Description

TUNSTEAD CHURCH LANE
TG 32 SW
8/34 Church of St.Mary
16:4:55
- I

Parish church. C14 and later. Flint and stone; lead and copper roofs. West
tower, nave, south porch, north and south aisle, chancel. Embattled C14 4-
stage tower; stone frieze with curved, cusped relief to plinth; west door
with continuous moulding, grape vine trail to hood-mould; 3 light west window
with panel tracery; single light cusped openings to ringing chambers; 2 light
bell-openings with panel tracery; gargoyles at corners. Buttressed nave of
5 bays with angle buttresses; C14 3-light north and south aisle windows with
mouchettes; north aisle door to first bay with continuous moulding; hood mould
and stops with rosettes. External rood stair in angle between chancel and
north aisle of brick and flint with quatrefoil light; copper roofs to aisles;
blind clerestorey of intersecting cusped arcade in flushwork to south; blind
cusped arcade to north. Chancel of 3 bays, band at sill level; doorway in
centre south bay under window; Perpendicular windows of 3 lights with panel
tracery. North-east chancel window blocked. C19 east window of 3 lights.
Porch of 1864 to first south aisle bay. Door to nave has exuberant medieval
iron work door-ring with trail and trefoil leaves. Interior. North and
south arcades of clustered shafts, fillets in the diagonals, figure stops
to hood moulds; brackets in the spandrels of south arcade with heads to-base,
to north crenellated brackets with niches above revealed in restoration of
1950's. Arch-braced roof with simple ashlaring, 2 tie beams of 1683 with traces
of paint. Stone benches to aisle walls. Cusped piscinae to north and south
aisles. Aisle roofs with roll-moulding, restored. Tower arch with clustered
shafts, castellated abaci. Chancel arch with clustered shafts. Piscina and
3-bay sedilia with cusped ogee arches and ribbed vault. Raised platform at
east end reached by steps to north, doorway to south leads to tunnel vaulted
chamber beneath, lit by opening behind altar; remains of niches with paint
to west face, perhaps of reredos. Niches with remains of vaulting to either
side of east window, some paint. Arch-braced roof with tracery in the
spandrels. Remains of poppy-head to bench in chancel. C15 rood screen with
painted figures to lower panels, platform to top. Rood beam, not in original
position.

Listing NGR: TG3086022713

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536913

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

• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments