St Mary's Church is a
redundant Anglican church in the village of
Potsgrove,
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...
. England. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...
as a designated Grade II*
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
,
and is under the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
.
The church stands at the end of a country lane, north of the
A5 road
A5 Road may refer to:
;Africa
* A5 highway (Nigeria), a road connecting Lagos and Ibadan
* A5 road (Zimbabwe), a road connecting Harare and Francistown
;Americas
* Quebec Autoroute 5, a road in Quebec, Canada
* County Route A5 (California) or B ...
, some northeast of
Leighton Buzzard.
[
]
History
The church dates from the 14th century, and was "heavily reworked" in 1880–81 by the architect J. D. Sedding
John Dando Sedding (13 April 1838 – 7 April 1891) was an English church architect, working on new buildings and repair work, with an interest in a "crafted Gothic" style. He was an influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, many of wh ...
.[ The ]nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
walls had been raised in the 15th century when the present roof was installed, and the chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ov ...
roof is of a later date. There are a few 12th and 13th-century stones incorporated in the fabric of the north wall of the nave, indicating that an earlier church was present on the side.
Architecture
St Mary's is constructed mainly in ironstone
Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...
rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
with some clunch
Clunch is a traditional building material of chalky limestone rock used mainly in eastern England and Normandy. Clunch distinguishes itself from archetypal forms of limestone by being softer in character when cut, such as resembling chalk in lo ...
, and has ashlar dressings. The roofs are tiled. Its plan consists of a nave with a south porch, a chancel, and a northwest bell turret. The east window in the chancel has five lights and contains panel tracery. On the north and south sides of the chancel are two two-light windows. There are similar windows in the nave, two on the north side and three on the south. On the north side is a doorway above which is a dripstone, its stops being carved with a male and a female head. In the south porch is another doorway with similar carvings. At the west end of the nave is a two-light window, above which is an ogee
An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...
-headed niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
containing a statue of the Virgin and Child
In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent ...
. The bell turret is octagonal and has a stone spire. On each side of the turret are two tiers of openings. The spire contains lucarne
In general architecture a lucarne is a term used to describe a dormer window. The original term french: lucarne refers to a dormer window, usually set into the middle of a roof although it can also apply to a façade lucarne, where the gable of t ...
s, and is surmounted by a cross finial.[
The chancel is divided from the nave by a wooden screen, the older parts of which date from the 14th century. In the north wall of the chancel is a recessed tomb, and also in the chancel are a ]piscina
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...
and a sedilia
In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the ...
. There are more piscinae in the nave. The font is constructed from Purbeck marble. In the wall of the nave are two brasses
A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the pavem ...
, one dated 1535 and the other from later in that century. In the west window of the nave are pieces of 14th and 15th-century stained glass.[
]
External features
In the churchyard are two items that have been designated Grade II listed buildings. The first is a limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
headstone dated (probably) 1711, and the other is a row of six limestone headstones dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potsgrove, St Mary's Church
Grade II* listed churches in Bedfordshire
Church of England church buildings in Bedfordshire
English Gothic architecture in Bedfordshire
Gothic Revival architecture in Bedfordshire
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust