Description

BRISTOL

ST5678NW CHURCH CLOSE, Henbury 901-1/17/1323 (South side) 08/01/59 Church of St Mary the Virgin

GV II*

Church. c1200 nave and lower tower, early C13 upper tower, chancel and S chapel. N chapel and restoration by T Rickman 1836, further restoration by GE Street in 1875-7. MATERIALS: Pennant rubble with limestone dressings and a slate roof. PLAN: chancel with chapels, aisled nave with porches and W tower. Late Norman doorways to S and N, much restored Early English nave, chancel and tower, Perpendicular Gothic Revival-style nave windows. EXTERIOR: chancel, set obliquely to nave, has an E gable with 5 stepped lancets, and a low C19 north vestry with segmental-arched door and 3-light window in a label mould and parapet; the E gables of the chapels have C19 Perpendicular-style 4-light windows with panel tracery. C19 north chapel has 3 stepped lancets with head and foliate hood stops and a diagonally-set E buttress; 3-bay N aisle has varied buttresses, 3-light Perpendicular windows at each end and a central window with 4 ogee-headed lights in a square head above the porch, and a C19 crenellated brick parapet; the crenellated porch has an arch and hood with a steel ogee gate and brick parapet; inside is an important early C13 segmental-arched doorway with moulded doorway reveals, a stilted arch on attached shafts and trumpet capitals and outer moulded reveal, and a small trefoil-headed niche with crockets; clerestory of c1300 has trefoil-headed windows. The S chapel has 2 triple stepped lancet windows, and an octagonal ashlar stack behind the parapet. S aisle as the N, with a wide porch with trefoil-headed side windows with splayed inside reveals. A massive square 3-stage tower the width of the nave has a much restored trefoil-headed doorway and matching hoodmould, under a 3-light plate tracery window of 3 stepped lancets and trefoil spandrels; narrow second-stage lancet, and 2-light belfry windows with Y-tracery and ogee heads; corner gargoyles and a C19 parapet of coursed Lias; on the N side is a shallow, square stair turret with arrow slits, and an octagonal clock in a label mould with the inscription PULBRIS ET UMBRA SUMUS; N aisle has a wide, plain 4-light window with vestigial cinquefoil heads and a label mould with face stops; the S aisle has a W window as those on the sides. INTERIOR: C19 reredos of cuspate panels, side buttresses and a foliate frieze; C13 piscina has a cavetto-moulded arch forming a cusp at the top, in a semicircular arch on attached shafts and bell capitals; the E window has a pointed rere arch with banded shafts. 3-bay chancel has square-section pointed arches on square columns with half-round shafts to each face, and a waggon roof with cuspate principal rafters; tall matching chancel arch. 6-bay Transitional nave of round shafts to round bases, slightly raised on the N side, round moulded capitals and square-section gently pointed arches; C19 east bay and good C13 respond corbels at the W end, either side of the triple-chamfered arch to the tower, with no capitals and widely splayed reveals; deep, splayed clerestory windows with wide trefoil-headed rere arches, set above alternate piers; C19 stilted waggon roof, the principals decorated with sunken quatrefoils; the aisle roofs bear on good corbel heads, painted to the S: the N aisle is pitched, the S a shallow tie-beam roof. FITTINGS: Coat of Arms; octagonal black marble font 1806; C19 round, stone pulpit, with pointed and trefoil panels; brass eagle lecturn; C19 choir stalls with open, cusped fronts. MEMORIALS: C17, C18 and C19 monuments include a wall monument to Robert Southwell, d.1633, a marble panel and curved obelisk with child's heads, shield and urn finial; wall monument to ? Elizabeth Cromwell, d.1674, by Grinling Gibbons, a wide sarcophagus with a gadrooned top, and an obelisk under a baldacchino with wide drapes held by putti; wall monument to Edward Capel, d.1681, an oval panel in a scrolled surround with swag, winged cherubs and a shield; wall monument to Edward Sampson, d.1695, a panel with flowers and gadrooned base, apron with a shield and winged skull, and a segmental pediment with cherubs and an urn; wall monument to Edward Southwell, d.1705, a black panel, apron and sides with rocaille, and an obelisk with garlands and finial; wall monument to John Astrey, d.1712, an aedicule with fluted Corinthian pilasters, rocaille apron and a top with cherubs to a foliated shield; wall monument to Christopher Cole, d.1736, a marble aedicule with a swept top above the entablature; wall monument, inscription lost, with a sarcophagus bearing a rotund urn, backed by an obelisk with swag and a cartouche; wall monument to John Sampson d.1753, a pedimented panel in coloured marble with bracketed sides and an apron, and an obelisk with swag and palm leaves; wall monument to Mary Teast, d.1766, by Drewett 1790, a marble panel with fluted sides and slate obelisk with relief of a female figure leaning on a vase; wall monument to Catherine Lewis, d.1782, a pointed-arched panel flanked by urns on a slate background; wall monument to Edward Sampson, d.1795, a panel with apron and shield, and acroteria to an obelisk with a draped urn; wall monument to Catherine Cave, d.1836, a bowed panel to an obelisk with a bowl of flowers and a dove and clouds in relief. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 466; Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural History: Bristol: 1979-: 20).

Listing NGR: ST5633278790

External Links

• St Mary's Church, Henbury at Wikipedia
• St Mary's Church, Henbury official website
• Wikidata Q7594349

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

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)