The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a church in

Edith Weston Edith Weston is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. The population of the civil parish was 1,042 at the 2001 census, including Normanton, Rutland, Normanton and increasing to 1,359 at the 2011 cen ...

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

. It is 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 ...

History

The church was built in c.1170 but the tower was built two centuries later. The northern aisle in the chancel is used as 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 ...

and organ chamber. The church was re-seated and repaired in 1848. In 1865, the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and the southern chapel were built in the 14th-century French style, by

Slater A slater, or slate mason, is a tradesperson who covers buildings with slate. Tools used The various tools of the slater's trade are all drop-forged. The slater's hammer is forged in one single piece, from crucible-cast steel, and has a lea ...

Carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenter ...

. The

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

by A.H. Skipworth and

George Frampton Sir George James Frampton, (18 June 1860 – 21 May 1928) was a British sculptor. He was a leading member of the New Sculpture movement in his early career when he created sculptures with elements of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, often combinin ...

is a memorial to the Reverend Charles Halford Lucas who was responsible for the

Victorian restoration The Victorian restoration was the widespread and extensive wikt:refurbish, refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England church (building), churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century Victorian era, re ...

. The church's northern wall and 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 ...

's northern aisle were also rebuilt. In the vestry there are two preserved

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s dating from the 13th century and two

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. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

bowls. It includes stained glass by

Paul Woodroffe Paul Vincent Woodroffe (25 January 1875 – 7 May 1954) was a British book illustrator and stained-glass artist. Early life Woodroffe was born in Madras (present-day Chennai), one of nine children of Francis Henry Woodroffe, a judge in the M ...

and

Hugh Arnold Hugh Arnold (1872 – 11 August 1915) was an English stained glass artist. Arnold was educated at the Slade School of Fine Art before attending the London County Council (LCC) Central School of Arts and Crafts where he studied under Christopher ...

. The organ is by Samuel Green of London and dated 1787.

References

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