Description

SO 7225-7325 NEWENT CHURCH STREET
(north side)

13/107 Church of St. Mary

2.10.54

GV I

Parish church; C13, C14, C15, early C17, 1675 nave by E.Taylor, F.
Jones and J.Hill, restored C19, vestry C20. Squared, coursed stone
to tower, south chapel and vestry, ashlar openings and spire,
ashlar nave, timber-framed porch to south chapel; slate roof to
nave and vestry, tiled to chancel, south chapel and porch. 4-bay
nave, south tower and porch, chancel, south chapel, long north
vestry range, single storey. South facade, 3-stage tower,
diagonally-set corner buttresses, moulded plinth. Moulded surround
to pointed doorway, wrought-iron gates with decorative feature over
top rail. Slight offset top first stage, above trefoil-headed
lancet, diamond-set board with clock face. Moulded string, 2-light
mullion-and-transom window, reticulated tracery, no hoodmould:
bottom lights blank, upper louvred. Plain string below
battlemented parapet. Octagonal spire with ribbed arrises, 2
lancets with hoodmoulds at cardinal points, lower louvred. Flat-
topped capital to apex, iron weather-vane, gilded cock. Nave
behind, 1 bay on left: plain plinth, large, diagonal corner
buttress; stepped 3-light mullion-and-transom window, segmental
heads to lights, sunk spandrels, under segmental hoodmould: leaded
lights. Moulded string course below battlements: decorative corner
finial, gable copings, finial repeated at apex. To right of tower
nave as on left, 2 windows, save the first reduced to two-thirds by
tower: square-set corner buttress. Beyond 2-bay south chapel,
moulded plinth, string course at window-sill level. Two-light
window left, cinquefoil heads, hoodmould. Priest's door covered by
C17 gabled porch; steep segmental head to opening, cutting away
tie-beam; wrought-iron gate and side lights, pendants to
projecting wall-plate ends. Sides brick plinth, iron bars above
between splat balusters. Beyond square-set buttress, 3-light Cl9
window, stepped lancets under nearly semi-circular head, hoodmould.
Diagonally-set corner buttress. Chancel set back beyond, bottom
hidden by boiler house: above 2-light C19 window, Perpendicular
tracery; diagonally-set corner buttress. Left return (west end)
large central buttress, 5-light windows as south wall nave either
side, 3-light mullioned in centre of gable lighting roof.
Interior: porch, double, boarded door, wicket cut in one leaf,
moulded stone surround. Fan vault over, with bell-hole. Nave,
stone-paved floor with some memorial slabs to walkways, 4 x 2,
scraped stone walls, giant, unfluted Ionic pilasters on tall bases
at bay divisions, half pilasters in corners. Tower base with
diagonally-set corner buttresses on south, rounded projection for
spiral stairs, blocked door at foot, similar above for former
gallery: line of medieval roof visible above. Ionic pilasters
carry flat timber lintels to openings to chancel and south chapel;
elliptical relieving arches over. West end 1839 panelled front to
gallery, centre breaks forward, carried cast-iron columns: infilled
below late C20; reused dado panelling with scratch moulding.
Panelled, boarded ceiling with slight camber. Above 8-bay roof,
single-span king-post trusses, 4 pairs purlins, no ridge piece,
scissor bracing betweeen king posts, windbraces between trusses in
lower part of slope, design similar to Wren's roof to Sheldonian,
Oxford, by E.Taylor, monument in churchyard, (q.v.). Two-bay
simply-moulded arcade between chancel and south chapel, circular
column. Chancel walls plastered; north windows match nave.
Chapel walls scraped. Both arch-braced collar rafter roofs,
chapel with moulded longitudinal rib. Aumbry in chapel,
cinquefoil head, ballflower decoration. Octagonal C17 wooden
pulpit in nave, panelled sides, pulvinated frieze, on panelled
base: 2 brass gas lights altered for electricity. Circular C17
stone font, acanthus leaves on bowl, swags on stem, moulded base.
Former stone reredos fixed to tower base, cambered top, 3 cherubs'
heads, clouds and rays of light, over wrought-iron panel. Late
C19 pews, probably reusing parts of box pews. Organ C18, square
corners, lyre tops, oval with swept gable and urn finial between,
musical instruments carved over keyboard. In porch 2 floor
memorial slabs set up; base of Saxon cross. Late C14 altar tomb
of knight and lady in chancel arcade. Fine 1690 and c1714 wall
monuments in chancel, latter with putti; 5 wall monuments in
chapel, one a C16 brass: fourteen C18 and early C19 wall monuments
in nave, 1 on tower to Mrs. Bourchier, died 1784, said to be by
Flaxman, angel on cloud with book, phoenix above. Nave rebuilt
1675-79 following collapse of earlier one in 1673, (see H.Colvin
for details); originally with galleries on 3 sides, pulpit centre
of north, reordered C19. (H. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of
British Architects, 1600-1840, 1978; D. Verey, Gloucestershire,
The Vale and the Forest of Dean, 1970; Clutton and Niland, The
British Organ, 1963.)

Listing NGR: SO7235125957

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17525799

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

• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)