Church of St Mary

Details

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

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

309169

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Warwick, (1947), 129-30
Pevsner, N, Wedgwood, A, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, (1966), 76

End of official list entry

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