Building record 0415500000 - ST MARY'S CHURCH, MENTMORE

Dimensions - Length 27m, Width 16m.
Plan Form - Subrectangular.
Square embattled tower, 5 bells. Nave, 2 aisles, chancel. S porch (B1-2).
Grade II+. Parish church. Some early C13 details, aisles rebuilt C14 and C15, late C15 W. tower, nave arcades and clerestory, chancel rebuilt and remainder very much restored 1858 by G.H. Stokes. C19 S. porch and N. vestry. Dressed limestone, tiled roofs to chancel and porch, lead roofs to remainder. W. tower of 2 stages has plinth, battlemented parapet, diagonal buttresses and square stair tower to S.E. Bell-chamber has 2-light traceried openings. 3-light cusped window over nave and aisles. 3-bay clerestory has 3-light cusped windows with 4-centred heads. Aisles have 2-light traceried windows, the S. aisle irregular with 3-light E. window and one window to S. with flat head and X tracery. S. door in moulded 2-centred arch. Chancel has one bay of lancets, additional 2-light traceried window to S., and 3-light traceried E. window. Vestry to north. Interior: Tower has double hollow chamfered arch on attached shafts, with moulded caps. Nave arcades of 3 bays have moulded arches on quatrefoil piers with shafts in angles, battlemented capitals and bases made out of C13 stiff-leaf capitals. C19 roof retaining C15-C16 carved figures of angels, restored. Chancel arch rebuilt C19 with double- chamfered arch on semi-octagonal piers and with small carved stone angel stops. Fittings: round medieval font; fragments of C15 glass in window in N. aisle; C17 altar table with turned balusters and fluted frieze in N. aisle; glass in E. window 1890 by Kempe; other fittings C19. Monuments: W. wall of N. aisle has small brass to John Theede 1641; marble wall tablet above to Thomas Theed 1702 with carved draperies, winged cherub heads and coat of arms. RCHM II p. 195-6. (B3-5).
At NGR (B6).
Watching brief during excavation of drainage trenches revealed footings of possibly earlier phases which had been re-used during the Victorian restoration, bringing parts of the church onto an even earlier alignment (B8).


The Parish Church of St Mary has walls almost entirely covered with cement. The roofs of the nave and aisles are covered with lead, the others are tiled. The nave is probably C12th, but no detail of that date remains. The North aisle and a South aisle were added ca.1220, but the North aisle was entirely rebuilt in the C14th, and the South aisle was rebuilt and widened in the C15th. Ca.1490, the West tower and clerestory were added, and the nave arcades rebuilt, reusing some older material. In 1858 the chancel was entirely rebuilt, the tower restored, and the NE vestry and South porch added. Four C13th capitals, now used as bases in the nave arcade, and the C15th wooden carved angels in the roof of the nave and aisles, are noteworthy (B4).
A church consisting of a nave and chancel probably existed at Mentmore in the C12th. The church is first mentioned in the C12th or early C13th when Hugh Bussell and William FitzMiles were each granted a moiety of the church of Mentmore to the Priory of St Bartholomew. In 1202, Roger de Argentein quitclaimed his right in a moiety of the advowson. A disused font in the tower in the form of a circular bowl on a tapering shaft is probably C13th, but may be earlier (B3).

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence.