Description

MONTFORD C.P. SHRAWARDINE SJ 31 NE 4/152 Church of Saint Mary - GV II*

Parish church. Nave of 1649 and chancel dated 1722, both incorporating some C12 fabric, Restored and vestry added in 1892-3. Dressed red sandstone with red and yellow/grey sandstone ashlar dressings. The vestry is of tooled snecked red sandstone. Slate roofs. Two-bay nave with south porch and west vestry, and one-bay chancel. 1892-3 work in a Gothic Revival style. Nave: parapeted gable end to west with moulded coping. Weatherboarded square bellcote to west with louvred round-arched openings and pyramidal roof with weathervane. South side: C19 window to right of 2 cinquefoil-headed lights with Y-tracery and moulded stone reveals. Chamfered round-arched south doorway to left; old nail-studded boarded door with strap hinges. Gabled stone porch with segmental arched entrance and interior with side benches and painted wooden benefactors' board to left. North-side: buttress to right with chamfered offsets. Moulded-arched window to left and trefoil-headed chamfered lancet to left, both either medieval or C17. West end: central buttress running up to bellcote, with lancet. Vestry: parapeted gable end with coping. Chamfered rectangular window to south and 2-light chamfered square window to west with chamfered stone mullion. Chancel: double-chamfered plinth to east and parapeted gable end to east with coping and truncated finial. South side: central C19 window of 2 trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil in tracery and chamfered reveals. Blocked chamfered round-arched priest's doorway to left. North side: C19 window of 2 trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil in tracery and chamfered reveals. East end: C19 window of 3 trefoil-headed lights with intersecting tracery, chamfered reveals and hoodmould with carved stops. Datestone (1722) with moulded edge in gable above. The chancel windows are probably enlargements of C18 windows and probably incorporate the old reveals. Interior: C19 three-bay nave roof with arched-braced collar trusses, ceiled above collars. Probably C18 three-bay chancel roof with arched-braced collar trusses, curved V-struts above, and single purlins. C19 double-chamfered chancel arch, the inner chamfer springing from moulded corbels. C19 piscina and sedile in south wall of chancel, the former with ogee trefoil head in moulded square surround and the latter with trefoil head in moulded rectangular surround. C19 moulded rear arches to windows. Fittings: C18 raised and fielded dado panelling (possibly remains of former box pews). C20 bolection- panelled altar and reredos. C18 (c.1722) oak communion rails with turned balusters and moulded rail. C19 choir stalls. Low chancel screen incorporating C17 carved panels and the C18 gates from the communion rails, with turned balusters. C18 hexagonal wooden pulpit with shaped-headed raised and fielded panels and moulded cornice. C19 wooden lectern. C19 pews with raised and fielded panelled ends (possibly remains of C18 box pews). West gallery with C17 moulded beam, resting on carved brackets at each end, late C18 front with pairs of beaded flush panels flanking central break with moulded panel, and C19 stairs to rear. C18 raised and fielded panelled cupboard door beneath gallery with H -hinges. C12 circular stone font with scalloped bowl, moulded lower part, octagonal base and C19 iron- bound wooden cover. Rood beam with rood. A few early C19 memorial tablets. Brass plate in memory of Martha Botevyle, d. 13 February 1781, aged 80. It is known that there was a church on this site by 1213. Due to Civil War action [the remains of Shrawardine Castle (q.v.) are nearby] the chancel of the old church was demolished in 1644-5, the nave following soon afterwards. The nave was rebuilt in 1649, the old chancel providing much of the stone, and the chancel was eventually rebuilt in 1722. B.O.E., p. 247; D.H.S. Cranage, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, Part 9, pp. 776-7.

Listing NGR: SJ3994815278

External Links

• Wikidata Q17551088

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Recommended Books

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  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)