Nominal: 770 Hz Weight: 1407 lbs Diameter: 41.75" Bell 1 of 4
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1877
Dove Bell ID: 335 Tower ID: 13052 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Ayston: St Mary The Virgin
Overview
Grid reference: SK 859 9
This church is likely 12th century in origin, with the aisles added in the 13th, and south widened and tower added in the 14th. The chancel was rebuilt and much of the church remodelled, including a new porch, in the middle of the 15th century. Restoration and repairs were respectively carried out in approximately 1800 and 1937. It is a small and modest building, but there is complexity to its development. Vertical emphasis is added by the 3-stage tower, while the location also contributes some degree of landscape value.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
3-bay aisled nave, chancel, south porch, and west tower.
Dimensions:
Nave c 12m (39 ft) x 5m (15’6 ft), chancel 8m (25ft) long.
Footprint of Church buildings: 257 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
An Anglo-Saxon cemetery with 10 sword burials was excavated at North Luffenham 4 miles north-east and there have been other finds in the area (Medbourne, Rutland Water etc). Oakham was a Royal vill mentioned in Domesday. There is a motte-and-bailey castle on Castle Hill to the east and much ridge-and-furrow, and a Deserted Medieval Village nearby (Snelston). The Historic Environment Record should be consulted if any development is considered.
The manor is not mentioned in Domesday Book but was probably included amongst the unnamed berewicks attached to Ridlington, later it became attached to the Barony of Oakham. Sir Henry Murdac presented to the church in 1228, and it seems likely the church is 12th-century in origin, with the aisles added in the 13th and the south widened in the 14th century, when the tower was probably added. The chancel was rebuilt and much of the church remodelled, including a new porch, in the middle of the 15th century.
After the Reformation the advowson came through several hands to the Fludyer and then the Finch family. The church was restored c 1800 by the Fludyers, apparently of Huguenot descent, hence perhaps the Flemish glass in the north aisle. Repairs of 1927-30 to the north aisle roof were carried out by Traylen & Lenton with a grant from the ICBS. The chancel was restored in 1937, paid for by James Finch of Ayston Hall (recorded on the chancel screen). There have been several episodes of conservation work on the stained glass windows, most recently in 2004.
Exterior Description
This is a small and quite modest Medieval church, but of considerable complexity and interest in terms of its development. The 3-stage west tower gives it some vertical emphasis, with a stepped embattled parapet over a belfry stage with pointed trefoiled 2-light openings. Each stage is defined by plain string-courses. Clasping buttresses and a vice in the south-west angle, the lower stages blind except for a pointed 2-light in the west face of the lower stage with cusped Y-tracery and above it in the middle stage a single loop. The stone roof and corrugated iron hatch to the boiler chamber can be seen in the angle of tower and north aisle.
The south aisle has two pointed Perpendicular 3-light windows to the east of the simple gabled porch, the west bay blind, and also such s window in the east end wall, but a 2-light in the west end. The north aisle retains a widely splayed lancet window in the middle of the north wall, and at its west end is a small pointed quatrefoil opening high in the wall, cut in a single stone, with wide internal splay and sloping sill. A square-headed window of two trefoil lights near the east end of the north wall is a 14th-century insertion, and the doorway in the west bay has a plain segmental chamfered head. An old corbel head is set in to the wall above this. The north aisle is without buttresses, plinth or string. The clearstorey has three 2-light Perpendicular windows to north and south.
The chancel has buttresses to each bay and angle buttresses. A hollow moulding below the parapet, enriched with four-leaved flowers, is carried round the east wall along the gable, and there are crocketed pinnacles. The 4-centred east window is of five cinquefoiled lights without tracery, and the side windows, two on each side, are of the same character, but of three and two lights. The sill of the westernmost window on each side is lower.
Building Fabric and Features
Nave
12th century 3-bay
Aisle
13th century added
Chancel
15th century rebuilt
Porch
15th century
Tower (component)
14th century west tower
Building Materials
Stone
12th - 19th century covers most of the church with finely dressed stone in wide courses, except for the north aisle which is iron stone rubble.
