Church of St Mary Magdalene Shrewsbury, England

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

SHREWSBURY

SJ51NW BATTLEFIELD 653-1/2/745 Church of St Mary Magdalene 19/09/72

II*

Church. Early C15, restored 1862 by Pountney Smith. Coursed and squared limestone with plain tiled and Welsh slate roofs. West tower, nave with single south aisle, chancel. EXTERIOR: 2-stage west tower with doorway and 2-light traceried window over in west wall, and paired foiled bell chamber lights in the upper stage. Stair turret projects from south wall. Embattled parapet with quatrefoil frieze and angle pinnacles. Nave of 3 bays divided by pilaster buttresses, with doorways to north and south. Windows mostly recut on restoration in late Decorated style, though one window to north has reticulated tracery of an earlier pattern. Long chancel, with reticulated traceried windows to south, partially concealed by chapel added during restoration to north. Foundations of further range of building visible towards south east. Plain parapet to nave, openwork quatrefoil parapet to chancel. Gargoyles, some representing fighting figures. 5-light Perpendicular east window with statue of soldier King Henry IV in niche over. INTERIOR: single space, single span with tall double chamfered tower arch and hammer beam roof with shields as bosses, pendants, and traceried panelling between braces and rafters. Timber screen with traceried panels and ogee central arch dividing the nave, inserted during restoration and marking a division of the building made during the C18, when only the eastern end was in use. Encaustic tiled floor throughout, possibly by Maw's. Sedilia, squint and blocked doorway in south wall adjacent to altar, the squint formerly accessed from vanished southern range. Reredos with high relief nativity, crucifixion and resurrection in traceried panels. Emblematic stained glass throughout, and figures of apostles to chancel, and Mary Magdalene in the east window. Corbet family mortuary chapel to north, with stained glass dated 1864, and fragments of C15 glass originating in Normandy. Corbet tomb to north of chancel, 4 traceried panels forming vaulted sanctuary. Wood Pieta on north wall resited from the church at Albright Hussey. HISTORICAL NOTE: the church was built as a chantry established by King Henry IV to commemorate the Battle of Shrewsbury fought nearby in 1403. After 1545, it became the parish church for the old parish of Albright Hussey, and is now maintained by the Redundant Churches Fund.

Listing NGR: SJ5125217255