Description

TF 81 NE,
6/3

BEESTON-WITH-BITTERING,
CHURCH ROAD,
Beeston,
Church of St.Mary

30.5.60

I

Parish church. C13 to C15. Flint with ashlar dressings and slate and lead
roofs. West tower, 4-bay aisled nave with north porch and chancel. Late
C13 west tower heightened in C15 with diagonal buttresses and clasped by
aisles. 2-light Y-traceried west window and former bell-openings. Present
bell stage C15 with 2-light Perpendicular openings, crenellated parapet and
octagonal spire of 1873 with banded slate covering. Nave C14 heightened
in C15. Moulded doorways to north and south with filletted rolls. Eight aisle
windows (blocked to south west) each of two lights in Decorated style with central
soufflet filled with pair of mouchettes and dagger. Eastern aisle windows
of three lights in similar style with three soufflets. Six former quatrefoil
clerestorey windows replaced by 3-light Perpendicular windows with 4-centred arches.
One similar east-gable window. C14 chancel with very fine 5-light reticulated
east window. Three contemporary 2-light windows to sides (two to north) with
Priest's door and former vestry to south. C14 north porch with diagonal buttresses
and chequered flushwork to facade. Moulded entrance arch with
filletted half-shafts.

INTERIOR. Small C13 tower arch with roofline to
former church above. C14 filletted quatrefoil nave piers with intermediate
filletted rolls, polygonal capitals and bases. C15 hammerbeam nave and north-aisle roofs
with carved figures beneath nodding ogees on wall posts. These
are supported by angels with shields to aisle. Arched wall braces, intermediate
hammers with carved figures above windows and traceried spandrels.
Aisle chapels with piscinas and two complete parclose screens with intricate
tracery and crocketted ogee arches to north. C15 chancel screen with remains
of painted dado panels. C14 chancel arch. 2-bay C17 arch-braced chancel
roof with wind bracing. Complete set of in situ C15 nave benches with carved
poppy heads and arm rests and traceried backs. Blind arcading to front bench
with different form of flamboyant tracery to each of eight arches. Western
benches splayed out to accommodate plain C14 octagonal font on original
pedestal and with contemporary conical cover with crocketted angles. Painted
quatrefoil above tower arch and some painted consecration crosses. C17
painted strapwork volutes above tower arch. Several surviving medieval
floor tiles in aisles and on font pedestal. Fragments of medieval stained
glass in east window. Pulpit of 1592.

Listing NGR: TF8939015289

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535356

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

• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]