Redundant Church of St Mary, Mundon (EHER 38534)

An early 14th century former parish church with 16th and 18th century additions. The nave is of uncertain date, but the earliest detail is 14th century. The chancel was rebuilt above the plinth in 18th century. The timber belfry, on an unusual octagonal plan, dates to around 1500 and the North porch to around 1600. The church is now redundant and under the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches since 1975. The building has been subject to some considerable subsidence and watching briefs carried out during underpinning works in 1999, 2005 and 2008 have recorded evidence towards the date of the construction of parts of the building, particularly the buttresses. This work also revealed evidence for a, now demolished, former chapel which would have been entered from the South wall. Most notably, the interior walls of the church bear the remains of 18th century wall paintings including two texts from Isaiah, all of which were restored in 2009 and 2011.

November 1953. Grade I listed. A former 14th century and later parish church, now vested in the Redundant Churches Fund. The nave is of plastered rubble and the chancel is built of red brick, partly plastered. There is a timber framed belfry which is part-plastered and part-weatherboarded. The North porch is similarly timber framed. The roofs are covered in handmade red clay tiles. The nave is of uncertain date, but the earliest detail is a 14th century window and a late 14th century North doorway with carved rosettes and square flowers. At the East end of the South wall is an early 16th century brick archway (now blocked) which formerly opened into a chapel. The roof of the nave is in three bays and of crownpost construction, plastered to the soffits of the rafters and collars. There is a 15th century octagonal crownpost to the East, and the others are 16th century. The chancel was rebuilt in the 18th century and features three early 18th century windows in oak frames. The ceiling is plastered in five cants. The belfry dates to around 1500 and is constructed to a semi-octagonal plan around four posts in the middle. The bell-frame for one bell is original, but the bell is missing and reported to be in the possession of Latchingdon parish church (EHER 49642). The North porch dates to around 1600 and is of two-bay construction. The outer doorway has moulded jambs and a moulded Tudor arch with spiral-leaf carving in the spandrels on both sides, and a moulded tiebeam. A projecting gable has a moulded tiebeam and bargeboards, restored finial, and other decorative detail. The roof is of butt-purlin construction. It is illustrated in <1>. In the floor is an indent for figures of a man, two wives, inscription plate, and two groups of children, from the early 16th century. The fittings of the nave include an 18th century plain octagonal pulpit and a complete set of 18 box pews. On the walls of the chancel are 18th century painted Commandments, Creed and Lord's Prayer. On the walls of the nave are 18th century painted texts, now decayed. <2> <3> See photos <4>. April 1972. Field survey. St Mary's Church was last used about 16 years ago, and it is now derelict. The graveyard is no longer used. <5> 1999. Watching brief. At the SW corner of the nave, there is diagonal buttress of apparently late medieval date, being built of Ragstone, septaria, flint, and a little brick, some of which is Roman and some possibly Tudor. A little to the East of this is a large brick buttress with a long obliquely inclined top. The bricks look late 18th century. Where the buttress meets the wall it has trapped some earlier render behind it. This buttress has a wide crack running through it and has moved dramatically away from the wall. At the SE of the chancel, there is a diagonal buttress built of high-fired red bricks. These bricks are relatively modern and may date from the first half of the 20th century. The brickwork of the buttress extends to a depth of 500-600mm where it overlay mortared flint rubble and, to the SE, Tudor brickwork. The rubble looked late medieval, rather than contemporary with the buttress. Since it apparently corresponded in plan with the buttress, it may have been for an earlier diagonal buttress attached to the pre-18th century chancel. The Tudor brickwork formed what may be described as a platform about 300mm below ground level, and at least six courses deep, adjoining the part of the SE side and all the West side of the buttress, and partially underlying it. It ran up to the rubble foundation, and it is assumed that it was built on to it. Only to the SE did it have an edge; elsewhere it extended beyond the limits of excavation. The only explanation that seems at all satisfactory for the brickwork is that it was a large foundation associated with a Tudor South chapel. It should be noted that there is much fragmentary brick and mortar in the churchyard to the South of the chancel. This chapel had probably been demolished by 1612, as it seems not to be represented on the Walker map of that date. <6> October 2005. Test pitting. Pit 1 was located inside the chancel across an East-West crack in the floor. It identified four layers including a modern pamment floor, a 15th-17th century brick floor, a possibly removed medieval floor, and an unnatural thick layer, possibly containing tile flecks. Pit 2 was situated 1m East of the porch and exposed a considerable offset foundation at a depth of 550mm. Pit 3 was in the NE corner of the nave and recorded that the 18th/19th century brick buttress which is pulling away from the church has foundations which are at least 800mm deep. The area has been surrounded by a 20th century concrete 'ring beam'. Lastly, pit 4 was at the East end of the North chancel wall and recorded that the chancel foundations extended to the bottom of the hole, 1.2m below ground. The excavators noted that it is very probable that there are graves within the chancel which could lead to further subsidence (though no evidence for this was seen). The chancel was rebuilt on at least three separate occasions, its ground plan probably being enlarged and altered in the process. The Georgian rebuilding was probably prompted by settlement in the fabric. The foundations in the hole near the porch raise questions about the age of the church building. A window in the nave is 14th century in style. Previous observations in 1999 suggested that the SE and SW diagonal buttresses were medieval, and that there might be medieval masonry below the East wall. This would be consistent with a 14th century date, and would also suggest that the footprint of the Georgian chancel followed that of the medieval one. <7> 2008. Watching brief. Observations made during the watching brief allowed for the following construction sequence to be suggested: 1. Construction of the nave: 14th century or earlier on evidence of Y-tracery window and North door. 2. Earlier masonry beneath the East wall of chancel, the apparent cause of the cracking. If it indeed includes Tudor brick, then it is 15th century. Its significance is quite uncertain. It cannot be directly related to the septaria foundations (3, below). 