History
The church was traditionally said to have been founded by King Edgar the Peaceful, around 960, but may be even older. In the mid-12th century, the old Saxon church was demolished and a new one was built, in cruciform shape. The side aisles were added at the start of the 13the century, with the earlier walls being replaced with round Romanesque arches. At the same time, the chancel was extended and the west tower and the south porch added. The church attained its present form in the later 15th century.
In 1071 William the Conquerer granted Shrewsbury and most of the surrounding lands to Roger de Montgomery,who built the castle and founded an abbey. Shrewsbury was already a significant town by the time of the Domesday Book, 1086.
In 1215,in the chaos that marked the end of King John's reign, Shrewsbury was seized by the Welsh prince Llewellyn ap Ioreth, who continued to cause great destruction until the town was regained by Henry III in 1234.
St. Mary's became a "Royal Peculiar", under the direct jurisdiction of the Crown rather than the local Bishop, This only ceased under George III. It was a "collegiate church", served by Canon Priests under a Dean.
The church ceased to hold regualr services in 1987, and is now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust.
The south porch,dating from around 1200, has a fine Norman arch.
There is a small Norman door on the north side, now bricked up.
The lower part of the west tower, in red sandstone,is late Norman; the upper part is Perpendicular. The spire, at 138 feet, is one of the tallest in England. The top collapse in 1894 and fell through the roof. Some people saw the disaster as God's punishment for the spread of evolutionary ideas by Charles Darwin: a Shrewsbury man!
Outside the west door is a memorial to Robert Cadman,who in 1794 attempted to slide headfirst down a rope stretched from the belfry to the far bank of the River Severn. The rope snapped and he was killed!
The nave; looking east
The chancel arch dates from the start of the 13th century. There would once have been a rood screen, which was destroyed in the Reformation, and the sone altar was removed in 1584 as "idolatrous". The chancel is dominated by the magnificent Jesse window (see later). The magnificent "Angel" ceiling dates from the late 15th century: it was smashed when the spire collapsed but, amazingly, was rebuilt using the original wood. The twin small arches are a Victorian addition to allow extra light.
To the right of the altar is a sedilla from the Norman period
Romanesque columns line the nave.
Some of them feature comical faces
Stained Glass
Any stained glass in the church was destroyed in the 16th or 17th centuries, and only a few fragments remain. The magnificent stained glass windows in St. Mary's were all brought from elsewhere.
The chancel is dominated by a magnificent Jesse window.
It was made in the 14th century at the behest of a local knight, Sir John de Charleton, who is commemorated in the bottom row, probably for a Franciscan friary that stood on the other side of the Severn. When this was dissolved in the Reformation, the window was taken to Old St. Chad's church in the town, and then reinstalled in its present position when that church collapsed in 1788.
The Trinity Chapel, to the south of the chancel, has a tomb efficy of Sir Simon de Leybourne, who died around 1308. His crossed legs should indicate that he was a crusader, though the crusades had all but finished by his lifetime.
The windows in the Trinity Chapel are mostly Victorian, though there are two on the south wall from 16th century Flanders.
The windows in the north aisle date from 1479, and come from Trier cathedral in Germany. The windows contain a variety of disconnected votive scenes of donors and saints.
The stained glass windows on the south side were again purchsed by William Rowland. Saint Bernard and a number of other saints are featured.
The nave, looking towards the west door.
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