Description

NZ 1616 - 1716 GAINFORD LOW GREEN
(South side, off)

9/116 Church of St. Mary
14.9.66
I

Parish church. Early C13 with C15 north vestry and later west stair turret;
organ chamber and north porch added during restoration by J.A. Cory in 1864.
Dressed sandstone with graduated green slate roofs. West tower with stair
turret; aisled nave with aisles engaging tower, north and south porches;
chancel with north vestry and attached organ chamber to west. Mainly C19
Perpendicular-style fenestration.

3-stage tower; belfry has corbelled parapet with 4 corner pinnacles of 1786.
Full-height stair turret has spiral stone stair within. 4-bay nave has tall
aisles with C19 2- and 3-light windows and an original 2-light window with
Perpendicular tracery on south aisle to west of porch. Porch has restored
outer arch and contains 2 medieval stone benches and oak door under pointed
roll-moulded arch of 2 orders; door has pair of possibly C13 iron C-hinges with
elongated straps. Upper aisle windows have ogee heads of C18 appearance. East
return of south aisle has lancet with vesica above. North wall has similar
upper aisle windows. North porch has built-in grave slabs and similar medieval
door and hinges. Narrower 2-bay chancel, heightened in 1864, has continuous
chamfered sill band; south wall has 2 lancets and Cl9 priest's door; east end
has 3 stepped lancets under individual hoodmoulds and restored vesica above.
Single-storey north vestry has lancet in north wall and -diagonal buttress to
north-east. 2-storey gabled organ chamber has truncated end chimney.

Interior: nave has wide double-chamfered pointed arches under hoodmoulds on
cylindrical piers with circular moulded bases and capitals, the south-western
with nailhead; octagonal north-western capital. Semicircular- east and west
responds, the former with early stiff-leaf ornament. Tower on rectangular piers
has similar transverse arch. Similar pointed chancel arch, on semi-octagonal
mid-wall corbels with nailhead, has been raised about one metre. Cl9 nave roof.
Chancel: east end has 3 lancets with splayed roll-moulded rear-arches separated
by detached shafts; continuous roll-moulded band corresponds to external sill
band; remnant of piscina behind wainscoting in south wall; Minton encaustic-
tiled floor; C19 arch-braced roof.

Fittings: C13 circular font with Jacobean-style wood cover. 3 medieval brasses
in chancel. Elaborate wall monument, in western bay of south aisle, to John
Middleton died 1709: tablet in segmental pedimented aedicule with Corinthian
columns, cartouche above and draped apron below, with skull and flanking putti.
Two C10-ll cross shafts attached to internal west wall.

(Procedings of the Society of Antiguaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 3rd series,
Vol II, 1907)

Listing NGR: NZ1697016680

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529743

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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