Church Of St Mary The Virgin, Whitelackington
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The Anglican Church of St Mary the Virgin in
Whitelackington Whitelackington is a village and civil parish on the A303 road, A303 one mile north east of Ilminster, in Somerset, England. The parish includes Dillington Park and the Hamlet (place), hamlets of Atherstone and Ashwell. Etymology The village's ...
,
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 was built in the 14th and 15th centuries. It is a Grade II*
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 during the 14th and 15th centuries. Rev.F.C.Johnson was vicar from 1825-1874. The parish is part of the
benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
of
Ilminster Ilminster is a market town and civil parish in Somerset, England, with a population of 5,808. Bypassed in 1988, the town now lies just east of the junction of the A303 (London to Exeter) and the A358 (Taunton to Chard and Axminster). The parish ...
and Whitelackington within the
Diocese of Bath and Wells The Diocese of Bath and Wells is a diocese in the Church of England Province of Canterbury in England. The diocese covers the county of Somerset and a small area of Dorset. The Episcopal seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells is located in the ...
.


Architecture

The
hamstone Hamstone is a honey-coloured building stone from Ham Hill, Somerset, England. It is a well-cemented medium to coarse grained limestone characterised by marked bedding planes of clay inclusions and less well-cemented material which weather dif ...
building has slate roofs. The lead of the roof contains images of hands, feet, shoes and names carved into it, the oldest dating back to 1689. The church consists of a four-
bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
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 two-bay
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 ...
which have corner
buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...
es. The four-stage west tower is also supported by buttresses. The stained glass in the east window is by
Charles Eamer Kempe Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lychg ...
and was installed in 1896. The interior fittings include a 14th-century
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 ...
in the north transept, and in the east wall there is a richly decorated statue niche. Monuments include two defaced effigies on the floor of the south transept, a civilian of around 1350 and a knight in armour of 1375. The tomb of Sir George Speke is in
Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', ⟠...
style. There is also a monument to John Hanning, who died in 1807, which is by J. Richards of Exeter. The Speke family were the
lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...
and controlled church and village life. Probably the best known is
John Hanning Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 â€“ 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and army officer who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile and was the first Eu ...
.


See also

*
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

{{reflist Grade II* listed buildings in South Somerset Grade II* listed churches in Somerset