St Mary's Church is a
redundant Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church in the village of
Brentingby
Brentingby is a village in Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the ...
,
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, England. The walls of the church required renovation when converted into a private house, with the tower standing untouched. The tower is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...
as a designated 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 ...
,
and is under the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
.
History
The church was built in the 14th century, and remodelled in 1660.
[ The remodelling consisted of shortening the east end and building a new east wall, replacing 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 ...
windows, rebuilding the roof to give it a steeper pitch, and blocking the north door. The church was declared redundant in the 1950s. Thereafter its condition deteriorated. In 1972–73 a trial excavation was undertaken.[ The land is the ecclesiastical parish of Melton Mowbray, whose parochial church council administers the town church and four others for formerly very rural, less than 2-mile away, lesser active, ex-independent parish churches.Parish Map]
The Church of England.
Architecture
Present state
The tower is constructed in limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
. It is divided into four stages by string course
A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...
s. In the lowest stage are ogee
An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...
-headed lancet window
A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...
s in the north, south and west sides, and there are similar windows in the second stage on the north and south. All these windows are blocked. In the third stage there is an altered louvred opening on the east side, and the remains of a lancet window on the west. In the top stage are ogee-headed lancet bell openings on the north and the south sides. The tower is surmounted by a saddleback roof, on which is an octagonal spirelet. In each of the east and west gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
s of the roof are two lancet openings, above each of which is an ogee-headed niche with a bracket containing a ballflower ornament.[
]
Previous church
The church previously consisted of a 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 ...
without aisle
An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...
s. The east window was a square-headed mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...
ed window with four lights, while the four windows in the north and south walls of the nave were similar, but with three lights. Above one of the windows was an inscription recording the 1660 repairs. At the time of the excavation, a number of re-used decorative stones were found within the structure of the nave walls. Also present was a series of wall paintings. On the east wall were Royal arms
The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the royal arms, are the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently Charles III. They are used by the Government of the United Kingdom and by other The Crown, Crown instit ...
dating probably from the time of George I. There were the remains of texts, including the Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...
on the north wall. Partly covered by plaster
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
was a painting depicting a pair of figures. One of these was a skeleton holding a spear and a spade. The other was a man, possibly holding a musical instrument. This painting constitutes a , and has been removed for display in a museum. There had been two bells, one dating from the 14th century, and the other probably from the 16th century.[
]
See also
* List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in the English Midlands
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brentingby, Saint Mary
Grade II listed churches in Leicestershire
English Gothic architecture in Leicestershire
14th-century church buildings in England
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust
Church of England church buildings in Leicestershire
Former Church of England church buildings