Description

BRISTOL

ST5678NW CHURCH CLOSE, Henbury
901-1/17/1323 (South side)
08/01/59 Church of St Mary the Virgin

GV II*

Church. c1200 nave and lower tower, early C13 upper tower,
chancel and S chapel. N chapel and restoration by T Rickman
1836, further restoration by GE Street in 1875-7.
MATERIALS: Pennant rubble with limestone dressings and a slate
roof.
PLAN: chancel with chapels, aisled nave with porches and W
tower. Late Norman doorways to S and N, much restored Early
English nave, chancel and tower, Perpendicular Gothic
Revival-style nave windows.
EXTERIOR: chancel, set obliquely to nave, has an E gable with
5 stepped lancets, and a low C19 north vestry with
segmental-arched door and 3-light window in a label mould and
parapet; the E gables of the chapels have C19
Perpendicular-style 4-light windows with panel tracery.
C19 north chapel has 3 stepped lancets with head and foliate
hood stops and a diagonally-set E buttress; 3-bay N aisle has
varied buttresses, 3-light Perpendicular windows at each end
and a central window with 4 ogee-headed lights in a square
head above the porch, and a C19 crenellated brick parapet; the
crenellated porch has an arch and hood with a steel ogee gate
and brick parapet; inside is an important early C13
segmental-arched doorway with moulded doorway reveals, a
stilted arch on attached shafts and trumpet capitals and outer
moulded reveal, and a small trefoil-headed niche with
crockets; clerestory of c1300 has trefoil-headed windows.
The S chapel has 2 triple stepped lancet windows, and an
octagonal ashlar stack behind the parapet. S aisle as the N,
with a wide porch with trefoil-headed side windows with
splayed inside reveals.
A massive square 3-stage tower the width of the nave has a
much restored trefoil-headed doorway and matching hoodmould,
under a 3-light plate tracery window of 3 stepped lancets and
trefoil spandrels; narrow second-stage lancet, and 2-light
belfry windows with Y-tracery and ogee heads; corner gargoyles
and a C19 parapet of coursed Lias; on the N side is a shallow,
square stair turret with arrow slits, and an octagonal clock
in a label mould with the inscription PULBRIS ET UMBRA SUMUS;
N aisle has a wide, plain 4-light window with vestigial
cinquefoil heads and a label mould with face stops; the S
aisle has a W window as those on the sides.
INTERIOR: C19 reredos of cuspate panels, side buttresses and a
foliate frieze; C13 piscina has a cavetto-moulded arch forming
a cusp at the top, in a semicircular arch on attached shafts
and bell capitals; the E window has a pointed rere arch with
banded shafts. 3-bay chancel has square-section pointed arches
on square columns with half-round shafts to each face, and a
waggon roof with cuspate principal rafters; tall matching
chancel arch.
6-bay Transitional nave of round shafts to round bases,
slightly raised on the N side, round moulded capitals and
square-section gently pointed arches; C19 east bay and good
C13 respond corbels at the W end, either side of the
triple-chamfered arch to the tower, with no capitals and
widely splayed reveals; deep, splayed clerestory windows with
wide trefoil-headed rere arches, set above alternate piers;
C19 stilted waggon roof, the principals decorated with sunken
quatrefoils; the aisle roofs bear on good corbel heads,
painted to the S: the N aisle is pitched, the S a shallow
tie-beam roof.
FITTINGS: Coat of Arms; octagonal black marble font 1806; C19
round, stone pulpit, with pointed and trefoil panels; brass
eagle lecturn; C19 choir stalls with open, cusped fronts.
MEMORIALS: C17, C18 and C19 monuments include a wall monument
to Robert Southwell, d.1633, a marble panel and curved obelisk
with child's heads, shield and urn finial; wall monument to ?
Elizabeth Cromwell, d.1674, by Grinling Gibbons, a wide
sarcophagus with a gadrooned top, and an obelisk under a
baldacchino with wide drapes held by putti; wall monument to
Edward Capel, d.1681, an oval panel in a scrolled surround
with swag, winged cherubs and a shield; wall monument to
Edward Sampson, d.1695, a panel with flowers and gadrooned
base, apron with a shield and winged skull, and a segmental
pediment with cherubs and an urn; wall monument to Edward
Southwell, d.1705, a black panel, apron and sides with
rocaille, and an obelisk with garlands and finial; wall
monument to John Astrey, d.1712, an aedicule with fluted
Corinthian pilasters, rocaille apron and a top with cherubs to
a foliated shield; wall monument to Christopher Cole, d.1736,
a marble aedicule with a swept top above the entablature; wall
monument, inscription lost, with a sarcophagus bearing a
rotund urn, backed by an obelisk with swag and a cartouche;
wall monument to John Sampson d.1753, a pedimented panel in
coloured marble with bracketed sides and an apron, and an
obelisk with swag and palm leaves; wall monument to Mary
Teast, d.1766, by Drewett 1790, a marble panel with fluted
sides and slate obelisk with relief of a female figure leaning
on a vase; wall monument to Catherine Lewis, d.1782, a
pointed-arched panel flanked by urns on a slate background;
wall monument to Edward Sampson, d.1795, a panel with apron
and shield, and acroteria to an obelisk with a draped urn;
wall monument to Catherine Cave, d.1836, a bowed panel to an
obelisk with a bowl of flowers and a dove and clouds in
relief.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and
Bristol: London: 1958-: 466; Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B:
Bristol, An Architectural History: Bristol: 1979-: 20).

Listing NGR: ST5633278790

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Mary's Church, Henbury at Wikipedia
• St Mary's Church, Henbury official website
• Wikidata Q7594349

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

• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)