Description

890/6/177 SYSONBY GRANGE LANE
12-OCT-76 (East side)
CHURCH OF ST MARY

(Formerly listed as:
SYSONBY GRANGE LANE
SYSONBY CHURCH)

GV II
PROPOSED GRADE: II

NAME OF CHURCH: Church of St Mary, Sysonby

DATES OF MAIN PHASES, NAME OF ARCHITECT: C15-C16 church restored in 1892.

MATERIALS: Rubble and dressed ironstone, with graded slate roofs.

PLAN: Nave and chancel under a single roof, west tower, north-west vestry.

EXTERIOR: A small, simple Gothic church of unusual configuration. The tower dominates the exterior, narrow and tall under a transverse saddleback roof on a very small scale, and with low set-back buttresses in the lower stage. It has a plain west lancet and small round-headed gable windows. Nave and chancel are buttressed, of which one south buttress is dated 1915. In the south wall is a 3-light square-headed window, in a larger partially blocked opening, with uncusped lights. The pointed south doorway has worn continuous hollow mouldings. The north wall has only a small 2-light square-headed window. The C19 east window is 3 stepped lancets. The vestry has a hipped roof and mullioned windows, lending the church a domestic character on this north elevation.

INTERIOR: There is a tall plain pointed tower arch, but no chancel arch. Nave and chancel have a simple queen-post roof. Walls are unplastered. The floor is stone paved, with some C19 incised floor slabs.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: There are 2 furnishings of note, the C17 communion rail with turned balusters, and C18 marble baluster font; there is also fairly modern stained glass in the south window.

HISTORY: A small church of C15-C16 where the associated settlement has now vanished. It was restored in 1892 at a cost of £300 donated by Colonel Richard Dalgleish (recorded on a plaque inside the building). The north-west vestry was added in 1925.

SOURCES:
G. Brandwood, Bringing them to their Knees: Church Building and Restoration in Leicestershire and Rutland 1800-1914, 2002, p 125.
N. Pevsner (revised E. Williamson), The Buildings of England: Leicestershire and Rutland, 1984, p 402.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of St Mary, Sysonby, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* It is a small late-medieval church in characteristic local materials, with a distinctive west tower.
* Interior fittings of interest include C17 communion rails and C18 font.

Listing NGR: SK7385418978

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26529110

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

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)