Description

TL 3929 HORMEAD LITTLE HORMEAD
(South side)

12/124 Church of St. Mary
22.2.67 Little Hormead

GV I

Parish church. C11/C12 nave, mid C12 N door, square ended chancel
rebuilt in early C13, C18 brick S porch. Restored in 1888 when E end
wall rebuilt and C15 bell turret over W end reconstructed. Flint rubble
with stone dressings, good cubic ashlar diagonally dressed inside in N
side of E wall of nave. Red brick S porch. Timber bell turret with
pyramidial roof. Old red tile roofs with overhanging eaves. A small
unaisled church with tall narrow Romanesque nave and lower chancel on a
slightly different axis. The Chancel has a triple lancet E window
c.1888, C15 piscina at SE corner, 2 C13 lancet windows in S wall the W
more deeply splayed inside, a priest's door between inserted C.1888, and
at W end of S wall a large C15 window of cinquefoiled lights under a
square head. 2 bay C16 open timber roof with cambered tie-beam, collar
trusses, and butt-purlins with arched windbraces. Roof shortened by
rebuilding of E wall a little further W in 1888. Small rectangular Nave
almost entirely Romanesque with narrow C11 door, timber roof of late
C11, elaborate mid C12 N doorway and celebrated contemporary door with
decorative ironwork decoration, small round headed N window with deep
internal splay, and wide C12 chancel arch with depressed round arch, roll
moulding, and nook shafts with scalloped caps. S window C15 like that in
S wall of chancel, 2-light W window c.1888 in perp style with quatrefoil
oculus in gable over. Font octagonal early C14 with panels of blank
tracery around bowl. Small carved and painted royal arms 1660 above
chancel arch. Bell turret carried on twin queen-strut trusses with
wallposts and braces off corbels. The S doorway has a round head,
chamfered plain imposts, scratch dial and C17 graffiti on exterior with
a stoup on E side of door. The N doorway externally has a round arch
with roll moulding, plain tympanium and nook shafts with cushion
capitals. Now blocked with door displayed inside. C12 ironwork of
outstanding importance with 2 large figures of interlaced arcs within
square borders with surrounding scrolls in side panels, surmounted by a
serpentine dragon. Plastered ceiling under collars conceals
single-framed timber roof c.1190, coupled rafters widely spaced with
angled struts above the collars, small collar to each apex and lapped
dovetail joints. Ashlars hidden by plaster but sole pieces join rafter
ends externally by side lap joint. Deep hollow worked on underside of
each rafter end with large roll moulding at its centre (Herts
Archaeology 3 (1973)126-7). (RCHM (1911)147: VCH (1914)76-7:
Pevsner (1977)241-2).

Listing NGR: TL3984929104

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Mary the Virgin's Church, Little Hormead at Wikipedia
• St Mary the Virgin's Church, Little Hormead official website
• Wikidata Q7594646

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Surrey (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)