Church Of St Mary, Bishops Lydeard
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The Church of St Mary in
Bishops Lydeard Bishops Lydeard () is a village and civil parish located in Somerset, England, north-west of Taunton. The civil parish encompasses the hamlets of East Lydeard and Terhill, and had a population of 2,839 persons as recorded in the 2011 census; th ...
,
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
, England, dates from the 14th and 15th centuries and has been designated as a Grade I
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
. In 1860–62 the church was extended by one bay and a
vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
, by Edward Jeboult of
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...
, added. The tower, which was built around 1497, has pierced tracery battlements, pinnacles, set back buttresses terminating in pinnacles at the bell-storey, and pinnacles on the buttresses at each stage. On the stonework are
hunky punk A hunky punk is a grotesque carving on the side of a building, especially Late Gothic churches. Such features are especially numerous in Somerset (in the West Country of England). Though similar in appearance to a gargoyle, a hunky punk is pur ...
s which have been severely damaged by the weather, however one appears to represent a
Sea serpent A sea serpent is a type of sea monster described in various mythologies, most notably in Mesopotamian cosmology (Tiamat), Ugaritic cosmology ( Yam, Tannin), biblical cosmology (Leviathan, Rahab), Greek cosmology (Cetus, Echidna, Hydra, Scy ...
. Between 2010 and 2011, an eleven-month restoration programme, focussing on the tower and costing £240,000, was undertaken by Sally Strachey Historic Conservation, under the supervision of Smith Gamblin Architects. Several of the tombs in the churchyard are of historical importance, as are two crosses, one dating from the 14th century, the other being the town's market cross which was moved to the churchyard in the 19th century.


See also

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List of Grade I listed buildings in Taunton Deane Taunton Deane is a former local government district with borough status in the English county of Somerset. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architect ...
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List of towers in Somerset The Somerset towers, church towers built in the 14th to 16th centuries, have been described as among England's finest contributions to medieval art. The paragraphs and descriptions below describe features of some of these towers. The organization ...
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List of ecclesiastical parishes in the Diocese of Bath and Wells The ecclesiastical parishes within the Diocese of Bath and Wells cover the majority of the ceremonial counties of England, English county of Somerset and small areas of Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The cathedra, episcopal seat ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishops Lydeard, Saint Mary 14th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in Taunton Deane Grade I listed churches in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in Taunton Deane