Description

THERFIELD CHURCH LANE TL 3337 (West side) Therfield 9/100 Church of St. Mary 27.5.68 GV II

Parish church. 1878 rebuilding of C14 church. Porch added 1906, tower 1911. By G.E. Pritchett. Flint rubble, largely knapped. Stone dressings. Leaded roofs with tiles on S porch. 4 bay nave with aisles. 3 bay chancel. NE vestry and organ bay replacing Medieval chantry chapel. W tower. S porch. Gothic Revival Style. Chancel: 5 light E window, elaborately traceried pointed arched head. Plinth. String course at sill level. 2 stage angle buttresses. Moulded coping to gable parapet, trefoil in gable, ridge cross. To S: 3 restored C14 windows all of 2 cusped lights with quatrefoil traceried pointed arched heads, that to left is taller having a transom near base. Intermediate buttress with steps up to a door in double ovolo moulded pointed arched surround. Stone and knapped flint chequerwork in parapet with moulded coping. To N a single restored C14 2 light window with a quatrefoil head. Stack with offsets and crenellated capping to 2 bay lean-to vestry and organ bay, ogee headed I and 2 light windows, door with depressed arched head. Nave and N aisle have 4 windows each; 2 lights with cusped ogee heads to each light, varying foiled tracery patterns, buttresses to each bay on aisle with a diagonal buttress to W. Stone coped parapets to E and W on aisle and at E end of nave which has a trefoil and ridge cross. 3 light window in aisle W end. Nave and S aisle are as to N but aisle has diagonal buttresses and 3 light windows at both ends. To W of centre is S porch. Inner pointed arch, large arch to outer opening, heavily moulded with shafted jambs, angle buttresses, pinnacled to S, kneelers to coped gable parapet with ridge cross. 2 light windows in returns. 4 stage tower: entrance to W, heavily moulded pointed arch. String course at sill level of a 2 light window with a foiled head steps down over door. 3rd stage has small lights in 3 sides, clock to E. 3 stage angle buttresses. Belfry has paired 2 light louvred openings, foiled pointed heads, mask stopped hood moulds. Cornice to embattled parapet of flint and stone chequerwork. Pyramidal roof with weathervane finial. To S a semi- octagonal stair turret with chamfered pointed arch to door, small lights, buttresses to N and S where tower meets nave. Interior: double chamfered pointed chancel arch with semi-octagonal responds with caps and piers, carved stops to hood mould. Double chamfered tower arch with short semi-octagonal responds with unfinished caps. 4 bay nave arcades follow C14 model: 4 half columns with slender colonnettes in angles, moulded caps and bases, double chamfered pointed arches, hood moulds with carved stops. Short shafts in clerestorey to re-used C15 timber corbels, full figure angels, C19 roof with cusped bracing, re-used C15 timber bosses, also in aisle roofs. More steeply pitched braced chancel roof. Chancel S wall has an early C14 reset double piscina, moulded arches, shafted jambs with moulded caps and bases, triple sedilia with cusped heads, C15 restored. Chancel N wall recess for an early tomb with a moulded 4 centred arched head, recess with a cusped head. Fragments from Medieval church in vestry. Small recumbent figure with City of London crest on small stone, coffin slab with low relief cross, scroll brackets, pediments and angel corbels. Late C14 or C15 octagonal font in nave, broad base to plain shaft with broader octagonal bowl. C17 barley sugar communion rails with moulded hand rail. Octagonal pulpit with raised fielded panels, dentilled cornice. C19 pews removed from Church of St. Mary, Stoke Newington. Royal Arms of Charles II over S entrance. Monuments: N aisle wall to Ann Horton, wife of F. Turner, d.1677, restored 1966. Cedar plaque with central epitaph, flanking figures of Time and Death in niches with enriched surrounds, raised panels, swags below, cornice with central open pediment holding blank cartouche and supporting reclining female figures with flanking urns. S aisle wall: marble epitaph to S. Turner and wife, d.1774, open pediment with urn, arms at base. Slab with pediment to E. Turner, d.1756. Chancel S wall epitaph with pediment to H. Etough, d.1757. C17 and C18 initialed stones in chancel walls. Reset C18 floor slabs in tower walls. Chancel SW window has fragments of C14 and C15 glass, pinnacled canopies and shields. (St. Albans Architectural and Archaeological Society Transactions, 1884, p.22: RCHM 1910: VCH 1912: Pevsner 1977).

Listing NGR: TL3344737093

External Links

• Wikidata Q26471275

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Recommended Books

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  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
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  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
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  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2