Description

ATHERSTONE SHEEPY ROAD
SP3097 (North side)
9/77 Church of St. Mary
25/03/68
- II*
Church. The chancel possibly has C12 origins as an independent chapel. Central
tower possibly built C13/C14 as a west tower; upper part rebuilt 1782. Taken
over c.1375 by the Friary of St. Augustine and remodelled c.1383, when a nave
was added. Chancel converted to the chapel of the grammar shcool after the
Dissolution. Nave and aisles rebuilt 1849 by T.H. Wyatt and D. Brandon. Chapel
restored to use as chancel 1888. Chancel of coursed squared red sandstone, but
regular coursed to north. Tower of sandstone ashlar. Nave and aisles of
Hartshill granite rubble. Plain-tile roofs have coped gable parapets; nave and
aisles have gablet kneelers and some fish-scale tiles. Chancel, crossing tower,
aisled nave and south porch. Early Perpendicular style chancel; Gothic Revival
style nave and aisles. 3-bay chancel; 7-bay nave. Chancel has moulded plinth,
and diagonal and 2 side buttresses of 2 offsets. Large C14/C15 five-light
window, possibly imported from elsewhere, has segmental arch and hood mould. C19
quatrefoil opening above. Cross finial. Sides have 3-light mullioned windows of
stepped trefoiled lancets, much restored and with hood moulds and head stops to
north. Octagonal tower at each end of nave has cinqfoil light to north and
south. Bell chamber has louvred openings of 2 cinqfoiled lights with blind rose
window and a trefoil above to each side. South side has clock face; north-east
side has disused stone clockface. Open parapet of 3 trefoiled lancets to each
side has crocketed pinnacles with blind lancets. Shallow lead roof has moulded
finial and weathervane. South aisle has porch to second bay. Buttresses flush
with front. Double-leaf doors in moulded arch with nook shafts. Nave and aisles
have hood moulds and head stops throughout. 6-bay aisle has splay plinth and
moulded sill course. 2-light windows throughout have varied tracery with hood
moulds and head stops. Polygonal projection in angle between aisle and nave has
small door. Nave has trefoiled lancet. Angle buttresses of 3 offsets. West door
has moulded arch and nook shafts. 5-light window above has geometrical tracery.
C19 north vestry has parapet, and cross-window to east. North porch has a re-set
C12 doorway from the demolished church of Baddesley Ensor, with zig-zag outer
and moulded inner orders, hood mould and nook shafts with scalloped capitals.
North aisle is similar to south, apart from east rose window. Interior is
plastered, with stone dressings. Chancel has C19 boarded wagon roof with moulded
braces and purlins. High narrow double-chamfered arch between chancel and
crossing. Recess in crossing wall south of arch has chamfered segmental-pointed
arch. Cl9 north and south arches to aisles. Aisles have C14 style arches of 2
chamfered orders throughout, with alternating round and octagonal shafts and
responds and moulded capitals. High narrow chamfered arch between crossing and
nave has C19 moulded imposts and stilted hood mould with head stops. Narrow,
low, sharply pointed flanking arches have hood moulds with angel stops. 5-bay
arcades have continuous hood moulds with alternating head and foliage stops.
Arched brace roof has angel corbels and subsidiary trusses with foliage corbels.
Aisles have arch dividing off first bay as a transept. Roofs are similar to
nave. Fittings: Perpendicular octagonal font has clustered shafts and trefoil
panels with the symbols of the Evangelists and the Instruments of the Passion.
Late C19 pulpit and stalls. Stained glass: chancel east and north-east windows
c.1899 by I(enpej south-east by Kempe and Tower.
(Buildings of England: Warwickshire: p76; VCH: Warwickshire: Vol IV, pp129-130)

Listing NGR: SP3084497969

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St. Mary's Church, Atherstone at Wikipedia
• St. Mary's Church, Atherstone official website
• Wikidata Q7590150

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, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)