Nominal: 892.5 Hz Weight: 896 lbs Bell 1 of 3
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1883
Dove Bell ID: 6174 Tower ID: 14609 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
South Cowton: St Mary
Overview
Grid reference: NZ 293 26
The church is entirely Perpendicular of c.1450, and appears to have been built in one campaign; the lack of buttresses on the tower and the early features of the south doorway suggest the possibility that parts of an earlier building were incorporated, and the two-storeyed vestry north of the chancel may have been added a little later.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
West tower, nave without aisles but with south porch; chancel with two-storeyed north vestry.
Description of Archaeology and History
The church is entirely Perpendicular of c.1450, and appears to have been built in one campaign; the lack of buttresses on the tower and the early features of the south doorway suggest the possibility that parts of an earlier building were incorporated, and the two-storeyed vestry north of the chancel may have been added a little later.
Exterior Description
Approached from the north-west the church appears rather forbidding but, like most churches, the best view is from the south, where the aspect is enlivened both by an unusually large porch and by more carved detail. One reason for the austere appearance of the north wall is the complete absence of buttresses (although this is also true throughout the building); another is the absence of any windows in the north wall of the two-storeyed north vestry and a third is the unusual height of the windows in the north nave wall, almost suggesting a defensible building.
To begin, however, with the tower, which is the most prominent part of the building. It is of three recoding stages, unbuttressed, and with an embattled parapet. The walls stand on a chamfered plinth. Access to the upper floors is by a spiral staircase within a square turret at the south-east corner, the turret rising higher than the parapet and being finished with a straight unembattled parapet. The lowest stage is blind to north and south but has a three-light window in the west wall with cusped lights but no tracery. Above the window is a recessed panel under a moulded label which surrounds three sides of the frame entirely, and the panel is carved with a shield bearing the sleeve of Conyers impaled with a bend between three crosslets; round the shield are incised decorative crosses, scattered without any regard for symmetry.
The middle stage has a tiny rectangular window in the north and south walls but is otherwise blind (though there may well be a doorway for access to the nave roof). The top stage has paired lights in each direction with cinquefoiled ogee-headed lights and labels with returned ends. The parapet has waterspouts in the east and west faces and disproportionately small pinnacles at the corners.
The nave is rectangular, without aisles, and has like the tower a plainly chamfered plinth. The north and south walls both have plain unembattled parapets, and both have a roughly parallel arrangement of windows - two of two lights and then near the east end a three-light one, all with cinquefoiled heads to the lights, moulded jambs and moulded labels. In the north wall there is a small doorway near the west end, unsheltered by a porch, with a four-centred head and a returned label. The south wall, however, has a doorway in the same position with a prominent two-storeyed porch in front of it. Here the inner doorway has a pointed head with continuous mouldings and a returned hood. The outer doorway is very nearly semi circular, with a moulded hood. Above it is a small trefoil-headed niche with a moulded label round three sides and above that again is a recessed panel within a moulded label having an inscription of a scroll arranged in a circular panel with the words "ORATE PRO ANIMA RICARDI CONYERS ET ALICIE UXORIS SUAE". The lower part of the porch has a plain tunnel vault of massive strength and stone seats at each side. A parvise above is lit by windows in the east and west walls, both square-headed trefoiled lights. The plain parapet runs up the shallow east and west gables and has tiny pinnacles on the corners and small crosses on the gables.
Like the nave, the chancel has a chamfered plinth and plain parapet. The south wall, however, is arranged with a conscious eye for symmetry (as indeed in their simpler ways are the west wall of the tower and the south wall of the porch). There are two two-light windows with cinquefoil-headed lights and moulded labels with returned ends. These, like the nave windows, are set high in the wall so that there is a space left between them and well above the priests doorway in the centre of the wall (which is like the north-west nave door). In this space is a small niche with a round head and a hood descending to the sill (perhaps formerly a trefoil headed window) and above that is a pair of square recessed panels within moulded surrounds and a long label, one carved with a lion passant on a fesse between three crescents impaling a bend between two saltires engrailed, and the other the same impaling two leopards. The east wall has a three-light window with cinquefoiled heads and panel tracery, the label of which has a carved head at the apex, and again there are small pinnacles on the corners of the chancel and a small cross on the apex of the gable.
