Plaistone: St Mary
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 405 833
Stock brick on red brick plinths, with Bath stone dressings throughout. The roofs are slated. The style of the present church is Early English, with lancet windows in most parts except for the west wall.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Four and a half bay aisled nave with west baptistery and porches; chancel with south chapel and north organ chamber and vestry.
Description of Archaeology and History
The chancel was begun in 1889 and finished a year later; the rest of the church was built in 1894. (Information from a stone set in the south-west porch). The architects were Sir A. Blomfield and Partners (plate dated December 18th, 1894 in vestry). The church stands on the site of an earlier building of the same date as the surviving lodge and Men's Union (1836).
Exterior Description
Stock brick on red brick plinths, with Bath stone dressings throughout. The roofs are slated. The style of the present church is Early English, with lancet windows in most parts except for the west wall.
The nave and aisles together are of unusual width a fact which is emphasised by the sweep of roof which comes down from the ridge to the aisle walls uninterrupted even by a change of pitch. There are no transepts and no proper clerestory, but instead two bays of the four-bay aisles (the west and third from the west) are cross gabled, and in the intervening bays at a higher level are brick dormer windows set in the roof as a clerestory. The aspect of the sides of the church is thus quite complicated, especially when a small porch at the east end of each aisle is also taken into consideration. The two gabled sections of the aisles have four lancets arranged in pairs, the contral pair joined by plate tracery with a quatrefoil between, and the clerestory gables have five stepped lancets with a continuous stone moulding round the heads.
A narthex with a pent roof runs under the west windows. This is broken in the middle by a semi-octagonal projection which houses the baptistery. All the windows in narthex and baptistery are lancets arranged in triplets of equal height. The main door to the church is in the south wall of the narthex, and there is a stone engraved with a consecration cross in the plinth of the baptistery. The west wall of the nave has three Y traceried windows, the central one taller than the other two, and on the apex of the gable is a wide bell-cote pierced with three niches for bells which is crowned with a spiky gable-cross. Below the bell-cote is a vesica-shaped stone panel carved with a representation of the Archangel Gabriel holding a lily, as depicted at The Annunciation.
The east wall may be seen from the churchyard, and has a group of five lancets (typical of Blomfield) under a wide relieving arch. The pattern is reproduced in the east wall of the south chapel, which stands under its own gable. The organ chamber on the north, by contrast, is cross gabled and the east slope continues down to cover the priest's vestry also.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
c.1900
The nine small lights in the baptistery each have a single figure against a background of square panes decorated with floral motifs. The subjects are related to Baptism. Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
Stained Glass
c.1910
The west windows, high in the west wall, have more scenes relating to Baptism - chiefly the Baptism of Christ, 'Suffer little children' and St. Peter and St. Paul baptising. The colours are brownish, and the date is probably c . 1910.
Stained Glass
c.1896
A series of three windows towards the east end of the north aisle has The High Priest sealing the Tomb, the Three Maries at the Sepulchre and Christ with the Maries in the garden; c. 1896 in memory of the Pelly family who were important local benefactors , and are said to be buried under the high altar.
Stained Glass
c.1896
Towards the east end of the south aisle are Innocence, St. Margaret and Meekness.
Stained Glass
1894
In the south chapel are The Annunciation, Nativity and Presentation in the east window, 1894. In the south wall are the Visitation, Adoration of the Magi, Flight into Egypt, Christ in the carpenter's shop, Marriage at Cana, and St. John and the Virgin Mary after the Crucifixion.
Stained Glass
1890
The east window dates from 1890 and represents The Crucifixion flanked by the Virgin Mary and St. John, with St. John the Divine and St. John the Baptist in the outer lights. Above the Crucifixion is Christ in glory surrouned by adoring figures and below are censing angels and instruments of the Passion.
Stained Glass
In the north chancel wall are two lights with Scenes from the Life of Christ executed in much brighter, purer colours, and evidently from the earlier church.
Interior
Interior Description
The only stone visible inside the church is that used for the round piers of the nave arcade and their moulded capitals and for small colonettes and surrounds to the aisle windows. The arches to the baptistery are alsc carried on stone piers - bigger than those of the nave arcade although the arches are of much smaller span.
The roof of the nave is an uncommon construction, with turned wooden struts springing from corbels above the arcade, and complicated diagonal beams to avoid the various gable projections. The floor is laid with wooden blocks, and the heavily coloured stained glass in several windows adds to the sombre impression.
The chancel arch is not given much emphasis, being of two thin orders of which the inner is supported on two attached colonettes of stone. Moulding surrounds the arch and terminates in foliated label stops. The arch surrounding the five lancets of the east window echoes the line of the chancel arch. Lower arches on each side open into a chapel (on the south) and the organ chamber (on the north). The nave arcade terminates with a half-arch above these smaller side arches, almost as though it was to have continued further eastwards.
The chancel is darker than the nave, with only small windows high in the side walls to supplement the east window, and all are filled with dark stained glass. The screen in the chancel arch is of iron painted black and gold, and the floor within the chancel is tiled in distinction from the wood blocks in the nave. All the furnishings in the nave and chancel are of pine. The arch opening into the south chapel is at present closed by a blue velvet curtain.
Fixtures and fittings
Font (object)
The Font is a square block of alabester set on an octagonal drum with four small colonettes with foliage capitals around it.
Organ (object)
The Organ is by Spurden Rutt. It has three manuals, electric action and appears from the large number of stops to employ the extension system quite largely.
Screen
The Screen is of iron, painted black with some gold decoration. There are six pointed arches each side of the central opening, and smaller versions of a similar design close to the arches to the organ chamber and south chapel.
Pulpit
The Pulpit stands on a base of clustered marble colonettes. It is also of open ironwork, with traceried arcading enriched with gold and small enamelled shields bearing various symbols. The spandrels are covered by angels with outspread wings bearing shields.
Rail
The Communion Rails have supports of iron in a style much like the screen.
Reredos
The reredos has, in the upper part, a copy of an Italian painting of the Pieta which may be quite old. The figures are within a lunette. Below are five stall panels, the central one blank flanked by the Annunciation and St. Peter and St. Paul.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 405 833
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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