Description

TL 87 SW WEST STOW

6/57 Church of St. Mary
14.7.55

- II*

Parish church. C11, C14 and C15, extensively restored circa 1878 by the Rev.
E.R. Benyon. Mainly rubble flint to nave and chancel, with freestone
dressings: plaintiled roofs: traces of coursed flints in lower part of south
wall of nave. 3 restored windows with reticulated tracery on south side of
nave: 2 3-light C14 windows on north side with remains of crown glass, and one
C13 lancet window with deep inner splay. C14 windows to chancel: 4-light east
window with reticulated tracery. Diagonal buttresses to east end, and a stone
string course to north and south walls of chancel, continued as a hood-mould
over the tops of the windows and the priest's door. C15 south porch, with
renewed timber roof: steep pitch, plaintiles: diagonal buttresses: knapped
flint to side walls. Simple C14 south doorway, similar to the priest's door in
chancel. The north doorway is the oldest surviving feature of the building:
C11, with a plain tympanum, small volutes on the capitals and a heavy roll-
moulding to arch. This doorway now gives access to the vestry, added in 1903
to commemorate the reign of Queen Victoria. Large west tower in 4 stages:
mainly black knapped flint, with a chequer-work base of flint and freestone and
a plain castellated parapet. The east wall is extended to north and south to
form 2 angle buttresses: diagonal buttresses at west end, all buttresses faced
with freestone and panels of knapped flint. A full height stair turret on the
south side. 2-light windows in Decorated style to all 4 faces of the top
stage. A similar west window to the 2nd stage has fragments of medieval glass
in the top of the lights. 6 bells: the 15 cwt. tenor and the 2nd bell both
dated 1631; the 3rd and 4th dated 1629; the 5th 1674, and the treble cast in
1849. The interior fittings and timber roofs all date from the C19 restoration
and are in traditional East Anglian style. C14 chancel arch, and an elaborate
angle piscina with credence shelf of the same date, crocketted and finialled.
Window-sill sedilia. Memorial stained glass windows of circa 1880. 8 traceried
and painted panels from the lower part of the rood screen, removed during C19
restoration, are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see Munro Cautley,
'Suffolk Churches and their Treasures' p.339).

Listing NGR: TL8193370554

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17545381

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

• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)