
tablets, some armorial, of early C18 to C20 and 8 Pardoe
tablets of same dates. 5 Walcot slab memorials from 1685 to
1812 and others including memorial to Anna Lydall d.1680.
Monuments in nave: Pardoe tablet 1768, 3 tablets to Powys of
Henley, 1668, 1671, and 1731 all armorial with embellishments.
Under tower, armorial Powys tablet of 1645.
(An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire:
Cranage D H S: 1895-).

Listing NGR: SO5708177311

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Mary, Bitterley at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5117503

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

• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)