MSO11460 - St Mary's Church and Churchyard, Nettlecombe (Building)

St Mary's church has an early 15th Century tower and it is probable that the walls of the chancel and nave, although appearing to be no earlier than the 15th Century, may indeed be those of a 13th Century church, or at any rate form the foundations of an earlier building. The rest of the church was much renewed in 1969. [1] In normal use. [3] There was probably a church in Nettlecombe by the late 12th Century and in 1291 it was worth £8. The church was dedicated by 1440. The aisle was probably the chapel which in 1440 was dedicated to St John the Baptist. The rood loft was taken down in 1529-30 when the N nave wall was being demolished. There was a singing loft by 1713. [4] Graveyard in use since at least medieval times. [6] Churchyard contains scheduled cross MSO7694. [7] An oak board records 38 members of the parish who served in WWI. A brass plaque commemorates 9 members of the parish who died during WWI. A cross and palm leaves are incised above the inscription. The plaque was made by J. Wippell and Co Ltd. [8] Parish church. C13-C14, West tower rebuilt mid C15, South aisle rebuilt late C15, porch and North aisle circa 1536, North chapel 1531-4, church restored circa 1820-1, clerestory added, chancel altered and vestry added 1858 and 1870. Architects, early C19 Richard Carver, later work by C E Giles under direction of James Babbage. Red sandstone random rubble, squared and coursed on vestry and chancel, slate roofs, coped verges. West tower, clerestoried 4 bay nave, North and South aisles, North porch, chancel with North chapel, South vestry with organ chamber. Crenellated 3- stage tower, diagonal buttresses, gargoyles, 2-light louvred bell openings, clock face West front, 3-light West window, moulded arched West door, octagonal crenellated stair turret North-west corner. 2-light window West end of South aisle, similar 2-light in outer bays flanking 2 gabled projections lit by quatrefoil openings, 2-light East end of aisle with C13 hexagonal coffin lid with raised cross inset to South, trefoil headed lancet lighting rood loft, C19 arched door and 2-light window to vestry, lancet to chancel and 3-light East window also C19, 4-light cinquefoil headed hollow chamfered mullioned window under hood mould East end of chapel, stepped buttresses to East and North fronts, North front similar 3- and 2-light mullioned windows with 4-light windows flanking gabled single storey porch, moulded arched entrance, open wagon roof, moulded 4-centred arch doorway, C19 decorative spandrels, C19 door, 3-light window West end North aisle. Interior: rendered. Victorian open timber roofs, except for C16 wagon roof vault in South aisle. Victorian chancel arch, tower arch chamfered in 3 orders. Standard Perpendicular arcades with foliage capitals, similar 2-bay arcade between chancel and chapel. Norman style 2-light clerestory windows to nave. Recesses with rib vaulting and corbel heads in South aisle containing effigies presumed to be of Sir John Ralegh and his first wife Maud, mid C14, and the other a chain mail knight of circa 1260, reset C19. Black and white marble wall tablet to Lady Trevelyan, died 1697, another by T King of Bath to John Oatway with a sorrowing figure beside an urn. Tomb slab in South aisle to John Trevelyan, died 1623. Large tomb slab resting against wall in west tower to Richard Musgrave, died 1686, fine lettering. Screen to West end dated 1848, gallery above with some reset C16 panelling. 4 bay rood screen, late C15 restored C19. Good late C15 octagonal font carved with The Seven Sacrments. Some C16 bench ends reset. Pre-Reformation altar slab. Late C17 carved pedestal pulpit. C17 stained glass. (VCH Somerset, vol 5, forthcoming; Photographs in NMR; SANHS Proceedings, 1916 and 1934). [9] Additional Bibliography. [10-15] The building was visited in December 2013 as part of the rapid condition survey of Exmoor's Listed Buildings 2012-13. It received a BAR score of 6. [16]