Description

SJ 40 NE CONDOVER CHURCH STREET (south side)

5/59 Church of St Mary and
- St Andrew (formerly listed
as Church of St Andrew)
13.6.58

GV II*

Parish church. Late C12, 1662-79 and 1868, restored by Fairfax Wade 1878.
Uncoursed and dressed pink sandstone with ashlar dressings, machine tile
roofs. Nave, chancel, north and south transepts, west tower, north porch,
south vestry and organ chamber, north chancel chapel. Tower: 1664 in late
Perpendicular style; 3 stages with diagonal buttresses, embattled parapet
has crocketed corner pinnacles; integral stair turret with domed cap at
south-east corner; 2-light trefoil-headed openings to top belfry with narrow
lancets to second stage on south and west and clock (late C19) on north;
3-light west window and door (1878) also in Perpendicular style. Nave:
1660s also in late Perpendicular style, replacing a medieval nave with north
aisle and crossing tower; buttressed in 5 bays with embattled parapet,
flat-headed 2-light window with minimal panel tracery (restored) and ornate
stone porch (1878) in first bay from west on north. North transept: late
C12 has pilaster buttressing from chamfered plinth and a moulded string
course, 2 round-headed windows on north and one on west, all with nook
shafts and waterleaf capitals; pierced quatrefoil opening below apex on
north with narrow doorway on east and restored corbel table. South transept:
possibly slightly earlier than nave has a timber framed gable with decorative
cusped quatrefoils in square panels; 3-light window on south side with
tracery similar to that in nave and blocked doorway beneath. Chancel:
1868 on site of C13 chancel. Early English style; single lancets on north
and south and east window of 3 stepped lights with cusped heads and multi-
foils above; contemporary chapel on north and prominent gabled vestry/
organ chamber (1878) on south. Interior: pointed double-chamfered tower
arch has initials "J.O/1664" on right jamb for John Orum, mason; magnificent
5-bay hammerbeam roof to nave (restored 1878) with similar but plainer roof
(1878) spanning transepts and position of former central tower, late C19
arch-braced roof in 4 bays to chancel; early C20 stained glass in north
wall of nave by Hardman and Powell with east window by Reginald Cholmondley
(1868); font (1878) by Landucci of Shrewsbury with carved figures of Christ
and St John the Baptist; C13 oak chest in north transept has iron strap-
work with fleur-de-lys finials; a stone slab (1744) set in north wall of
tower gives rules for bell-ringers and various C18/early C19 boards hanging
at west end of nave record benefactions to parish. The chief feature of
the church is its monuments: these include Thomas Scriven (died 1587)
and wife, 2 recumbent alabaster effigies in deep 4-centred arched recess
with strapwork achievement, frontally placed children against tomb chest
below (chancel south wall); higher on wall to right a memorial to Martha
Owen (died 1641) brought from Old St Chad's, Shrewsbury - frontal bust in
oval recess between columns with carving of her baby in front; other most
notable monuments all in north chancel chapel; against north wall a fine
double monument (1641) paid for by Jane Norton (died 1640), she and her
husband, Bonham, are represented by the upper figures while the lower
figures are of her elder brother, Sir Roger and her father, Thomas Owen,
builder of Condover Hall (q.v.), each figure is kneeling and faces its
partner across a prayer desk; below east window Roger Owen by L.F. Roubiliac
(1746), semi-reclining figure with seated female figure (Roger's daughter,
Catherine) at its feet; centre stage goes to marble monument of Sir Thomas
Cholmondley (called Owen), (died 1864), powerful bearded kneeling figure
holding a sword by G.F. Watts in a style developed from Nicholas Stone;
Watts' influence is detectable too in the sentimental monument by
Reginald Cholmondley to his wife, Alice, and her infant daughter (died)
1864), recumbent effigy of Alice with her baby lying by her side, its
cradle stands empty at the mother's feet. Condover was in origin a Saxon
minster parish, serving a vast area, and had several dependent chapelries
including the Church of St John the Baptist, Stapleton (q.v.). B.o.E.,
Pp.111-12; D.H.S. Cranage, The Churches of Shropshire, Part 6 (1903),
Pp. 475-81

Listing NGR: SJ4946905782

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17550983

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

• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  The Victorian House Manual (2nd Edition): How They Were Built, Improvements & Refurbishment, Solutions to All Common Defects - Includes Relevant ... ... Properties (Haynes Manual) (Haynes Manuals)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings