The parish Church of St Mary in Luccombe,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England has a

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 ...

dating from about 1300, with the nave and tower being added around 1450. It has been designated as a Grade I

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 ...

. It was built by John Maris of Stogursey. The chancel is the earliest part of the church dating from around 1300. In 1530 the aisle was added, and in 1752-1756 a gallery added which was removed in 1840 when the church was further restored and the vestry added.

Architecture

The parish church of St Mary had its origins in around 1300 when the chancel was built. 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 ...

and tower date from around 1450, and the

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

was added in about 1530. A gallery was installed between 1752 and 1756, but this was removed when the church was restored in 1840, at which time the vestry was added. The building is constructed of

roughcast Roughcast or pebbledash is a coarse plaster surface used on outside walls that consists of lime and sometimes cement mixed with sand, small gravel and often pebbles or shells. The materials are mixed into a slurry and are then thrown at the ...

stone, except for the vestry which is squared red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, and the tower which is random rubble red sandstone. The roofs are slated. The plan consists of a four-bay nave and a four-bay south aisle, a chancel, a northeast vestry, a north porch and a west tower. The tower is built in three stages and topped with crenellations. It has

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

s and string courses, but no buttresses. The tower houses a ring of six bells of which five were cast in 1759. The interior of the church is whitewashed with a barrel-vaulted roof, and a Perpendicular-style pointed tower arch. The interior includes a Jacobean pulpit and chair and a medieval rood screen. The Anglican parish is part of the benefice of

Porlock Porlock is a coastal village in Somerset, England, west of Minehead. At the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,440. In 2017, Porlock had the highest percentage of elderly population in Britain, with over 40% being of pensionable ag ...

and

Porlock Weir Porlock Weir is a harbour settlement approximately west of the inland village of Porlock, Somerset, England. "Porlock" comes from the Old English ''port'' '' loca'', meaning an enclosure near a harbour. Porlock Weir refers to the salmon stakes ...

with Stoke Pero,

Selworthy Selworthy is a small village and civil parish from Minehead in Somerset, England. It is located in the National Trust's Holnicote Estate on the northern fringes of Exmoor. The parish includes the hamlets of Bossington, Tivington, Lynch, Brandish ...

and Luccombe within the archdeaconry of Taunton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luccombe, Saint Mary Churches completed in 1450 15th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in West Somerset Grade I listed churches in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset

Architecture

See also

References