Description

TL 96 SW ROUGHAM

5/31 Church of St. Mary
-
14.7.55
I

Parish church. C14 and C15. Nave, chancel, north and south aisles, south
porch and west tower. In random flint with freestone dressings; plaintiled
roofs. A small lean-to mid-C19 vestry on the north side of the chancel, and a
high late C19 choir vestry with crenellated flat roof on the south side. The
roofs of the nave and both aisles are embattled: the north aisle has the
merlons pierced with quatrefoils, the remainder have enriched lozenges. 3-
light windows in Perpendicular style to north aisle, and 2-light windows with
flamboyant tracery at the east end of both aisles. 3 buttresses bear
inscriptions, partly obliterated, and the date 1514: one reads 'We pray you to
remember us that causyde ye yle to be made thus', and the other 'DNS JOHES
SYMTH LE CURATOR ISTIUS ECCLESIAE WILMS..' The south aisle has cusped 3-
light windows without tracery and one lancet at the west end. 2 blocked
arches low down in the wall, interrupted by a later buttress. 4 2-light
windows to clerestorey without tracery. The chancel has similar 2-light
windows to north and south, and a 5-light east window with reticulated
tracery. Angle buttresses at the east end. A fine early C14 south porch with
a plain freestone parapet, moulded copings, and an ornate cross to the apex of
the gable. The 3-light side openings are divided by circular shafts with
ornate ogee-arched heads. The coved open timber roof with moulded main beam
is dated 1632. C14 south doorway with continuous mouldings. The splendid
west tower has traces of external render, a stepped base, diagonal
buttresses, and 4 stages of varying height. A 3-light window without tracery
to each face of the top stage. Stepped battlemented top, with crocketed
pinnacles at the angles, decorated with flushwork panels bearing inscriptions
and devices: on the south face, 'pray for ye sowle of John Tillot', and the
initials T and D; on the north face, 'Drury', and on the east the entwined MR
of the Virgin Mary and her emblem of a pot of lilies. Below the parapet is a
frieze of tracery motifs infilled with flushwork. Fine interior to nave. A
single hammer-beam roof in 10 slightly irregular bays, with the trusses spaced
to enclose the clerestory windows. The short hammer-posts extend upwards to
form arched braces to the high collars. The hammer-beams are recumbent
headless figures bearing various shields and devices. The supporting arched
braces have carved spandrels and capitals, with canopied niches below
containing standing figures. All the roof components are moulded, and a frieze
in 3 stages covers the wallplate, decorated with quatrefoils and cresting.
Roll-mouldings to the main cross-beams of the aisle roofs, with carved bosses
at the intersections and a cornice with florets and a pierced cresting. C14
arcades in 4 bays to both aisles with piers formed of 4 main shafts and 4
subsidiary shafts in the diagonals; a similar treatment to the high chancel
arch. Short spur walls link the arcades to the chancel: on the north an empty
ogee-headed niche with cusping set back, and on the south, a small blocked
pointed doorway to the rood-loft with continuous mouldings. Early C14 cusped
piscinae to both aisles. Remains of medieval glass in the east window of the
north aisle, and some resited ornate Jacobean panelling. Octagonal font, with
traceried panels to the bowl. A fine set of C15 benches with traceried ends
and poppyheads, all different. The figures on the arms have been cut off.
The backs have carved quatrefoils and a cresting. 8 pairs in the nave are
original, the remainder good copies. Simpler benches in the aisles, with
moulded ends and poppyheads, have been converted into low box-pews. Chancel
Victorianised, with renewed scissor-braced roof; a much-restored sedilia and
piscina on the south wall. The church contains a large brass to Sir Roger
Drury and his wife, d.1405, and a number of C17 marble wall tablets, one to
Sir Robert Drury and his wife, 1621. 2 worn early C18 black ledger slabs are
set into the floor of the nave. C15 wills indicate that the medieval
dedication of the church was to St. John.

Listing NGR: TL9120062596

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17526494

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

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)