Nominal: 734.5 Hz Weight: 1792 lbs Diameter: 44" Bell 1 of 6
Founded by James Barwell 1898
Dove Bell ID: 5236 Tower ID: 15832 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Diocese of Hereford
Church, 618150
http://www.arrowvalechurches.org.ukGrid reference: SO 390 580
The church of St Mary and its separate bell tower are of high archaeological, architectural and historical significance. Both are listed Grade I, the highest rank of listing (reserved for about 2.5% of all listed buildings). The bell tower is no longer the responsibility of the PCC and does not form part of this assessment. The church is largely medieval, with fragmentary remains of a twelfth/thirteenth century structure, substantially rebuilt in what appears to be a rapid building programme of the 1320s or 30s. It is a large church, evidently supported by a wealthy patron, and has many fine architectural features, including a stone vaulted porch from the late fourteenth century. The fabric is largely medieval, the only later addition being a nineteenth century vestry. Inside, the church contains two fine fifteenth century chest tombs with pairs of effigies, thought to be members of the Gour family, and a good collection of seventeenth and eighteenth century monuments. Other furnishings of note include a large thirteenth century font and several good examples of Jacobean woodwork, notably the pulpit.
Building is open for worship
Ground plan:
The main timber structure of the belfry is square but is surrounded at the lowest level by an octagonal stone wall.
Footprint of Church buildings: 709 m²
There is no mention of a church at Pembridge in the Domesday survey, but a Norman church is thought to have existed by 1140. The earliest part of the present building are in the chancel, which incorporates blocked openings formerly leading to side chapels, dating from c. 1220–30. The font also dates from about this time. Most of the rest of the building (nave, aisles and transepts) appears to have been built over a relatively short period in the 1320s or 30s, possibly under the auspices of the Mortimer family. A north porch was added in the second half of the fourteenth century. The detached timber bell tower is also usually dated to the fourteenth century, although the timbers within it have been dendrochronologically dated to between 1207 and 1214; they may be reused from elsewhere.
In the eighteenth century the church was provided with box pews and plaster ceilings. In the 1840s it was further refitted by Josiah Griffiths, architect of Quatford, Shropshire, but judging from the plans (figures 2 and 3) and an illustration of 1843 (figure 4) his scheme was of a decidedly old-fashioned, pre-ecclesiological flavour. Griffiths took out the box pews and a western gallery, and relocated the pulpit, but fitted new box pews and retained the plaster ceilings. His drawings also show that the Gour tombs were moved at this time from the north wall of the north transept to their present position in the chancel. New seating in the chancel was provided for children rather than for a choir, and a new vestry is shown giving off the south side of the chancel. In the event this was built on the north side, but whether by Griffiths or in the later restoration of the chancel carried out by County Surveyor William Chick in 1871 is not clear. Details of the latter scheme are not certain; presumably it involved the removal of the children’s seating and the installation of choir stalls, and probably the addition of the present boarded ceiling.
In 1899 the bell tower was restored by Jethro Cossins of Birmingham (The Builder, p. 198, 1898), and three of the five bells were recast. The rest of the church was restored in 1903-9 by Roland W. Paul, perhaps best known as an architectural illustrator. He replaced the pews with chairs and probably added the draught lobby at the north door. The pulpit was moved to the north side of the nave, near the organ (which had been installed in the north transept in 1878). The south chapel, previously known as the Byletts Chapel, became a Lady Chapel; medieval wall paintings were uncovered here. It was presumably at this time that the remaining wall plaster was removed (apart from the areas of wall paintings, and later painted texts in the south aisle and north transept), and possibly the Georgian ceilings too.
This is a large parish church, consisting of an aisled nave with north porch, north and south transepts (the south transept known as the Lady Chapel) and a chancel with north vestry. The building is faced with local sandstone with ashlar dressings and the roofs are covered with tiles, replacing stone slates.
