Description

GREAT BENTLEY GREAT BENTLEY GREEN
TM 12 SW
4/83 Church of St. Mary
17.ll.66

GV I

Parish Church. Chancel and Nave circa 1130-4O, the Chancel was extended
eastwards C14. West tower C14. North Porch C14/C15 heavily restored C19/C20.
C19 and C20 restorations. Walls of regularly coursed and herringboned
puddingstone, small stones and septaria. Quoins and doorways of Barnack stone,
puddingstone dressings to original windows. The West Tower is of the same
materials with bricks, volcanic and igneous stone. Red plain tiled roofs. The
church is a complete example of C12 building. Chancel, east window C19 of 3
trefoiled lights under a 2-centred head, label with headstops. There are 2 oval
and one rectangular stone memorial plaques attached to the wall. North wall, a
stone plaque to east, central C13 lancet and a western early C12 round headed
window of puddingstone. South wall, eastern small C15 cinquefoiled light,
square head and label. Central and western C19 restored trefoiled lancets,
traces of a C12 window above the western window. Between these two windows is a
C19 2 centred arch doorway under a square label. Nave. North wall C15 eastern
window of 3 cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery, 2 centred head, label with
headstops. C12 north doorway, plain jambs round headed arch, each voussoir with
axe-worked diapering. Imposts with projecting volutes to inner faces, C19/C20
low walls to gabled North Porch of re-used medieval timbers. South Wall,
eastern C15 window of 3 cinquefoil lights, vertical tracery, 4 centred head.
Central and western C12 round headed windows. Between these windows is the C12
South doorway, round headed arch covered with chevrons and the label with cable
ornament, the inner arch has a segmental arch supporting a tympanum and each
voussoir carved with 2 surflowers. Each jamb has a shaft with cushion capitals
carved with leaf ornament moulded bases and abaci continued round the plain
inner order. C12 door, simple vertically boarded. West Tower. Crenellated of 3
stages with a band between stages. West window, mainly C19/C20 of 3
cinquefoiled lights, tracery over 2 centred head. North, south and east walls
of second stage have chamfered brick 2 centred arch windows. Each wall of the
bell chamber has a window of 2 cinquefoil lights with a quatrefoil in a 2
centred head, moulded labels and stops. There are small square lights to first
and second stages of west wall. The west doorway has double hollow chamfered
jambs carved with square flowers around the 2 centred head, moulded label.
Interior. Chancel. C15 7 cant roof, moulded wall plates. C19 multi-coloured
tiles to Sanctuary floor. C14 niches to right and left of east window, hollow
chamfered jambs carved with flowers, ogee crocketed heads and finials, carved
spandrels, side pinnacles, crenellated heads. Piscina C14, chamfered jambs, 2
centred head, now contains a brass box, C20 memorial shelf on brackets under.
North wall C19 memorials to Peter and Michala Thompson of Brook House and
Frderick Heckford Thompson of Montego Bay, Jamaica. C19/C20 round headed
chancel arch. Nave. C15 7 cant, arched braced roof of 4 bays, moulded
wallplates and wallposts. North wall, in the splay of the eastern window in the
4 centred arch doorway to the rood loft staircase, the 2 lowest steps are cut
into the cill. By the north east wall the remains of a C13 coffin lid is set
into the floor, tapering lid, roundel enclosing 4 small roundels and a roundel
below. C15 octagonal font, alternate panels of double trefoils and shields,
moulded soffit with carved flowers, stem with 2 centred arches, moulded base.
Circa 1874 octagonal pulpit, panels with round headed arches, jamb shafts with
carved capitals, stem similar. South wall C15 Piscina, chamfered jambs,
trefoiled head. In the east wall of the West Tower is a red brick window/
doorway. There are 2 chests, one small and oblong, the other larger with
cambered lid and iron hinges. Carved wood Eagle Lectern C19/C20. 2 centred
Tower Arch of uncertain date. C19/C20 west organ gallery. Said to be 8 bells,
one by Miles Gray 1683 and one by Henry Pleasant 1703. RCHM 1.

Listing NGR: TM1090921644

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17536978

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

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)