Description

ASTLEY C.P. ASTLEY SJ 51 NW 7/1 Church of Saint Mary 13.6.58 GV II*

Chapel of ease, now parish church. C12, partly rebuilt in the C15 or C16, tower (and probably vestry) added in 1837, and nave and chancel restored in 1883. Dressed yellow/grey sandstone with C19 work in tooled grey sandstone ashlar. Plain tile roof. Nave and chancel in one, north vestry, and west tower. Tower: 3 stages. Plinth, diagonal buttresses with chamfered offsets, chamfered string course between first and second stages to west, chamfered offset to belfry, moulded parapet string, battlemented parapet with chamfered coping, and pyramidal cap with weathervane. Louvred 2-light belfry openings with Y-tracery, chamfered reveals and hoodmoulds with carved heads as stops. West front with circular clock to second stage, 2-light square window to second stage with stone mullion and hoodmould with carved heads as stops, and west doorway consisting of a pair of doors with panelled tracery, moulded Tudor arch with trefoil-panelled spandrels, and square hoodmould with carved heads as stops. First-stage chamfered lancet to south. Nave and chancel: chamfered plinth, C14 or C15 diagonal buttresses to east and west with chamfered offsets, large old buttresses to north and south with chamfered offsets, C19 chamfered stone eaves, and parapeted gable ends, with finial at apex to east. South side: nave has small ogee cinquefoil-headed window to left with carved spandrels (reportedly dated 1568 but illegible at time of survey - January 1987), restored C15 or C16 square-headed window to right of 2 round-arched lights, and central blocked C12 doorway consisting of one order of shafts with stiff leaf capitals and arch with square chevron ornament. Chancel has 2 square-headed windows of 2 cinquefoil- headed lights (right-hand one C15 or C16) and probably C16 central priest's doorway with rounded reveals and boarded door. North side: nave has 2 square-headed windows of 2 cinquefoil-headed lights. East end: C19 window of 3 trefoil-headed lights with intersecting cusped tracery and chamfered reveals. North vestry with chamfered stone eaves, parapeted gable and north window of 2 cinquefoil-headed lights under a square head. Interior: C19 three-bay nave roof, possibly incorporating some older parts; moulded wall plate, trusses with large (possibly older) chamfered tie-beams, C19 pierced wooden brackets resting on shaped stone corbels, king posts, and chamfered principal rafters, and ridge piece and single purlins. 2-bay chancel roof, similar to nave but with central chamfered arch-braced truss springing from stone corbels. East window with chamfered rear arch. Chamfered depressed- arched vestry doorway with arched niche to left. 2-light window in second stage of tower. Porch beneath tower with side benches and 2 panelled doors into nave with panelled reveals and architrave and cornice. C19 fittings: painted reredos. Altar rails. Wooden rood screen of 2:1:2 bays with cusped openings and shafts to loft with rood above. Wooden pulpit. Octagonal stone font with quatrefoil panels. Stone Gothic memorial tablet to Anne, wife of John Bishton of Astley House (d. 31 March 1838) consisting of cinquefoil arch with flanking pinnacles and crocketed finial. Some C19 stained glass. The chancel appears to have been added or rebuilt at a later date, probably in the C15 or C16 (see straight joints to north and south. D.H.S. Cranage, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, Shrewsbury Volume, pp. 838-9; B.o.E. p. 62.

Listing NGR: SJ5297518819

External Links

• Wikidata Q17540118

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

• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)