History

Mainly C14 but with C16 alterations, principally to the tower. Restored in 1860 by J. Pritchard and J.P. Seddon.

Exterior

Decorated church of cruciform plan with crossing tower. The walls are rubble stone with a pronounced batter at the base instead of buttresses; the nave and transepts have a C19 moulded cornice, the chancel a plain corbel table. Slate roof behind coped gables. The nave has, to S, 2x 2-light windows, with a lower, C16 2-light Tudor window to R with hood mould and square stops with saltire crosses. The porch is centrally-placed and has a segmental-headed doorway with C19 half-lit iron doors, and a niche above (containing a statue of the Virgin inserted 1942). The S transept has a 3-light S window with reticulated tracery. The chancel is lower and has 2x 2-light windows in S and N walls and a doorway L of centre to S with continuous chamfer. Three-light E window with intersecting tracery. The E and S walls have C18 and C19 grave slabs set into the stonework. The N transept has a 3-light N window. The nave has 3x 2-light windows in N wall. In W wall is a 5-light window with intersecting tracery above a W doorway under a 2-centred arch and with continuous chamfer. All doors are of 1860 and have ornate strap hinges. Two-stage tower has an embattled parapet on a corbel table and with big grotesques at the angles. The bell stage has 2-light Tudor windows with hood moulds and louvres and a clock to S. In the lower stage are narrow windows to N, E and S.

Interior

The nave has an open wagon roof. Fragments of stoups survive by S and W doors. In the E nave wall are squints to the transepts. The narrow crossing has low 2-centred arches with continuous chamfers and a chamfered rib vault. The transepts have arched-brace roofs, ogee-headed piscinae and squints under cusped heads to the chancel. The N transept has, against the W wall, stone stairs to the belfry projecting on a continuous corbel composed of 2 arcs. The chancel has a boarded wagon roof with embossed ribs. Double sedilia and piscina under cinquefoil heads and with a continuous hood mould. There is a small corbel in N wall for a lenten veil. E window has glass by Morris & Co: the patterns were designed by P.S. Webb with figures by P.P. Marshall of Christ rescuing Peter from the sea, Christ curing the woman with an issue of blood, and Doubting Thomas. This is probably the only window for which the designs for all the principal parts were prepared by Marshall. The chancel also has 2 small C14 effigies, one of Payn Turberville (d.1316), the other a child. The crossing, S transept and chancel have flagged floors with memorial slabs. There are further C18 and C19 memorial tablets set into transept walls. C19 octagonal font has alternate roundels and quatrefoils with foliage, over a frieze of billets and a square base. The bowl of a medieval font is in S transept (formerly in the churchyard). Pulpit installed 1942.

Reasons for Listing

Listed Grade I as a large and prominent church which retains its C14 form and character due to sensitive C19 restoration, and forming part of an important visual group with Coity Castle.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Church Of St Mary at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17721957

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5