Description

ELLINGHAM GELDESTON ROAD
TM 39 SE
7/43
Church of St. Mary
5-9-60
I

Parish church. Medieval with some C19 rebuilding. Flint with limestone
dressings, walls of north side largely rendered over. Nave and chancel plain-
tiled; lead roofs over aisle and porch. West tower, nave, chancel south
aisle, south porch. Square, unbuttressed west tower, C14, with 2-light Y-
tracery bell openings. Tracery repaired and replaced in wood on north and
south sides. Square red brick staged stair turret on south side, probably
C18. 2-light C14 west window with headstops to hoodmould. Tall, narrow
opening above with one-piece jambs. Round opening in north side of tower
infilled with pierced wooden panel. Stepped parapet with flushwork panels
and diagonally-set corner pinnacles with tops missing. C15 south porch with
shields in arch spandrels; niche above. Staged diagonal buttresses to gable.
2-light east and west windows with cusped Y-tracery. Stoup to east of
archway. South aisle has four 3-light C15 windows with segmental arched heads
and hoodmoulds on headstops. Staged buttresses divide bays. Staged diagonal
buttresses at south-east and south-west corners. At west end of nave, a red
brick chimney with octagonal gault brick shaft and moulded cap. Square-headed
priest's door with red brick jambs. Renewed 3-light Perpendicular east window
to aisle. 2-light cusped Y-tracery window in south wall of chancel. South-
east corner of chancel and east wall rebuilt in red brick; C19 3-light east
window. North wall of chancel has a 2-light Y-tracery window and a 3-light
C15 window with tracery infilled in rendered brick. North side of nave has
tall, narrow 2-light windows, early Perpendicular, the easternmost windows
wider and renewed. C14 north doorway with hoodmould on headstops. Interior:
nave and chancel ceilings plastered over; nave has moulded wooden cornice.
North wall of nave has two bays of blank arcading, now cut by the two centre
windows; between the arches a C13 shaft with a bishop's head and staff.
South arcade of four bays with hollow-chamfered arches and octagonal piers,
C19 responds. The two western bays have a continuous hollow chamfer to
arches. Arch-braced aisle roof with roll-moulded purlin and bosses at
intersections. Chapel at east end of aisle has an ogee arched niche head
re-set across south-east corner. Opening to chapel from chancel has double
hollow-chamfered arch on polygonal responds. Low sedilia in arched recess.
Piscina in south-east corner with cusped head and broach-stops to jambs.
South-east window internally shafted with hoodmould on stiff-leaf stops.
Good C16 monument to John Hammond(?) framed by narrow pediment and entablature
on Doric colonnettes. Pine box pews. Font C15 octagonal with engaged shafts
around stem and alternating shields and roses around bowl.

Listing NGR: TM3663891848

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537569

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas