St. Mary's Church, Cholsey
¶The earliest church on this site of which traces remain was probably of the first half of the 11th century, and would seem to have been, like the present church, cruciform with a central tower. The present central tower has long-and-short work at three angles up to the level of the ridge of the present roof, while the south-west angle has been altered for a 14th-century turret stair. The great thickness of the tower piers seems to indicate a reinforcement of the earlier work in the 12th-century rebuilding. The present church is almost wholly of the 12th and 13th centuries, the chancel having been much altered and lengthened in the latter century. The 12th-century church, incorporating the 11th-century tower, consisted of a short chancel, transepts with apsidal eastern ends, and a nave rather shorter than that at present standing. The apses have both disappeared, but in the north transept the opening is merely blocked, and its semicircular arch is visible internally, while the outline can be plainly traced externally. In the case of the south transept the recent excavation revealed the foundations of the apse, which was exactly equal in width to that of the north transept. The western half of the present chancel, which doubtless had originally an apsidal termination, the inner faces of the tower piers, the transepts, and the greater part of the nave are of the 12th century. About 1260 the chancel was lengthened eastward to its present dimensions. In the latter part of the 14th century the tower was rebuilt from the level of the roofs, and the stair turret was added, when the thickening of the southern half of the western face of the tower probably took place. This may, however, indicate that the upper stage of the old tower had fallen, necessitating the repair of the remaining portion on that face. At the same time the south wall of the south transept was rebuilt. In the 15th century the nave appears to have been lengthened a little, and the present west wall and west window were made. In 1849 the nave was reroofed, two new windows were inserted in each side wall and a south porch was removed. In 1877–8 the north wall of the north transept was rebuilt, both transepts were repaired, the south transept fitted for service, and the chancel was restored. At the same time two new windows were inserted in the western end of the south wall of the chancel in place of a 12th-century window. Much of the stone work was scraped and retooled, and the present capitals of the responds of the eastern crossing arch of the tower were inserted, in imitation of the 12th-century work of the existing capitals of the western crossing arch. The east window is of three trefoiled lights with tracery of the late 13th century under a pointed head. The rear arch has deeply undercut mouldings, and the jambs detached shafts with carved capitals and moulded bases. In the east end of the north wall of the chancel are three original lancets, grouped together on the inside, with richly moulded and labelled rear arches and widely splayed inner jambs with attached shafts, having moulded capitals and bases, at the meeting of the splays of the centre light with the side lights, and corresponding shafts at the angles of the side jambs. The outer jambs are chamfered, and over each lancet is a moulded label terminating in grotesque head-stops. To the west of these windows is a single round-headed light of 12th-century date, which was discovered in the restoration of 1878. The jambs have small attached angle shafts with cushion capitals and moulded bases, but only the east jamb of the window is original. In the east end of the south wall are three lancets similar to those in the opposite wall, but having stepped sills, which were only found in the recent restoration, and have been considerably restored. In the western half of the sill of the easternmost window are two piscinae, the first basin being quatrefoiled, the second plain, while in the sill of the centre light are two sedilia and in the eastern half of the end light a third. To the west is a 13th-century priest's doorway with a pointed head and continuously moulded external jambs, and an external label, stopped on the west side by a head-stop, but on the east carried round the wall of the chancel below the windows as a string-course. The two western windows are modern, and are copied from those just described. At the east end of the chancel, inside, at the level of the window sills, a moulded stringcourse, much restored, marks approximately the 13th-century lengthening. It is stopped on the north and south walls by carved heads. The moulding has been copied and carried along at the sill level of the modern windows in the west end of the south wall. The walls are plastered internally. The tower, which is crowned by an embattled parapet, is carried up almost square without any external offsets or buttresses, and has in the south-western angle a stair turret of the 14th century, which was originally entered from the north-west corner of the south transept, but now from the outside at the angle of the nave and south transept wall. The walls of the ground stage are nearly 6 ft. thick, and are carried on the east and west sides by semicircular arches of three square orders. The abaci at the springing were moulded originally with a quirk and hollow chamfer, but, having been badly restored, now assume the section of the classical echinus. The responds taking the two outer orders are of the same section as the arches they carry, but the inner orders are stopped at the springing and carried by attached half-round piers having carved capitals and moulded bases. The capitals to the responds of the eastern arch are both modern, but those of the nave arch are both original. Opening into the transepts are semicircular arches the full width of the walls of the tower and springing from the moulded abaci which are continued round the walls from the responds of the east and west arches. Lighting the ringing chamber from the south and west are small single trefoiled lights, and lower down in the west wall, just above the level of the ridge of the nave roof, is a larger modern two-light window. In each face of the bell-chamber is a window of two trefoiled ogee-headed lights with a quatrefoil under a pointed head. At the angles of the parapet are the stumps of pinnacles, and on the cornice under the parapet on each side are two grotesque gargoyles. The walls of the tower are faced with coursed rubble. The south-west angle of the lower part is covered by the 14th-century stair turret, but on the other three angles the long-and-short work of the 11th century can be very clearly seen. In the east wall of the north transept is a semicircular blocked arch springing from square responds with grooved and chamfered abaci and having an internal label of the same section. This arch