Description

Aston village
TL 2722 ASTON BROADWATER LANE
(north side)

12/3 Parish Church of St Mary
the Virgin (C of E)

24.11.66

GV II*

Parish church. Nave and chancel c1230, W tower late C14 or early
C15, low pitched timber roofs and new windows late C15,
restoration and N aisle 1850; general restoration, N vestry and S
porch rebuilt 1883 by W O Milne of London. Alabaster reredos with
mosaic panels also by Milne 1896. Flint rubble with rough
plastered finish and corbelled brick crenellated parapet to tower
with stone dressings and tiled buttress offsets. Knapped flint
uncoursed facing to rest of church with stone dressings and
flushwork chequer of stone and flint on porch. Copper low
pitched roof to chancel - similar behind nave's crenellated
parapet. Lead roof and spike with vane on tower. Slate roof to
NE vestry. A picturesque irregular church with 2-bay low
chancel, taller 3-bay nave with 3-bay arcade and N aisle, square
2-stage tower with large diagonal buttresses each with 5 tiled
offsets, gabled S porch and gabled NE vestry with chimney and
organ chamber. Spacious interior. Chancel has 2-bay arched-
braced oak roof with ridge and one purlin to each slope which
have a boss at their junction with a secondary principal at mid-
bay. Rear-arch and jamb stones of lancet window recorded in N
wall. Double trefoil-headed C13 piscina near alter on S. 2 C16
windows in S wall flanking a blocked small C19 pointed doorway
visible outside. Carved and panelled oak choirstalls c1886 from
St Mary's Lambeth installed 1973. C19 E window. C16 chancel
arch with half-octagonal section and fluted mouldings and
capitals. Oak screen c1520 with side panels and central opening.
Blind tracery panels fixed to lower part. Nave has a 3-bay roof
with cranked tie-beams, 4-centred arched braces springing from
moulded wall-posts on carved stone head-corbels. Carved bosses
at junctions of ridge and purlins with secondary principals.
Octagonal oak pulpit later Cl7 with mitred planted mouldings and
arabesque frieze around top. Correct C13 style tall N arcade with
pointed arches of 2 chamfered orders, and circular pillars with
moulded caps. ¾ pillars as imposts. Good figure brass in
central aisle before chancel arch, 1592 to John Kent and wife. 2
S windows C19 of 2-lights with tracery in heads. 3 2-light
windows to N aisle and 2-light windows at E and W. Tall 4-
centred arch into tower with caps to jamb shafts. 3-light W
window has tracery renewed. Pointed W doorway has continuous
deeply moulded jambs without caps, intersected by plinth moulding
on exterior of tower. Pointed louvred bell openings with clock
face below. Bells recast after fire in 1958. Stained glass by
Heaton, Butler and Bayne, E window (1896), chancel SW (1883) N
aisle E (1897). (RCHM (1911) 41-2: VCH (1912) 57-8: Kelly (1914)
26: Pevsner (1977) 78: Eileen Watson The Church of St Mary Aston
1981).

Listing NGR: TL2716722614

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17553550

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

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)