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St. Mary's Church in Ashbury is a cruciform building consisting of a chancel 40 ft. by 18 ft., north transept 14 ft. by 14 ft. 6 in., south transept 26 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 3 in., nave 54 ft. 6 in. by 15 ft. 6 in., north aisle 39 ft. by 8 ft. 6 in., south aisle 39 ft. by 10 ft. 6 in., north porch with parvise 7 ft. 6 in. by 10 ft. 3 in., and west tower 14 ft. square, all these measurements being internal. The total internal length is 115 ft., and the width across the transepts 61 ft.

The chancel and transepts are built of clunch with stone dressings, and the rest of the building is of coursed rubble, the tower being covered with roughcast. The roof of the north transept is covered with stone slates and that of the south aisle is asphalted, but all the other roofs are leaded and of flat pitch. The aisles have straight parapets and the chancel roof is caved. There is no clearstory.

The oldest parts of the building are of 12thcentury date, and include the western part of the north and south nave walls and the south doorway. Several fragments of the same period were found in 1910 built into the north-west angle of the tower, and are now preserved in the south transept. The extent of the 12th-century church eastward cannot now be determined, but the building, which may have been cruciform in plan, had an aisleless nave with north and south doorways, the west jambs of which still remain in situ, with the responds of the later arcade built up against them. The present south doorway may have been the original west doorway, the extent of the 12th-century nave westward being rather less than half that of the tower. In the 13th century aisles were set out, the transepts rebuilt, that on the south being enlarged, arcades of three bays erected west of the crossing, and a new tower begun at the west end incorporating part of the nave walls, but involving the destruction of the west wall and gable. The old central tower, assuming one to have existed, was at this time taken down, but the piers would be left standing till a later date. Early in the 14th century the chancel was rebuilt on a lengthened plan and new windows inserted in the transepts, and about a century later the aisles and arcades were rebuilt, the south aisle being slightly widened and the north porch added. The piers or pieces of wall on the west side of the original crossing were at this time removed, though the arches erected when the transepts were rebuilt were allowed to remain. The west window and embattled parapet of the tower are also of 15th-century date. The nave roof, with moulded king-post principals and brackets, was erected in the 15th century, and was apparently recon structed about 1600, a plaster ceiling ornamented with spurious Gothic features being introduced in the 18th century. In 1872 the church was reseated, and a partial restoration was carried out during the succeeding years, but the fabric was not thoroughly taken in hand till 1908, when the chancel was restored by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In 1910 the tower was underpinned and its north-west angle rebuilt, the nave roof opened out and other repairs effected. 

The chancel has a plain three-light east window with the mullions crossing in the head, and three windows, each of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the head, on the south side, and a similar window and pointed priest's doorway on the north. In the usual position on the south side is a mutilated trefoilheaded piscina with plain circular bowl. The chancel arch is modern.

The nave is of four bays with north and south arcades consisting of pointed arches springing from piers composed of four small shafts with hollows between, the shafts having separate moulded capitals and bases. The older eastern arch on either side is of two chamfered orders, the outer order dying into the wall at the east end and the inner resting on a moulded corbel, that on the south side being new. The three later western arches on either side are of two hollow moulded orders and spring at the west end from responds similar in detail to the piers. The hood moulds terminate at the west in animals' heads, and at the junction of the older and later arches over the first pier is a human head. Traces of red colouring remain on the nave piers.

The north transept, which has a high-pitched gable and dwarf buttresses facing north, opens to the aisle by a 15th-century four-centred arch of two orders springing from a 13th-century respond on the north side and dying into the wall above the pier on the south. The respond consists of a large half-round flanked by slender shafts with moulded bases and octagonal capitals. The north window is a 14thcentury insertion of two trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in the head, and at the sill level is a moulded string. In the east wall, which sets back inside at a height of 5 ft. 3 in., is a single-light ogee trefoiled window at the north end, while at the south end is a plain pointed piscina recess, the bowl of which has gone.

¶The south transept, which was probably the chantry of the Blessed Virgin Mary, has a 14th-century south window of two cinquefoiled lights with a lozengeshaped opening in the head, above which the wall is rough-casted. In the east wall is a square-headed window of three cinquefoiled lights and a smaller one of two lights in the west wall. The arch to the aisle is similar to that on the north side, but owing to the transept being wider and the spacing of the 15thcentury arcade being the same on both sides, is built on the skew. It springs from a 13th-century respond similar in section to that opposite, but the capitals of the shafts are circular and the upper members are moulded. The position of the respond implies that the aisles were originally of equal width, but at the widening in the 15th century the wall was pierced at the angle by a pointed opening of two lights, 6 ft. in height, filled with tracery. The piscina is at the east end of the south wall and has a trefoiled head, but the bowl has gone. Below the south window is a wide recess of 13th-century date with a cinquefoiled arch, which may be slightly later than the rebuilding of the transept, and is probably the burial-place of the founder of the chantry. It now contains a stone coffin, in which are preserved the 12th-century fragments already mentioned. They include portions of a scalloped and a fluted capital.

