Description

TM 1354
8/3

CODDENHAM
Church Road
Church of St. Mary

9-12-55

I
Parish church. Medieval with major phases of mid C14 and late C15. Nave,
chancel, north and south aisles and north-west tower. Organ chamber of
c.1880. Flint rubble with freestone dressings; inclusions of brick rubble in
both C14 and C15 work. Low-pitched leaded roofs to nave and aisles, partly
with parapets. Chancel roof plaintiled; parapet gables throughout. Areas of
C11/C12 rubble walling to north chancel, and perhaps west nave; in the former
is a slit window. The chancel was extended eastwards in mid C13: good east
and south windows with hoodmould and tracery; one window has a piscina with
corner shaft, and another is reset with good matching doorway in the C19 organ
chamber. Fine carved masks at the east gable kneeler stones. Plain early C14
tower, raised by two stages in early C16 with flushwork parapets. Nave and
aisles rebuilt mid C14: arcades upon octagonal piers with moulded capitals,
north and south doorways, windows with varied curvilinear tracery and a
piscina in the south chapel, all with much hoodmoulding. The nave and aisles
were remodelled to a high standard in mid or late C15: clerestory in 7 full
and 2 half bays; traceried windows, the interstices entirely panelled with
intricate flushwork, and above is an inscription "ORATE PRO ANIMAE JOHANNIS
FRENCH ET MARGARETE"; fine roof with trusses of double hammerbeams and short
kingposts, all members being enriched and the arch-braces carved; angels and
wall-post figures much renewed, but one at least of the former is original;
matching aisle roofs with arch-braced principals. Restored early C16 south
porch, with flushwork panels, the doorway with label and lion corbels. Rood
loft stairway with brick walls and two doorways. Some fragments of screen
(now elsewhere) are dated 1534. Early C17 arcaded pulpit on C19 limestone
plinth. Late C17 rails with barley-sugar balusters, at south chapel and at
chancel arch. In the chancel are C15 choirstalls with misericordes, and 4
reused bench-ends. The limestone font in the C15 manner is probably a C19
renewal. Three good wall monuments in the chancel: to Philip Bacon (d.1666),
to Revd. Baltazar Gardenau (d.1739) and Lady Catharine his wife (d.1757), and
to Revd. Nicholas Bacon (d.1796). Over the Bacon vault in the chancel is a
marble slab with achievements. In the south aisle is a floor slab with
indents for brasses of C16 type. Six painted panels, mainly in the nave, have
coats of arms.

Listing NGR: TM1327254160

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526159

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

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings