Listed Building: PARISH CHURCH OF LADY ST MARY (107939)

1. 5190 CHURCH GREEN (East Side) Parish Church of Lady St Mary (previously listed as Church of St Mary) SY 9287 1/1 7.5.52. A GV 2. Walls at west end of aisles may be the only remnant of the C8 Minster church whose entire nave survived until the rebuilding of 1840. St Edward's Chapel (at east end of south aisle) circa 1100. Chancel, including vice at north-east corner, and Becket Chapel at south-east corner circa 1325. West tower and west porch circa 1500. Vestry (north of west tower) early C16. Nave and 2 aisles, including chancel arch, designed 1840, built 1841-2. Architect: Prof T L Donaldson. Builders: Jesse Cornick and Sons of Bridport. Organ chamber (North of chancel) 1882. Most remarkable architectural features are: the north window of the chancel (and another re-set in the organ chamber) with bar tracery; the chancel east window with reticulated tracery; the lierne vault of the Becket Chapel; the sedilia and piscina in the chancel; the St Edward's Chapel (sunk a few feet to accommodate the monastic dorter above); and the west tower and porch. Most remarkable contents are: the C12 lead font; 5 C7-C9 Romano-British inscriptions found in 1841-2; 2 C13 Purbeck marble effigies of knights in chancel; a Rococo cartouche in north aisle to Arthur Addams (1724); and the plain tablet to the Rev. John Hutchins (1774), the county historian. The pre-Conquest minster was of considerable importance, and may have been the church where Brihtric, King of Wessex, was buried in 802, and where King Edward was buried (temporarily) in 876. Before 1086 the minster and its possessions were given to the Norman abbey of St Wandrille. It was transferred by Robert, Earl of Leicester, to the abbey of Lire circa 1150. In 1414 it was transferred to Henry V's new Carthusian Priory at Sheen. Hutchins, the local historian, was Rector in the C18. All the listed buildings in Church Green form a group. Listing NGR: SY9248987193

Record last edited

Sep 3 2009 4:36AM