Attached to the north side of the chancel parallel to its east wall and running westwards for about two-thirds of its length, is a two-storeyed vestry. Although this continues the chancel plinth at the foot or the walls, the appearance of the return of the moulding of the parapet near the head of the wall suggests that it, or at least the upper storey, may be a later addition. The north wall is completely blind, and the lower window in the east wall has been renewed (and possibly also enlarged) so that it now takes the form of a wide cinquefoil-headed light under a square label. The small rectangular light in the upper part of this wall seems to have been blocked. In the west wall are two plain rectangular windows, one above the other. There is also a two-light window in the neighbouring chancel wall, similar in design to others in the nave.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
15th Century
The east window has fragments of fifteenth-century glass in the central light, with a kneeling figure (perhaps St. Mary the Virgin), an angel with the shield of Conyers (charged with a sleeve) and a scroll bearing the inscription "Cristofer Coyers", a letter M (doubtless also once crowned for the Blessed Virgin, to whom the church is dedicated.
Stained Glass
1905
Nave north I: Christ Preaching, three lights by Clayton and Bell.
Stained Glass
1895
Nave south I: Christ the Saviour, three lights by Clayton and Bell.
Interior
Interior Description
The interior is quite simple and has few architectural details. The walls are plastered but the exposed stone surrounds to windows and doorways have been painted a greyish blue. At the west end, the part of the nave floor between the two doorways is raised two steps above the level of the rest. Here stands the font and the tower arch behind it is pointed and plainly chamfered. It is closed by a screen beyond which, low on the south side, is the doorway leading to the spiral staircase. Beside the south door is a straight stone stair against the west nave wall leading into the parvise above the south porch, which is entered by a three centred arched doorway. The room has a stone-flagged floor and fireplace on the north wall with a Victorian grate. The nave is floored with stone and the roof is for the most part contemporary with the building, although some repairs are evident. It consists of eight chambered tie-beams with chamfered edges supported on wall-posts with simple brackets, the stone corbels being unadorned. On the white plaster walls are ten repainted consecration crosses.
The chancel arch is wide, and almost semi-circular, with two chamfered orders of which the inner retains considerable remains of a scheme of geometric painted decoration in a delightfully naive style. This is not improved by the blue-grey which appears here on the outer order as elsewhere on the internal stonework of the church. There is also a tin scroll inscribed with a text outlining the arch. The arch rests on attached shafts against the responds with odd flat capitals. It is still spanned by a Perpendicular oak screen with narrow single-light openings. There is a shallow step, and the chancel beyond is furnished with returned stalls in the western part which incorporate much old woodwork including at least two bench-ends. The floor, like the nave, is paved with stone flags. There is one further step, on the level of which are the priest's door in the south wall and a doorway of similar shape and proportions on the north side leading into the vestry. Beyond are two more steps leading up to the altar.
The chancel roof is of similar design to that in the nave, and is also obviously original to the building. There is, moreover, in addition to this and the old woodwork, some old glass in the centre light of the east window and three alabaster figures from a monument. To the north of the east window are two corbels for statues and to the south one corbel carved with a sinister oval face with heavy-lidded eyes. There is also a piscina with a pointed head and a semi-octagonal moulded basin in the south wall. The stonework of the east window has escaped the grey blue paint.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
c. Early 20th Century
The altar is of oak, probably early twentieth-century, with a panelled front.
Reredos
The reredos is of oak also, with Perpendicular panelling.
Pulpit
Late 19th Century
Of oak, with three nice pierced panels of two designs; it stands on a stone moulded base.
Lectern
Late 19th Century
The lectern is of oak, a double desk on a pedestal.
Font (object)
c.17th Century
The font is octagonal, of some dark grey stone; with no mouldings but a splayed base and shields in relief on each face of the bowl.
Screen
The screen is Perpendicular, with six single-light openings with ogee tracery on each side of the central opening. The panelling below the dado is plain and the cresting has partly been renewed.
Panelling
Dado panelling of oak, plain, all round the walls of the nave.
Bells
Nominal: 1102 Hz Bell 2 of 3
Founded by Samuel I Smith 1700
Dove Bell ID: 39593 Tower ID: 14609 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 1007 Hz Bell 3 of 3
Founded by Edward I Seller 1712
Dove Bell ID: 39594 Tower ID: 14609 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: NZ 293 26
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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