Building record 3434/2/1 - Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Little Houghton

St Mary's Church was built in the 13th-15th centuries and altered in the late 18-early 19th century. The body of the church was rebuilt and the rest of the building restored in 1873 by Charles Buckeridge, at a cost of #3,000. Built of coursed ironstone rubble and coursed squared ironstone with ironstone and limestone dressings, The roofs are of plain-tiles and lead. The church consists of a chancel, organ chamber/vestry, aisled nave, south porch and west tower.

{1} Church. C13-C15, altered late C18/early C19. Body of church rebuilt 1873 and otherwise restored by Charles Buckeridge at cost of £3,000. Coursed ironstone rubble and coursed squared ironstone with ironstone and limestone dressings, plain-tile and lead roofs. Chancel, organ chamber/vestry, aisled nave, south porch and west tower. 3-bay chancel has 3-light east window with C19 reticulated tracery, a 2-light window to north with C19 Decorated tracery and pair of similar windows to south and stone-coped east gable with kneelers. C19 vestry/organ chamber continues north aisle and has 3-light window to east and north, the latter with straight head, both with hood moulds. Nave has 3-bay clerestory of 1873; 2-light windows with straight heads and hood moulds and plain stone-coped parapet. Aisles have 2-light windows with C19 Decorated style tracery, except for 3-light east window to south aisle with C19 intersecting tracery. South aisle overlaps chancel. South door of c.1200 has one order of shafts with leaf-crocket capitals, moulded imposts and round arch with two flat steps; stone to arch of alternating limestone and ironstone. South porch has doorway with 2 orders of polygonal shafts, moulded capitals and triple-chamfered arch. Tower has 3 stages. Pair of C19 cusped 1-light windows to west with hood moulds and chamfered lancet window to next stage north side. C13 former bell as 5 blank arches to each side with round shafts and blocked chamfered lancet windows flanking central blank arch. C15 top stage has 2-light bell-chamber openings with Decorated tracery and hood moulds. Off-set angle buttresses and quatrefoil frieze of limestone to base of battlemented parapet. Interior: chancel has 2-seat sedilia grouped with piscina with ogee-arched heads to arches and trefoils to spandrels. Double-chamfered arches to former north and south chancel chapels. Similar chancel arch. Nave has 3-bay arcades probably both of 1873, with octagonal piers, polygonal responds and double-chamfered arches. Triple-chamfered tower arch. Font has circular bowl with flat attached shafts carrying rough single-scallop capitals, supported by four octagonal colonnettes round central bar stop-chamfered support. C18 charity board. 3 stalls in chancel, possibly continental with winged lion arms and lion's feet. C19 reredos with terracotta panels. C19 windows to chancel; east window by Clayton & Bell, c.1873. Monuments: wall monument of coloured marbles to William Ward, d.1737, his wife Bridget, d.1735 and their 7 children erected 1775 by their two surviving daughters Mary and Dorothy by William Cox of Northampton with apron, obelisk background, cartouche of arms and lamp finials. (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire: 1973, pp293-5; VCH: Northamptonshire: Vol IV, 1937, pp269-270; Little Houghton Coronation Scrapbook, 1953).

{8} Romanesque features include the south nave doorway and the font. The doorway is considered more likely to be c13th-century with intrusive c19th-century modelling rather than c1200.

{9} Undated photo;

{11} Sketch of south doorway with measurements;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 11/125 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F12 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.293-95 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<4> Salzman L.F.(ed), 1937, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.269-70 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100371.

<5> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.374-75 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<6> Glynne S., 1859, Church Notes of Sir Stephen Glynne, (unchecked) (Manuscript). SNN39492.

<7> Richmond H., 1988, Survey of Northamptonshire Parish Churches, (unchecked) (Unpublished Report). SNN1195.

<8> King's College, London, 2017, A corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, Site 1338 (Website). SNN110894.

<9> Photographs of buildings in Little Houghton (Photographs). SNN112603.

<10> Historic England, Undated, St Mary the Virgin's Church, Little Houghton, BF107361 (Archive). SNN114347.

<11> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/158/2 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Dec 17 2024 4:30PM