The south aisle is lighted from the south by three square-headed windows, one of three lights over the doorway and the others on either side, each of two lights. The doorway has a semicircular arch of two orders, the outer with roll moulding and zigzag ornament forming a lozenge pattern carried on angle shafts and the inner plain. The hood mould has a quirk and hollow studded with cone ornaments and terminates in dragons' heads. The shafts have moulded bases and capitals with scroll foliage. The doorway, previously built up, was reopened in 1873. A hollow string at the level of the crown of the arch runs along the wall, stopping against the south-west buttress. In the west wall of the aisle is a plain lancet, much restored.

The north aisle has two pointed windows of two cinquefoiled lights with moulded jambs and labels, one on each side of the porch, but the west wall is blank. The porch has a flat gable with an original apex cross, straight side parapets, and diagonal buttresses of two stages. The outer opening is four-centred under a square label with cusped circles in the spandrels, above which is an empty ogee-headed niche with crocketed canopy and pinnacles. The roof is groined, with diagonal and intermediate ribs springing from angle shafts and meeting in a cusped circle. The carving within the quatrefoil is modern. The inner doorway is four-centred. There is a small two-light window on the east side and a single opening on the west. Access to the parvise is by a projecting newel staircase in the south-west angle opening from the nave by a round-headed doorway. The room measures 11 ft. 2 in. by 8 ft. and is lighted on the north and west by trefoiled loops roughly cut through single stones, said to be coffin lids.

At the west end of the north aisle wall is a fireplace with a stone canopy carried on corbels, which may indicate the existence in this corner of a manorial pew.

The tower is of three stages with embattled parapet, angle pinnacles, and large square buttresses the height of the second stage at the western angles and in the middle of the north and south walls. The northwest angle, including the two buttresses, being in a dangerous state and practically severed from the rest of the structure, was rebuilt in 1910. There are also two large buttresses on the east side carried up from the older portion of the nave walls. The vice is contained in the thickness of the wall on the south side, and there is a dwarf buttress below the west window, which is of three lights with perpendicular tracery. The mullions and tracery are new. In the middle stage on the south side is a built-up singlelight window with cinquefoiled head, and in a similar position on the north a plain lancet. The belfry windows on all four sides consist of double lancets under a containing arch with triangular opening in the head. The tower arch, which is of two orders dying into the wall at the springing, was dropped a few years ago to reduce its thrust.

The font is octagonal with panelled sides, each with a four-leaved flower within a circle. It is of 15th-century date and stands on three modern steps near the north doorway. The pulpit is of stone 'in memory of the Rev. W. Matthews, B.A., who died preaching here 9 January 1870.'

In the chancel floor are three brasses, the oldest being a head and bust of John de Walden (c. 1350), who is represented in civil costume with long hair and beard. On the north side is a full-length figure of Thomas de Bushbury, rector (d. 1409), in mass vestments. The third brass is a full-length figure of William Skelton, LL.B., rector (d. 1448), formerly Provost of Wells and rector of St. Vedast, London, in mass vestments with inscription.

Below the tower is an oak chest 6 ft. long with three locks, and five lead panels taken from the roofs with the names and initials of the churchwardens, and dated respectively 1704, 1722, 1763, 1769 and 1798. The royal arms of George III are at the west end of the north aisle, and in the chancel is a good brass chandelier of twelve branches. There are numerous 18th and early 19th-century mural tablets.

In 1794 a pair of mediaeval brass altar candlesticks and the lid of a thurible were discovered in the chest, then in the chancel. The candlesticks, which were covered with blue enamel, have since disappeared. 

The tower contains a ring of six bells, three cast in 1733 by Henry Bagley of Ecton, Northamptonshire, two by W. & J. Taylor of Oxford in 1845, and the treble by Mears & Stainbank in 1873. There is also a little bell cast in 1800 by James Wells of Aldbourne, Wilts.

The plate consists of an Elizabethan cover paten without marks but inscribed '1577' on the button; a breadholder of 1717–18 with the maker's initials B.E., inscribed 'Thomas White, Vicar, Ashbury 1718, Jonathan Waterman, Robert Mallingley, Church Wardens'; a flagon of 1778–9 with the maker's initials J.D. inscribed 'Ashbury, Berks., 1779. Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth Peace Good Will towards Men'; a cup of 1781 inscribed 'Ashbury Berks. 1781'; and two plates of 1854 each inscribed 'Given to the Parish of Ashbury by the Revd. Wm. Chambers, Vicar, B.D. 1854.' There is also a spoon without marks inscribed on the handle '1637,' and two pewter plates, one dated 1796 and both bearing the initials A.G.

The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) all entries 1653 to 1682; (ii) 1684 to 1704; (iii) 1704 to 1733; (iv) 1734 to 1784, but the marriages end in 1753; (v, vi, vii) marriages 1754 to 1777, 1777 to 1808, and 1808 to 1812 respectively; (viii) baptisms and burials 1785 to 1812. There is a book of Churchwardens' Accounts from 1602 to 1794.

Historical information about the St. Mary's Church is provided by 'Parishes: Ashbury', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 503-512. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp503-512 [accessed 24 February 2023].

St. Mary's Church is a Grade I listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST MARY, Ashbury - 1048770 | Historic England.

For more information about St. Mary's Church see Parishes: Ashbury | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).