Building record 0253800000 - ST MARY'S CHURCH

Dimensions - Length 0031 m Width 0015
Plan Form - CRUCIFORM
DEDICATED TO BVM. BODY, S & N AISLES, CHANCEL, W TOWER SQUARE, EMBATTLED, PINNACLES, CLOCK & DIAL BOARD (B1 -3). WORK BEGAN AT E END C.1240 & CONTINUED W. NO TRACES OF CENTRAL TOWER. S AISLE ADDED C.1300, W TOWER IN C14. N AISLE & VESTRY ADDED, W TOWER REBUILT & REMAINDER RESTORED 1879-80 (MORE DETAIL)(B4-6).
Grade II+. Parish Church. C13 cruciform plan. S. aisle added c1300, S. porch C15. N. aisle and vestry added, W. tower rebuilt and remainder restored 1879-80. Rubble stone. Lead roofs to nave, aisles and transepts; tiled chancel. W. tower of 2 stages with battlemented parapet, pinnacles and Perpendicular openings. Doorway and 3-light window to W. Nave of 2 bays has C16 2-light windows to clerestory, and parapet. S. aisle has 2-light window with ogee tracery and flat hoodmould to left, and C16 3-light window to right. S. porch has moulded 4-centred arch and parapet. C19 N. aisle has 3-light windows similar to clerestory. N. transept has 2 lancets with continuous drip mould to N. and 3-light Perpendicular window with carved head stops to E. S. transept has 5-light Perpendicular window to S. Chancel has C19 lancets with continuous hood and sill moulds, 3 to each wall with taller central light to E. Interior: nave has double chamfered C13 arches to transepts withcarved foliage and heads to caps. Similar arcade with moulded caps to S. aisle imitated C19 to N. aisle. C15-C16 roofs to nave and transepts with moulded beams on restored carved angel corbels. N. transept has 2 piscinae in E. wall, S. transept has piscina with segmental arch and C15-C16 library recess with wooden frame. Chancel has segmental arched tomb recess. Fittings: C17 pews. Other fittings C19 including carved stone rerdos of The Last Supper. Monuments: wall tablets to Abigail and Richard Barker 1712 and John Dodd 1698 in N. transept, and to John Townsend 1714 in S. transept. RCHM II pp 188-189 (B7).
NGR(B8).
Included in a collection of sketches of Buckinghamshire churches by Charlotte Pigott, wife of George Pigott, squire of Doddershall in Quainton parish, in the early 1840s (B9).
Nave exterior roof shown to comprise single planks or rafters laid flat on top of trusses. Variety of metal nails and 16th-century wooden pegs indicating the roof had various repairs. Inbetween the rafters and robbed lead was evidence of an insulation layer formed of matted horse hair. A variety of different packing materials had been used in the junction between the nave and north transept. This included clay roof tiles, brick, rubble, and other miscellaineous material (B12).