Description

TF 74 SE BRANCASTER

5/1 Church of St. Mary.
5.6.53.

G.V. I

Parish Church. C12 evidence in chancel, C14 nave and aisles, C15 clerestorey
and west tower, re-roofed 1832, east window c.1907. Pebble flint, some
early reused limestone blocks in chancel, perhaps Roman; stone dressings,
rendered east gables, slate roofs, leaded south aisle and porch. West
tower, north and south aisle with south porch, chancel. West tower pebble
flint with stone dressings. Cut stone base string course, 2 west angle
buttresses with 3 set-off stages, knapped and squared flint dressings,
2 stage rectangular stairs turret on south. Perpendicular west door,
3-light west window, simple rectangular lancet sound holes to 3 faces
above, string-course, 4 2-light tracery belfry windows. String course,
battlemented parapet with stone flushwork and angle pinnacles. Clock
on east face. South porch C14, outer arch with bases and capitals, quatrefoil
north and south windows, entrance arch perhaps c.1300 with thick, crudely
moulded hood mould and 2 label stop heads. South aisle has 3 curious
tracery windows, perhaps medieval, perhaps C17, large lancet without tracery
divisions, arched heads set in rectangular frame with slightly hipped
head with hood mould and 2 label stop heads, the spandrel filled with
crudely moulded single tracery bar. Conventional Perpendicular 2-light
clerestorey windows, with brick stitching above, 4 to north and south.
North aisle has c,1900 addition west bay, north door with 2-light window
above, 3 ogee headed and cusped 2-light windows in square head frame of
c.1400. 3-light Perpendicular window in nave east gable. Chancel has
reused stone on south side, with evidence of C12 openings now blocked.
East window of C19 restoration, neo-Decorated tracery. Interior: 4 bay
c.1400 late Decorated or Early Perpendicular north and south arcades,
octagonal piers, seat bases now flush with built up floor level, double
hollow chamfered arches. Tall Perpendicular tower arch, chancel arch
perhaps Decorated, capitals cut back for now removed rood screen, metal
hooks for rood beam visible above. Fine C14 or C15 octagonal stone font,
moulded bases, unmoulded shaft and bowl. Fine, somewhat stripped of detail,
C15 spire font cover, base telescoping into spire as required. 3 lights
and 2 half-lights of C14 or C15 rood screen repositioned in tower arch.
Royal arms of William IV, 1832, in north aisle. Roofs throughout of c.1832
restoration. East window 1907, including portrait of donor. Stalls c.1907.
C17 Holy Table in south aisle.

Listing NGR: TF7724543900

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536490

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

• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)