2a. Apparent floor level indicated by burnt clay inside the chancel. (A block of septaria in the North wall shows evidence of burning). 3. Septaria foundations beneath North chancel wall, buttress, and probable buttress on the South side. These seem to be 15th century on the evidence of the floor tile incorporated in them. The Ragstone blocks and gable could well have been associated with this build, presumably coming from the East end of the chancel though they could also have been from the nave. The early pamment floor inside the nave may also be contemporary. (It not clear when large pamments began to be made, but it may have been about 1500). 5. 18th century rebuild of chancel: built over the lump of masonry in the East wall and cutting the early pamment floor inside the chancel. 6. Construction of the buttresses at the corners of the chancel, and tiled floor in the sanctuary, in the late 19th century or the early 20th century. <8> April-September 2011. Conservation of wall paintings. The nave wall paintings include: two texts from Isaiah, opposite each other above the North and South door recesses; the remains of a further texts and cartouche borders at the east end of the South wall; other fragmentary remains of painted plaster from various periods on the North and South walls; wall paint at the West end of the nave indicating in silhouette the position of the gallery (now removed). The survey also included two faintly visible roundel texts on the chancel North and South walls and technical analysis of the various paint layers - including plain decorative schemes in the nave - to determine the sequence of historical decoration. The church dates from various periods and underwent a major alteration when the chancel was added in the 18th century. However, the nave dates essentially from the 14th century, with later additions such as the North porch, roof timbers and the West belfry, which were added in the 16th century. Internally, the walls reflect the various interventions in the remains of numerous repairs to the fabric and a variety of different decorative schemes. Some of these are typical medieval schemes of masonry pattern; others are biblical texts common in the Post-Reformation period. There are also extensive amounts of plain decorative finishes of differing appearances and materials. All, however, were badly damaged and in a general state of disrepair, due to historical and prolonged disregard prior to the acquisition of the building by the Friends of Friendless Churches Trust in 1975. <9> St. Mary’s church stands in an isolated position at the end of a track near Mundon Hall (EHER 39285) within a large moat (EHER 7833) which originally probably enclosed both buildings. Reduced to a chapel of ease to Latchingdon, it was declared redundant in 1973. In 1975, it was leased to the Friends of Friendless Churches who have assumed responsibility for its maintenance. The church comprises a rendered nave, a brick 18th century chancel, a timber bell tower considered to be early 16th century, and a timber porch attributed to the late 16th century. A Tudor brick arch, now blocked, in the South wall at the end of the nave implies the existence of a chapel on this side. Arches in Tudor brick have also been opened in the West wall to connect the nave with the bell tower. The church has a complex building history. The nave is invisible but a Y-tracery window and door with a surround decorated with rosettes indicate it to be 14th century if not earlier. On the North wall there are at least two phases of very fragmentary early wall painting assigned to the 14th century, but possibly earlier. There is much evidence in both the timber structures and Tudor brickwork for significant changes in the 16th century, and it is clear that the 18th century chancel must have replaced an earlier one. <10> The nave walls are plastered rubble; the post-medieval chancel is in red brick; the belfry and porch are timber; the roofs are tiled. The date of nave is uncertain but the earliest extant detail is 14th century. The timber belfry and North porch were added early in the 16th century. At about this time a small chapel (now destroyed) was added SE of the nave. The chancel was rebuilt above the plinth early in the 18th century. The church was restored in 'modern' times and has early 18th century windows and doorways in the chancel and nave. There are 17th century king posts in the nave roof. Features and fittings include: 14th and early 16th century windows, a late 14th century doorway; a probably 15th century nave roof and an early 16th century roof to the North porch. Other features include a 13th century coffin lid in the churchyard; a font of around 1200, much repaired; an inscribed bell of around 1400; a 15th or 16th century strap hinge on the modern North door; an early 16th century brass indent in the North porch; a post 16th century scutcheon plate on a 'modern' North door; a headstone of 1712 in the churchyard and fragments of window jambs and tracery also in the churchyard. The plate includes a Jacobean or later cup with Greek and Latin inscriptions and the stem of the 17th century cup may be pre-Reformation. <11> <12> <13> The timber tower is remarkable in design though hardly higher than the nave roof. <12> See 19th century picture <14>. Redundant, vested in Redundant Churches Fund. The North porch was built in around 1600 (not as early as 16th century as RCHM has it). It has a butt-purlin roof, illustrated in source <3>. The EHER has a list of grave inscriptions (probably from the churchyard). <15> (TL 8797 0265) St Mary's Church (NAT). <16> St Mary's Church - as described, leased to the Friends of Friendless Churches in 1975. <17> See also <18> - <23>. Site Assessment: 'The timber belfry and North porch are of interest'. <11> Redundant church, vested in Redundant Churches Fund. <3> Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import.