Description

SK 52 NE BUNNY MAIN STREET (north side)

7/44 Church of St. Mary
and adjoining wall
13.10.66

G.V. I

Parish church and adjoining wall. C14, C15, C18, restored 1718
for Sir Thomas Parkyns, C19, restored 1890-1 and 1911. Dressed
coursed rubble and ashlar. Lead and stainless steel roofs.
Coped gables with single ridge cross to the east chancel. Tower
with spire, nave, aisles, south porch, north vestry and chancel.
Angle buttressed single stage C14 ashlar tower on a moulded
plinth and embattled with plain band under and single corner
crocketed pinnacles. Crocketed spire. West side with doorway
with plank door. Over is a single large arched C14 3 light
window with reticulated tracery. There are 5 small rectangular
lights. Projecting from the north side is a low C19 ashlar coped
brick wall topped with iron railing. This forms a rectangle with
the north aisle enclosing a paved area with single C19 headstone.
The south side has 5 rectangular lights and the east side a
single rectangular light. 4 moulded arched bell chamber openings
with single clock faces under. Dressed coursed rubble buttressed
north aisle with continuous sill band to the north side forming a
hood mould over the doorway. The west wall has a single arched 3
light window. The north wall has a single restored C14 arched 3
light window with intersecting tracery and hood mould. To the
left is a moulded arched doorway with Cl7 door, further left is a
single squint and on the far left 2 similar restored C14 windows
with hood moulds. The east wall has a single C19 2 light window
with cusped tracery under a flat arch. Embattled dressed coursed
rubble C15 clerestory with band of blind quatrefoil under and 4
windows, 3 with 2 ogee arched lights, the single window to the
left with 2 trefoil arched lights. All with tracery and under a
flat arch. There are 2 gargoyles and the remains of 3 crocketed
pinnacles. Ashlar chancel set on a chamfered plinth with
continuous sill band which extends around the vestry where it is
broken by some openings. Buttressed north wall, each buttress
terminating above the parapet in a crocketed pinnacle. The
parapet is decorated with open quatrefoils. The single buttress
second from the left rises from a carved grotesque head. There
are 2 restored C14 arched 3 light windows with intersecting
tracery, hood moulds and 2 remaining label stops. To the left is
the buttressed vestry, formerly chapel, the outer buttresses with
remains of crocketed finials. Set on a chamfered plinth.
Parapet. The west wall has a single lead glazing bar casement.
The north wall has a doorway with plank door, the east wall has a
single lead glazing bar fixed light with moulded jambs. Above,
in the chancel wall, are 2 C14 windows each with 3 trefoil arched
lights under a flat arch and with moulded surrounds. Similarly
buttressed east chancel with single early C18 5 light ashlar
cross fixed light with cavetto moulded surround. The similarly
buttressed south chancel with embattled parapet has a single
arched 3 light C19 window with cusped tracery, hood mould and
human head label stops. To the left are 2 restored C14 arched 3
light windows with intersecting tracery, hood moulds and human
head label stops. Further left is a single similarly arched, now
blocked, window opening with hood mould and single right human
head label stop, also with later, now blocked, arched doorway.
Dressed coursed rubble south aisle with parapet and band of blind
quatrefoil under. Remains of 4 crocketed pinnacles. 2 C14
arched 3 light intersecting traceried windows with hood moulds
and label stops. Continuous sill band broken by the porch. C15
ashlar porch on moulded plinth with parapet as aisle and remains
of 4 crocketed pinnacles. Round arched gable topped with single
finial and containing a single trefoil arched niche. Moulded
entrance arch with iron double gate. The side walls each have
single arched 3 light openings with cusped panel tracery. Barrel
vaulted roof with 5 transverse ashlar ribs. Ashlar benches.
Inner moulded arched doorway with Cl7 door. To the left is a
single similar restored C14 window with hood mould and single
left human head label stop. The ashlar west wall is on a
chamfered plinth and has a single cambered arched C18 3 light