The main approach to the church is from the north and west. The west front of the nave has a central doorway with two-centred arch, label and head stops. The door, with strap hinges, is probably of seventeenth century date. Above it is a tall early fourteenth century window with five trefoiled ogee-headed lights and reticulated tracery. Smaller three-light windows of similar pattern light the west end of the aisles. The nave has a clerestory on both sides, of four circular windows with quatrefoils. The north and south aisles have fourteenth century windows of varying patterns, described in greater detail in the list entry. The south door has strap hinges, and also appears to be of seventeenth century date. Projecting from the north aisle towards the west end, the late fourteenth century north porch has windows with flowing tracery and a fine tierceron stone vault. Its outer timber gates have swept top rails and are inscribed ‘Benbough and Jo Badham, Wardens Ano Dmi 1678’. Within the porch, the inner doorway retains its fourteenth century door, with ornamental iron hinges and a seventeenth century lock. The north transept has a tall north window of three lights with reticulated tracery, and smaller two-light windows at the sides. The windows in the south transept are similar. The chancel has one fourteenth century window on the north side, to the west of the vestry, which is a stone-built nineteenth century addition, Gothic, with a tall stone stack. To the left of the vestry the north chancel wall is blank and presumably refaced, for there is no evidence (inside or out) of the window shown on Josiah Griffiths’ survey of 1842. The east window is of four trefoiled lights with reticulated tracery. The south side of the chancel has a three-light window similar to that on the north side and a mid-thirteenth century window of two trefoil-headed lights and pierced quatrefoil. At the angle with the south transept is a projection for the rood stair, with a short pinnacle.
The lowest stage of the tower has a stone wall roughly octagonal in plan and of varying thickness with the entrance door placed in the south-west wall. This is provided with moulded stone jambs and a wooden lintel. In the east wall are two rough rectangular openings, the north and north-west sides each have a small loop light and the west wall has a window originally of two lights. Within this stage is the square base of the timber framework which supports the upper parts of the structure, and round this therefore is a wide passage under a pent roof with one small window opened towards the east which lights the ladder to the next stage. The centre of the square is accessible and is partly taken up by the works of the clock. The next stage appears square roughly with weatherboraded facings in each side broken in places by louvres close to the top and with a clock face set off centre in the west side. This stage has a pyramidal tiled of through which a yet smaller square weatherboarded stage breaks. This is capped by a pyramidal shingled roof terminating in a slender iron cross surmounted by a weathercock.
Inside, the walls have been largely stripped of their plaster, and the roof structures once again exposed. The tall nave and the transepts have trussed rafter roofs with moulded wall plates, with one tie beam towards the east end provided with cusped braces below; two tie beams are modern replacements. The pent roofs of the aisles have moulded wall plates. The nave arcade is of six bays with two-centred arches supported on octagonal piers. In the east wall of the south transept is an ogee-headed doorway giving access to the rood stair, which emerges as a high-level square-headed opening to the former rood loft to the right of the chancel, angled and supported on a cinquefoiled squinch. The chancel arch is of two moulded orders, and above it are two high-level circular windows, similarly detailed to the nave clerestory. The south wall of the chancel retains traces of the previous building: a blocked thirteenth century arch with semi-circular shaft and stiff-leaf capital.
The church is rich in furnishings and fittings. Surviving medieval furnishings and features include (in broadly chronological order):
Post-medieval, pre-Victorian furnishings of note include are, working broadly from east to west:
The church has a large number of good post-medieval monuments. These include, in the chancel:
In the south transept:
In the north transept:
In the south aisle:
Nineteenth century and later furnishings include:
The freestanding bell tower contains five bells: The fourth was cast by John Martin of Worcester in 1658 and the treble by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester in 1735. The first, second and tenor bells were cast or recast by James Barwell of Birmingham when the tower was restored in 1898. There is also a Sanctus bell, date unknown but recorded in churchwardens’ accounts of 1692.
Clock
1891
The clock was made by Thwaites and Reed of Clerkenwell, London, and is dated 1891; it commemoratesa Rector who died in 1889 and chimes the quarters on four bells.
Nominal: 734.5 Hz Weight: 1792 lbs Diameter: 44" Bell 1 of 6
Founded by James Barwell 1898
Dove Bell ID: 5236 Tower ID: 15832 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 1101 Hz Weight: 588 lbs Bell 2 of 6
Founded by Abraham II Rudhall 1735
Dove Bell ID: 34702 Tower ID: 15832 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 997 Hz Weight: 728 lbs Bell 3 of 6
Founded by James Barwell 1898
Dove Bell ID: 34703 Tower ID: 15832 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 938.5 Hz Weight: 896 lbs Bell 4 of 6
Founded by James Barwell 1898
Dove Bell ID: 34704 Tower ID: 15832 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 820 Hz Weight: 1176 lbs Diameter: 39.25" Bell 5 of 6
Founded by John I Martin 1658
Dove Bell ID: 34705 Tower ID: 15832 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 2294 Hz Diameter: 13.5" Bell 6 of 6
Founded by (unidentified)
Dove Bell ID: 34706 Tower ID: 15832 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Grid reference: SO 390 580
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.
The churchyard has war graves.
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.
| 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 |
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.
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.
If you notice something incorrect or missing, please explain it in the form below and submit it to our team for review.