originally formed the opening into the apse. Against the north wall of the tower is the north jamb of a blocked-up squint. The north wall was entirely rebuilt in 1878, when diagonal buttresses were added at the east and west angles, but many old stones were re-used in the north window, which is of three trefoiled lights with reticulated tracery under a pointed head. On the west side, placed high up in the wall, is a small original round-headed opening with widely splayed inner jambs and an external chamfer. The head is in one stone with a groove incised round the opening and along the edges. The still is modern and the jambs have been slightly restored. To the south of this window is a modern doorway with a shouldered head. The greater part of the east wall of the south transept has been rebuilt, though a mark in the masonry in the outside of the wall may indicate the commencement of the original apse; a modern roundheaded window has been inserted in this wall. In the south wall is a good 14th-century window of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery under a pointed head, and an external moulded label with much decayed head-stops. In the west wall is a 12th-century window similar to that in the north transept; the still is modern. Across the north-west angle is the blocked stair-turret doorway, which has a pointed head wave-moulded continuously with the jambs, while over the doorway is a moulded string-course. At the corners of the south wall are two diagonal buttresses, the eastern much restored, and at the foot of the gable are much mutilated heads. The nave has in each wall two modern three-light windows of 14th-century character. Between the windows in the south wall is a mid-12th-century doorway which has been much restored. The round head is of two orders, the outer enriched with cheveron ornament and contained within a hollow-chamfered label, the vertical face of which is ornamented with a flat zigzag, while below the chamfer is a row of circular pellets. The head is filled by a tympanum, on which an incised line follows the curve of the semicircle, but the horizontal chord is turned up towards the centre, as though some more elaborate work had been contemplated, but progressed no further than the first drafting lines. The outer order is carried by detached shafts having carved capitals and moulded bases, but the jambs taking the inner order are square. The capital to the eastern shaft is carved on each face with an inverted trefoil with a beast's head at the angle, while the western capital is of an interlacing scroll design. There are marks of sundials on both the east and west jambs and also on the tympanum. Over the doorway are the lines of the steep-pitched roof to a porch which was removed in the restoration of 1847. At the west end of the nave is a wooden gallery (in which is the organ) lighted by a 15th-century window of three cinquefoiled lights, with vertical tracery under a four-centred head. The west wall has a stepped gable, and below the stepping, following the line of the roof, is a moulded string terminating at the north angle in a winged angel, but on the south the stop has been broken off. Internally the nave is heavily plastered throughout, and outside the walls have been covered with rough-cast, effectually concealing any traces of the original windows or other features, with the exception of a lancet window which can just be discerned between the western window and the doorway in the south wall. The roof of the chancel is steep-pitched and modern, but of good design. The transept roofs are also modern, but in that to the north transept many old timbers were re-used. The roof of the nave is wholly modern, but the marks of a steep-pitched early roof can be seen on the western face of the tower. The eastern end of the front bench on the south side of the chancel is of the 15th century, and has traceried panelling with a poppy-head finial; three of the panels in the front of this row have cinquefoiled heads of the same date. In the floor of the chancel, underneath the east arch of the tower, are several 14th-century tiles, and there are also several in the floor at the north-west corner of the south transept. On the floor against the south wall of the south transept is a mutilated 14th-century stone effigy of a lady wearing a long cloak with her head upon a pillow and her hands clasped upon her breast. In the floor of the south transept against the west wall is a brass to John Barfort, who died in 1361, and in the floor of the chancel on the south side is a brass figure of a priest in eucharistic vestments holding a chalice and below it an inscription to John More, vicar, 1471. On the opposite side of the chancel is a brass to John Gate, vicar, who died in 1394. In the north transept is a slab with the matrices of the figures of a man and his wife and two shields, and a modern brass in the matrix for the inscription, assuming it to commemorate John Willmot, who died in 1529, and his wife Agnes. There is a ring of six bells: the treble and fourth by John Hunt of Cholsey, 1826; the second is inscribed 'SAMUELL KNIGHT MEAD MEE THE LEADER OF THIS RING TOO BEE,' underneath which is the date 1642 (the last figure is almost indecipherable, but is probably a '2'); the third by Samuel Knight, 1685; the fifth by John Warner & Sons, 1869; and the tenor by Samuel Knight, inscribed 'W. B. S. K. 1685.' There is also a sanctus bell, probably dating from early in the 14th century, inscribed in Gothic capitals 'Ricardus de Wimbis me fecit.' The plate consists of a cover paten dated 1577 with the date letter of that year, a chalice and cover paten stamped with the date letter of 1646, the chalice inscribed 'Legatum Thomae Brackley,' a modern silver paten, and an almsdish and modern chalice, neither of which is silver. There is also a silver-mounted modern glass flagon. The registers previous to 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms 1541 to 1611 and 1617 to 1676, marriages 1548 to 1644 and 1658 to 1678, burials 1540 to 1609, 1617 to 1620, 1630 to 1647, and 1652 to 1678; (ii) baptisms 1679 to 1793, marriages 1680 to 1754, burials 1679 to 1794; (iii) marriages 1754 to 1791; (iv) marriages 1791 to 1815; (v) baptisms and burials 1794 to 1812; (vi) baptisms in duplicate 1805 to 1813. There is a Baptist chapel in Cholsey. Historical information about St. Mary's Church is provided by 'Parishes: Cholsey', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3, ed. P H Ditchfield and William Page (London, 1923), pp. 296-302. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol3/pp296-302 [accessed 16 March 2023]. St. Mary's Church is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see Church of St. Mary, Cholsey - 1059283 | Historic England. For more information about St. Mary's Church see Parishes: Cholsey | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk). |
