Description

TG 10 SE SWARDESTON

5/102 Church of St. Mary
2-10-51
II

Parish church, Cll and C14, roughly coursed flint with stone dressings,
lead roof. West tower, nave and chancel in one, south porch. Tower with
embattled parapet with flint flushwork tracery and shields; galletted broken
flint with diagonal buttresses having flint flushwork; polygonal stair
turret to south-east; west window opening now of three lights with straight
wooden mullions; small cusped single light to west and east faces; string
course to 2-light bell openings under quatrefoil; string course to parapet.
C15 south porch with brick dressings, gable parapet and cross; archway of
3 chamfered orders, niche above with C18 inscription "LET / these Instances
/ of Mortalitie / remind thee / of thy own"; returns with short Y tracery
openings; 2 tier roof of butt purlins and collars, boarding renewed; yellow
brick tiles to floor; south doorway of brick, 3 continuous mouldings and
hood; C15 door with renewed battens, lattice and intersecting bracing to
rear; part of arched stoup recess to left. South nave and chancel with
6 openings: (1) tall, undressed, double-splayed, semi-circular heaed Cll
lancet; (2, 4 and 5) with cusped Y tracery; (3) 3-light window with
Decorated tracery having a large flattened cusped lozenge under a 4-centred
arch; (6) single ogee-headed light, below the renewed outline in brick of
a doorway. North nave and chancel with 3 cusped Y tracery lights as to
south, 1 short double-splayed semi-circular headed lancet; north doorway
renewed in Portland stone with continuous moulding and integral stopless
hood. East window of 3 lights with-reticulated tracery and brick hood
mould. Interior: nave and chancel separated by early C15 screen with 8
ogee-headed single lights having roses to cusps, panel tracery and carved
spandrels; dado panels lost or encased. Nave roof of 4 massive ties with
octagonal crown posts with moulded capitals, no collars, some rafters
renewed. 4 semi-circular headed low recesses to north, 3 similar to south
and one segmental headed recess. Stone steps to south now to preaching
platform. Plain octagonal font on fat octagonal stem, early C18 font cover
of 8 turned colonettes supporting crown with ogee splats to central turned
finial. Small trefoil-headed piscina to south of screen; stoup recess to
right of north doorway. Canvas achievement to George II to right of south
doorway. Chancel: roof rafters braced from wall plates, some timbers
renewed; rood beam tie and adjacent rafters with medieval floral painted
decoration; aumbry with segmental moulded arch, trefoil-headed piscina
having small arched opening to west to recess of former doorway; small
recess to right with column of pillar piscina. East window glass of 1917
in memory of Edith Cavell; priest's chair and chancel benches incorporating
14 C15 poppyhead benchends having borders of feathers or fleurons; rails
of early C18 turned balusters. Tall tower arch with hollow chamfers to
arch; 4-centred tower stair doorway with ledged and battened door.

Listing NGR: TG1990102397

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17531820

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

• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)