The Church of St Mary the Virgin at East Stoke in

Stoke-sub-Hamdon Stoke-sub-Hamdon (or Stoke sub Hamdon), also known as Stoke under Ham, is a large village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It is situated west of Yeovil, with which it is linked by the A3088 road. The parish is located near the River Parr ...

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 12th century. It 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 ...

. It was previously dedicated to Saint Denis. Much of the church, including the nave and chancel with their stone carving are

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

, the structure being supported by pilaster buttresses. The north transept was added about 1225 and the south transept about 1300. The church has a tower with six bells. It shows various medieval carving including abstract corbels, an astrological tympanum, and St Michael slaying the dragon. Two of the carvings are thought to be

Sheela na Gig A sheela na gig is a figurative carving of a naked woman displaying an exaggerated Human vulva, vulva. These carvings, from the Middle Ages, are Grotesque (architecture), architectural grotesques found throughout most of Europe on Architecture ...

s. The upper part of the tower was built in the 13th century with the parapet being added in the 15th. The church was restored in 1862, by

Benjamin Ferrey Benjamin Ferrey List of Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London, FSA Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA (1 April 1810 – 22 August 1880) was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic revival architecture, Gothic Re ...

. The parish is within the benefice of Stoke-sub-Hamdon, which is part of the Wells archdeaconry. Two of the Grade II* listed 17th-century monuments in the churchyard have suffered from subsidence and as a result rising damp has caused salt crystallisation which is affecting the inscriptions. As a result, they have been added to the

Heritage at Risk Register An annual ''Heritage at Risk Register'' is published by Historic England. The survey is used by national and local government, a wide range of individuals and heritage groups to establish the extent of risk and to help assess priorities for acti ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:East Stoke, Mary the Virgin 12th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in South Somerset Grade I listed churches in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in South Somerset Structures on the Heritage at Risk register in Somerset

See also

References