Description

TM 36 SE STERNFIELD CHURCH HILL (east side)

2/120 Church of St. Mary
7.12.66 Magdalene (formerly listed
as Church of St. Mary)

GV II*

Parish church. Nave, chancel, west tower, south porch, north vestry. Mainly
random flint with stone dressings, some brickwork to nave; roofs of nave,
chancel and porch of plaintiles with crest tiles. Early C15 tower: square,
unbuttressed, crenellated parapet; 2 string courses to bell-chamber stage, the
one immediately below the parapet with some carved heads; 2-light semi-circular
headed bell-chamber openings; west face with one 2-light window (fragments of
medieval glass) and one single-light window with square hood mould; below lower
window is a carved stone shield bearing the de la Pole arms. Nave probably
C14: south wall with one late C19 3-light window in Perpendicular style, north
wall with 2 2-light C15 windows with square hood moulds (one window largely
original), blocked doorway. C14 porch: moulded entrance arch on semi-circular
responds, empty trefoil-headed niche above; 2-light side openings with circular
shafts and shouldered lintols; nave doorway with plank door and holy water
stoup to right hand side. Chancel rebuilt in 1764, considerably restored 1877:
new windows, re-fashioned Priest's doorway, vestry added to north on site of
C14 chapel; good C14 piscina with ballflower ornament set in north chancel
external wall. Nave with 4-bay single hammerbeam roof, probably largely C19,
the hammerbeams with pointed ends and pendant bosses; chancel roof of 1877, 3
bays, arch-braced construction; also of 1877 are the chancel arch, pulpit,
organ chamber, nave benches, tiles and much glass. North chancel wall retains
trefoil-headed 2-light window of the former chapel; north nave wall with
blocked entrance to rood loft stairs; blocked sanctus bell window above tower
arch. C14 octagonal font with quatrefoil to each face; some benches in chancel
with re-used C15 traceried ends with carved arm rests; reredos painting by
Benjamin West entitled 'The Blind Restored to Sight'; 2 plain marble tablets on
south chancel wall to Rev. Montagu North (d.1779) and Elizabeth North his wife
(d.1774). Graded II* for surviving medieval work, notably porch and tower.

Listing NGR: TM3909561594

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17546477

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

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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
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  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
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  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)