St. Mary's Church Black Bourton, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

SP2804-2904 CARTERTON AND BLACK BOURTON BURFORD ROAD (West side) Black Bourton 10/154 Church of St. Mary the Virgin 12/09/55

GV I Church. Chancel is early C12 in origin, remodelled C13; nave and north aisle are late C12, the nave with early C16 clerestory, the aisle much rebuilt 1866; C13 north chapel; C14 south porch; early C16 west tower. Church was re-roofed 1847 and then much restored 1866 by E.G. Bruton. Fine series of C13 wall paintings revealed 1930's. Coursed rubble limestone, with stone slate roofs to chancel, porch and aisle, and lead roofs to nave and tower. West tower was built over end bay of nave, retaining lancet windows, that to west partly blocked and with altered cusped heads. 2 upper stages are early C16 and have moulded ashlar parapet, 2-light bell-chamber openings with Tudor hoodmoulds, and chamfered rectangular lights below. Nave has 2 C13 lancets in south wall, and a C19 3-light window with simple cusped tracery. Early C16 clerestory has moulded ashlar parapet with carved stone heads to string, and 3-light rectangular windows with hallow-chamfered mullions. 3 windows to south, one to north. C14 south doorway with double hollow chamfer, in large gabled porch with double chamfered arch and narrow light above. North aisle retains similar C14 doorway, but otherwise rebuilt 1866 with lancet windows. North chapel has single lights, arched to east, rectangular to north. Chancel has 2 C13 lancets with cusping in north wall, another to south, and a C15-C16 lowside window of 2 cusped lights with a Tudor hoodmould. East wall has a pair of small C13 lancets, linked by single dripmould, and a single rectangular light above. South doorway of chancel is early Cl2, much restored, with shafted jambs and semi-circular tympanum. This is carved with a Maltese cross and has diaper ornament and heavy billet moulding to border. Interior: C15-C16 door to tower, formerly south door, in moulded depressed arch; Transitional north arcade of 5 bays, with chamfered arches cylindrical piers and moulded capitals, 2 capitals scalloped, one with quatrefoil ornament; chamfered square pier between west bays; C19 nave roof on restored stone corbels with carved heads; another corbel between east arches of arcade. East bay of arcade opens into north chapel which has trefoil-headed piscina in east wall. Chancel arch is C13, with 2 hollow chamfered orders, the inner on moulded corbels. To left of chancel arch, in east wall of nave is a rectangular nich. Chancel has wide window splays with altered C15-C16 heads, C19 roof and window-seat sedilia, and aumbry and piscina in east wall. Piscina in trefoil-headed and has carved foliage corbel. Wall paintings in nave are mid-late C13. North wall has scenes depicting the Vesting and Martyrdom of St. Thomas a Becket, the Tree of Jesse, St. Christopher, and the Baptism of Christ. Painted roundels also feature the Coronation of the Virgin and Saints Peter and Paul. South wall is painted with figure of St. Richard of Chichester high near east end, and 2 figures of bishops and a hand of God above a painted roundel at west end. Other scenes in jambs of central lancet and to left have painted foliage friezes, and show The Angel appearing to Joseph, the Massacre of the Innocents, and the Adoration of the Magi. Fittings: C12 cylindrical font on square base with worn carved feet; semi-octagonal C15 stone pulpit with blind tracery panels and brattishing; other fittings C19, with glass by Clayton and Bell. North Chapel contains 2 good monuments: 1) to Elinor Hungerford, 1592, with recumbent effigy in Corinthian tabernacle; 2) marble wall cartouche to Anthony Hungerford, 1703, with richly carved military trophies. (P.J. Randell: A History of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Black Bourton, 1986; Mary Lupton: A History of the Parish of Black Bourton, 1903)

Listing NGR: SP2865604229