Lead
20th century leaded roofs (repaired)
Slate
15th century Collyweston stone-slated roof
Collyweston Slate
13th Century
Collyweston Slate
Limestone
13th Century
Upper Lincolnshire Limestone
Interior
Interior Description
The porch has a plain coped gable and four-centred doorway with wide continuous chamfer, but no hood-mould. Sundial above, possibly 17th-century. The inner doorway has a four-centred hollow-chamfered head within a moulded square frame and label with returned ends, 17th-century door. The north door opposite has a flat head inside, and an antique door with step up. Inside, all the walls are plastered internally, and the floors are flagged, with some ledger slabs from the 17th-century, mostly fragmentary. The roofs are Victorian. The interior has a spartan, pre-Ecclesiological feel, despite later changes, particularly to the chancel.
The tower opens into the nave by a sharply pointed arch of two chamfered orders on half-round responds, with moulded octagonal capitals and bases. Pointed doorway to a stone newel staircase. The north arcade has three semicircular arches of two chamfered orders, springing from cylindrical pillars and half-round responds with moulded capitals and water-holding bases. The plaster above the arches covers the hood-moulds, the stops of which alone are exposed; of these three are heads, and one an ornamented disc. There are remains of a rood-loft doorway in the thickened east wall of the north aisle, behind the organ. In the south arcade the arches are pointed and of two chamfered orders, on cylindrical pillars and responds of slightly greater height and diameter, with plainly moulded capitals and bases.
The nave has very late, plain box pews of deal, perhaps around 1800. Some darker Victorian benches at the west end are signed by the grainer, 1857. There is a chest with beading around the edges, possibly 18th-century. A 14th-century monumental slab in west end of north aisle probably represents a knight and lady, previously kept outside (as recorded in VCH). A vestry is screened off here.
The chancel arch is 4-centred and of two chamfered orders, without hood-mould, springing from moulded and embattled corbels carved on the underside with foliage. Fragmentary painted Royal Arms above, probably Hanoverian, painted over a Doom. Gothic filigree pitch-pine chancel screen of 1937. In the chancel is a trefoil-headed piscina with projecting bowl (the head restored), and in the north wall a rectangular aumbry fitted with a wooden door, part of the wainscotting here.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
20th century wooden chest
Organ (object)
19th century Small instrument by the Positive Organ Co.
Reredos
20th century tripartite, panelled, with minimal carving, of a piece with the altar
Plaque (component)
20th century Tablet to eight men of the parish who fell in the war of 1914–19.
Pulpit
19th century hexagonal plain softwood
Lectern
19th century wooden reading stand
Font (component)
18th / 19th century small octagonal pedestal font
Stained Glass (window)
15th century East window of south aisle has 15th-century glass in the east window which is somewhat fragmentary and depicts the Crucifixion, with labelled figures of the Virgin and St John, beneath which are heads of two bishops, and a crowned Virgin and Child.
Stained Glass (window)
18th century The north aisle window contains pieces of 18th-century glass found at the Hall, including two brown and yellow roundels, apparently Flemish, representing the Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation in the Temple. Other fragments have the bearded head of a friar, and a white hart within a rectangular border. There are also three shields with the arms of Brudenell.
Plaque (component)
18th & 19th century There are good mural tablets to Thomas White, rector (died 1735) with columns and pediment, John Sprigs (died 1741), Augusta Fludyer, wife of the Rector (died 1859) with angels carved in semi-relief, and Sir Arthur John Fludyer, 5th and last baronet (died 1922).
Bells
Nominal: 1057 Hz Weight: 616 lbs Diameter: 29.75" Bell 2 of 4
Founded by Robert I Newcombe
Dove Bell ID: 9404 Tower ID: 13052 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 989 Hz Weight: 672 lbs Diameter: 31.5" Bell 3 of 4
Founded by John Rufford
Dove Bell ID: 9405 Tower ID: 13052 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 854 Hz Weight: 784 lbs Diameter: 34.5" Bell 4 of 4
Founded by Tobias I Norris 1626
Dove Bell ID: 9406 Tower ID: 13052 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Portable Furnishings and Artworks
The registers before 1812 held at the PRO are as follows: (i) all entries 1657–1722; (ii) baptisms and burials 1778–1812; (iii) marriages 1776–1812.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SK 859 9
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 | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
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
Sources
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