Church of St Mary, Welwick, East Riding of Yorkshire

Description

WELWICK MAIN STREET
TA 32 SW
(south-west side)
7/91 Church of St Mary
16-12-66
- I

Parish church. Late C13 tower arch, east section of nave, west section of
chancel; C14 clerestory, arcades, aisles, extension to chancel and door to
porch; C15 rood screen, rebuilding of tower. Porch rebuilt in C18.
Restorations of early C20 and c1980. Random cobbles and squared limestone
to upper section of tower; random cobbles to early section of nave east wall
and west section of clerestory, random cobbles and coursed hammer-dressed
limestone to chancel; limestone ashlar to aisles, lower section of tower,
buttresses and parapets to chancel, north aisle, clerestory and tower; red
brick in Flemish bond to porch and south aisle parapet. Limestone ashlar
dressings throughout. Pantile roof to porch, lead roofs to remainder. West
tower, 4-bay aisled nave with south porch, 3-bay chancel. 2-stage tower:
moulded plinth, quoins, diagonal buttresses with offsets to first stage.
Square-headed 2-light west window with hoodmould and pointed relieving arch;
pointed Y-traceried belfry openings, moulded string course, coped parapet.
Aisles have moulded plinths, angle buttresses and buttresses between bays
with offsets, moulded string course and coped parapets. North aisle:
pointed moulded door with hoodmould and head stops, pointed Y-traceried
window with restored mullions and brick head, pointed 2-light window with
reticulated tracery and pointed 2-light window with geometric tracery, both
with hoodmoulds and head stops; square-headed 3-light cinquefoiled east and
west windows with incised spandrels. South aisle: square-headed 2-light
trefoiled window, inserted square-headed schoolroom door of c1800 beside
porch, 2 segmental-pointed 2-light windows with curvilinear tracery, pointed
3-light east window with curvilinear tracery, hoodmould and head stops,
square-headed 3-light trefoiled west window. Inserted tomb to south-east
bay has central attached shaft with moulded capital, rising to niche with
blind curvilinear tracery and diaper-work (including rosettes and symbols of
the evangelists) to rear, and mutilated canopy with crocketed arches and
ornate ribbed vaulting, beneath brattished raked string course flanked by
truncated buttress shafts. Nave clerestory: 3 pointed 2-light cinquefoiled
windows, with blocked truncated window to north-west; line of former nave
gable visible at east end. Chancel: buttresses to angles and between bays;
south side has pointed 2-light trefoiled window, blocked chamfered ogee-
headed door beneath pointed 3-light window with curvilinear tracery,
hoodmould and head stops, similar south-east window extended to 4 lights
beneath skewed arch; north side has pair of similar pointed 3-light windows
and a C13 lancet; fine pointed 5-light east window with curvilinear tracery,
moulded reveal, hoodmould and head stops. Porch: fine re-set pointed
moulded arch with hoodmould and head stops supporting elaborate niche
flanked by pinnacled buttress shafts, with foliate corbelled base supporting
mutilated figures of seated virgin and child flanked by angels, beneath
vaulted canopy with crocketed gables. Pointed inner arch of 2 orders with
fillet mouldings, hoodmould and single head stop, board door. Interior.
Pointed double-chamfered tower arch with shafted inner order, plain moulded
capitals and bases; blocked opening above. 4-bay arcades of pointed double-
chamfered arches on octagonal piers and west responds with plain moulded
capitals and bases, the south arcade with moulded brackets to the capitals
and bases, and arches dying into single chamfers; mutilated head corbels to
east responds; north-west bay blocked. Tall pointed double-chamfered
chancel arch dying into walls, with sockets for former rood loft. South
aisle has blocked entrance to former parvis above south door, moulded
corbels, including one carved head, to east wall, and pointed moulded
trefoiled piscina with hoodmould and projecting moulded bowl, contemporary
with adjoining wall monument (see below). Plain pointed piscina to nave
with head corbel above. Plain pointed chamfered piscina and pointed
chamfered recess cut by south-east window in chancel. Restored 4-bay nave
roof with moulded tie-beams, king- and queen-posts. Monuments. Exceptional
tomb of c1340 in south aisle, originally free-standing and re-set as wall
tomb: grave slab with moulded front bearing carved symbols of the four
evangelists; priest effigy in mass vestments on a bed of curvilinear
tracery, beneath a crocketed ogee arch, with angels at head and feet, and
others supporting corbelled shafts of lierne-vaulted canopy fronted by a low
segmental arch enriched with curvilinear tracery and foliate carving,
flanked by buttress shafts carrying mutilated statuettes of female saints in
pinnacled niches; richly-carved display above subdivided by pinnacled
buttresses into 5 panels, with curvilinear tracery, flying angels, foliate
decoration and nodding crocketed ogee arches, the top left section missing.
Series of shields reset on wall above, bearing arms and symbols of the
Passion. South aisle also contains a mensa slab and broken C13 carved stone
coffin, the latter exhumed from nave in 1832. Floorslab in nave central
aisle with Gothic Latin insciption to William and Margaret Sotteler of 1498;
small C15-C16 floorslab with Gothic inscription to east end. Brass in north
aisle to William and Ann Wright of 1621, with effigies, inscribed plate and
coat of arms; matrix with indents for border and plates beneath gabled
canopies. Ashlar wall tablet in south aisle to Thomas and Susanna Fox of
c1774. Fittings. Restored oak chancel screen, of 5 bays: blind-traceried
lower panels with sub-cusped pointed arches and intersecting tracery above,
pointed 2-light upper panels with ornate Perpendicular and curvilinear
tracery and sub-cusped crocketed ogee heads, wider pointed central opening
with Perpendicular-traceried head; restored fan-vaulting supporting gallery
with ornate frieze. Octagonal panelled pulpit inscribed "1618". C15
GT
octagonal font with plain-moulded bowl and base, and tall pointed 8-sided
wooden font cover with moulded base and ball finial. Traces of wall
painting to nave, including inscription to north, and robed figure to south.
Money was bequeathed for the chancel east window in 1358. The chancel
screen is similar to that at the Church of St Germain, Winestead, Patrington
(qv), and the south arcade to that at All Saints Church, Halsham (qv). The
south porch door and the tomb in the south aisle, probably from a chantry
chapel and re-set after the suppression of chantries in the C16, are
attributed to the same workshop as the Percy Shrine in Beverley Minster.
N Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire, East Riding, 1972, pp 364-
365; C Wardle and I R Dowse, The Parish Church of St Mary, Welwick (Church
Guide) 1981,8pp; Victoria County History: York, East Riding, vol 5, 1984,
p 147; N Dawton "The Percy Tomb at Beverley Minster: The Style of the
Sculpture", Studies in Medieval Sculpture, ed F H Thompson, 1983, pp 124-
125; N Dawton, "Report on the Monument in the south aisle of St Mary's
Welwick", 1985, (duplicated typescript); drawing and photographs in NMR.

Listing NGR: TA3415221113

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Church of St Mary

A Grade I Listed Building in Welwick, East Riding of Yorkshire

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