window. C15 dressed coursd rubble clerestory has 4 windows each
with 2 ogee arched lights under a flat arch and the remains of 2
crocketed pinnacles. Parapet with remains of quatrefoil blind
panelling under. Interior. C14 5 bay nave arcades with double
chamfered arches and circular columns and responds apart from the
north west and south west columns and the north responds which
are octagonal. All with moulded capitals apart from the south
east which is crudely carved. Tall double chamfered tower arch.
The inner order supported on corbels. Moulded chancel arch with
screen, part constructed of C14 screen. South chancel with C14
sedilia with engaged quatrefoil colonnettes with fillets and
moulded capitals. Ogee arched with hood moulds and finials.
Linking the base of the finials is a band which extends under the
window to the left. To the left of the sedilia is the arched
piscina having 2 inner trefoil arched openings and cusped
tracery. The north wall has an aumbry with some remaining
moulding, to the left is an ogee arched doorway to the vestry,
where in the south wall is an arched piscina with inner trefoil
arch and aumbry to the right. Flanking the south and north
windows of the chancel are single quatrefoil colonnettes with
fillets and moulded capitals. West of the south aisle doorway is
an arched tomb recess with arched piscina in the south wall of
the south aisle. Circular C12 ashlar font. OCtagonal C19 ashlar
font. The chancel roof lowered in the early C18, is part
supported on ashlar corbels. Restored nave roof supported on
ashlar corbels and inscribed "J P, W T, 1718 J W". Few fragments
of wall painting to the north east respond. Over the south aisle
doorway is a Royal Arms of George III. There are 3 hatchments
over the chancel arch. In the east chancel is a wall tablet to
George Augustus Henry Anne Parkyns, 1830, with a shield on the
apron, draped urn on the crown. That to Thomas Boothby Parkyns,
1800, has foliate scrolls flanking the tablet and is surmounted
by a swan neck pediment with urn. The apron is decorated with a
shield. The wall tablet in the south chancel to George Alexander
Forteath, 1862, is surmounted by a shield. That to Sir Thomas
Parkyns, d.1806, by John Bacon, has a shield over the
inscription. This is surmounted by a kneeling female figure and
sarcophagus. On the north wall is a tablet to Dame Anne Parkyns,
1725, by Edward Poynton, the apron being decorated with putti and
skulls and the segmental arched head surmounted by a kneeling
figure. There is a further monument to Richard Parkyns, 1603.
This has kneeling male and female figures in contemporary dress
and facing each other with 4 small figures behind. The apron and
entablature decorated with strap work and the entablature
supported on decorative columns. In the south aisle is a wall
tablet to Isabella Beetham, 1814, and Isabella Ann Beetham, 1801.
The wall tablet to Henry Cropper, 1812 by Gaffin of Regent
Street, is in the form of a sarcophagus surmounted by an urn.
That to Henry Cropper, 1726, has a roundel decorated with a
figure on the apron, and is surmounted by a broken pediment
supported on fluted pilasters. The wall tablet to Elizabeth
Cropper, 1800, by J. Peck, is surmounted by an urn, as is that to
Henry Cropper, 1794. A further wall tablet with obliterated
inscription is to Humphrey Barley, 1571. This is decorated with
a shield of arms, Doric columns and a pediment. In the north
aisle, removed from the chancel, is the large and fine monument
to Sir Thomas Parkyns, 1741. Designed by himself. The monument
is 2 bays wide, in the left bay is the lifesize figure of Parkyns
in wrestling pose. In the right bay is a small figure of a man
lying on a mat with Father Time standing next, both crudely
carved. Inscriptions in Latin and Greek both in the right bay
and below. The lower inscription tablet flanked by single
decorative brackets. Above and flanking the figures are single
Corinthian pilasters with shields of arms over.

Listing NGR: SK5828429598

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Mary's Church, Bunny at Wikipedia
• St Mary's Church, Bunny official website
• Wikidata Q15979408

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

• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)