Description

928/1/104 HIGH STREET
07-JAN-52 (North side)
CHURCH OF ST MARY

GV I

Revision Number: 2

HIGH STREET
1.
5180
(North Side)
Church of St Mary
SX 8060 SW 1/104 7.1.52.
A
2.
Formerly the Benedictine Priory Church of St Mary. The conventual buildings lay
on the north side of the church (see Guildhall, Guildhall Yard). The town had the
use of the building, and in 1432 on agreement was reached between Prior Stone and
Mayor John Burhed for a complete rebuilding of the fabric, for which Bishop Lacy
granted an indulgence. Nave, 1432-44; chancel, 1445-48; tower, 1449-59; screen
1459-60. The tower was built to the designs of master mason Roger Crowden, who
may have been responsible for the work as a whole. 4 bay nave with aisles (outer
north aisle added circa 1824 and remodelled circa 1869). 2 bay chancel with rood
stair turret on north side (rood loft removed circa 1862 by Sir Gilbert Scott) and
chancel aisle-chapels. Perpendicular style. Welsh slate roof with coped gables.
Random Devonian limestone rubble with red sandstone dressings. The tower is entirely
of red sandstone from Stoke Gabriel. Tower and chancel with set-back buttresses;
nave and porch with diagonal buttresses. Crenellated aisles and chancel in white
limestone with gargoyles and pinnacles. The 3 stage west tower was modelled on
towers at Ashburton and Tavistock by the same minster unison, together with those
at Buckland Brewer and Callington (Cornwall). The south (street) front of the truer
of symmetrical composition with buttresses flanking a central stair turret. In a
niche of the turret is a bearded, mitred head with the inscription "I made this
tore", perhaps referring to Bishop Lacey, whose device, a knot, also appears on
the screen inside. The tower is capped by a crenellated parapet and large, polygonal
pinnacles. Aisles with 4 light windows with panel tracery; 6 light east window
by Scott. Gabled south porch with battlements and pinnacles; enriched, arched doorways
with C16 inner door decorated in Early Renaissance manner; ceiling with ribs and
bosses. Interior with ceiled wagon-roofs with bosses in nave and chancel. Fine
stone screen with 8 narrow, 2-light panels plus 2 for the doors to the nave; the
sections separating the chancel chapels from the nave have 3 broader panels with
depressed ogee arches, of which the middle ones serve as entrances; coved frieze
and thin cornice. C15 octagonal front with quatrefoil panels. Stone pulpit with
2 tiers of cusped blank arches. Monument to Walter Smith (died 1555) in south chancel
aisle.

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Listing NGR: SX8021960472

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Mary at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17527137

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

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)