St Mary's Church, Potsgrove facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Mary's Church, Potsgrove |
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St Mary's Church, Potsgrove, from the south
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| OS grid reference | SP 951 298 |
| Location | Potsgrove, Bedfordshire |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | Churches Conservation Trust |
| History | |
| Dedication | Saint Mary the Virgin |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Redundant |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* |
| Designated | 22 October 1952 |
| Architect(s) | J. D. Sedding (restoration) |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Gothic, Gothic Revival |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Ironstone and clunch Roofs tiled |
St Mary's Church is an old Anglican church located in the small village of Potsgrove, Bedfordshire, England. It's no longer used for regular church services, which means it's a "redundant church." This special building is protected as a Grade II* listed building, meaning it's very important historically and architecturally. The Churches Conservation Trust looks after it to make sure it stays safe for future generations. You can find the church at the end of a quiet country lane, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) northeast of Leighton Buzzard.
History of St Mary's Church
The church building you see today dates back to the 14th century. However, it was greatly changed and updated between 1880 and 1881 by an architect named J. D. Sedding.
In the 15th century, the walls of the main part of the church, called the nave, were made taller. This was done when the current roof was added. The roof over the chancel (the area near the altar) was built even later.
Some older stones from the 12th and 13th centuries can be found in the north wall of the nave. This tells us that there was likely an even older church standing on this spot before the current one was built.
Exploring St Mary's Church
St Mary's Church is mostly built from a type of stone called ironstone mixed with smaller pieces of rock, known as rubble. It also uses some clunch, which is a soft limestone, and has smooth, cut stone details called ashlar dressings. The roofs are covered with tiles.
The church has a simple layout. It includes a main area called the nave, a small entrance porch on the south side, and a chancel at the east end. There's also a bell turret (a small tower) on the northwest side.
The large window at the east end of the chancel has five sections, with decorative stone patterns above them. On both the north and south sides of the chancel, there are two windows, each with two sections. The nave has similar windows: two on the north side and three on the south.
On the north side of the church, there's a doorway with a decorative stone arch above it, called a dripstone. The ends of this dripstone are carved with the faces of a man and a woman. The south porch also has a doorway with similar carvings.
At the west end of the nave, there's a window with two sections. Above this window, you'll find a special arched space called an ogee-headed niche. Inside this niche is a statue of the Virgin Mary and Child.
The bell turret is shaped like an octagon and has a stone spire on top. Each side of the turret has two levels of openings. The spire itself has small, dormer-like windows called lucarnes and is topped with a cross finial (a decorative ornament).
Inside the church, a wooden screen separates the chancel from the nave. Some parts of this screen are very old, dating back to the 14th century. In the north wall of the chancel, there's a special recessed tomb. The chancel also has a piscina (a basin for washing sacred vessels) and a sedilia (seats for the clergy). You can find more piscinae in the nave.
The baptismal font (where baptisms take place) is made from a dark stone called Purbeck marble. On the wall of the nave, there are two special engraved metal plates called brasses. One is from 1535, and the other is from later in the same century. The west window of the nave contains beautiful pieces of stained glass from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Things to See Outside
In the churchyard, there are two items that are also protected as Grade II listed buildings. The first is a limestone headstone that probably dates back to 1711. The second is a row of six other limestone headstones from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
See also
