Architectural Features
tower of 1625
EXTERIOR: A very large church externally largely of the later middle ages with a tall tower and spire of the early C17.
On the S side, the chancel has a moulded plinth, low, shallow buttresses and three 2-light windows with cinquefoiled lights and Tudor arches under brick relieving arches.
One of the buttresses has an elegant late C13 mass dial in the shape of a rose window.
The N aisle has diagonal buttresses and 3-light, high transomed Tudor arched windows with Perpendicular tracery.
Two storey N porch with diagonal buttresses and a C13 doorway with engaged shafts with capitals.
Grand 2-story S porch, probably raised in 1669 (date on roof) with diagonal buttresses.
These are lozenge-shaped on plan up to the springing in the arched doorway, but square above that with a groove for rainwater and a gargoyle at the junction.
There is a square-headed window in the gable, and the W and E walls each have a pair of 2-light Tudor arched windows with cinquefoiled lights.
The S porch has an internal doorway with nook shafts, flanked by statue niches and a late medieval door.
The S porch roof is dated 1669.
Remarkable 4-stage Gothic Survival W tower with a tall, stone spire, dated 1625, replacing an earlier tower of unknown
possibly C13, date.
There is a pair of Tudor-arched 2-light W windows, similar single windows to the N and S faces of the stage above, and large, paired transomed 2-light belfry windows.
The late C15 chancel arch is double chamfered with the inner order on shafts with moulded capitals and bases
it reuses many stones from the C13 chancel arch.
Above the arch are the tops of two blocked C13 lancets, with the scar of a former, more steeply pitch roof above them.
There is a C14 door to the C14 NE vestry,
a C13 door is visible inside the C19 vestry.
The N and S aisle roofs are also late medieval.
There are tie beams with arched braces on carved stone corbels on either side, but short posts against the arcade walls rise above the tie beam to support the roof on the inner sides.
The late C15 or early C16 E window of the N aisle, which is similar to that on the S aisle, now opens internally without glass into the N organ chamber.
The tower roof is presumably 1625, and is divided into panels by moulded joists and supported on stone corbels.
PRINCIPAL FIXTURES Octagonal C13 font with a square bowl with chamfered corners with very worn corner carvings.
Interior view of this historic parish church with the font in foreground. www.stmarysgodmanchester.org
Choir stalls with shouldered ends and poppyhead finials, The rear row of stalls is C15 with carved, shouldered arm rests and 20 misericords.
One has the initials W S on it, perhaps for William Stevens, vicar 1470-81.
The misericords may have come from Ramsey or Huntingdon abbey after the dissolution, but it is also possible that they were made for the church.
Elaborate timber chancel reredos by Bodley with a crow-stepped gabled frame with gilded cresting and 5 canopied niches, including a central niche with a figure of the crucifixion and flanking niches with the Virgin, St John and angels, Crested timber panelling extends around sanctuary.
Sanctuary floor has C19 encaustic tiles.
Perpendicular style chancel screen by Bodley of 1901, with a coved cornice and cresting and unpainted rood figures.
Good C19 and C20 stained glass including a window by Morris and Co in the S aisle, several by Kempe in the N and S aisles, and the C20 S aisle E window by Burlinson and Grylls.
Cast iron Royal Arms of George III.
a late C17 wall tablet to Thomas Bailiff and his wife.
The building was apparently wholly rebuilt in the C13, by which time it had reached its present large size
A N vestry was added to the chancel in the mid C14, and the arcades, aisles, clerestory and porches were rebuilt in the late C14
The chancel arch was also enlarged at this time, and the nave and chancel roofs raised, blocking C13 windows in the nave E gable wall.
The W tower was rebuilt in 1625, replacing an earlier tower of unknown
possibly C13, date.
There was further work on the roofs in the C17 The roofs and parapet were repaired in the early C19, and the church was restored by Sir G G Scott in 1853.
The church belonged to Ramsey Abbey before the Conquest, but was in royal possession in the late C11.
In the mid C12 it was given to Merton Abbey (Surrey) and was held by them until the Reformation, at which time the rectory was granted to Westminster Abbey.
By the late C14 there was a chantry and at least three religious guilds in Godmanchester, and by the Reformation there was also a grammar school taught by the chantry priest.
This abundance of clergy serving the chantry and the guilds may account for the presence of the misericords, an unusual feature for a parish church.
TL2470 : St Mary, Godmanchester - Misericord
The presence of the initials W S for William Stevens, vicar at the time that much of the work was being carried out on the church C15, suggests that they were made for the church and not brought in after the Reformation.
The continued use of the gothic style for the tower, rebuilt in the early C17 after the medieval tower became structurally unsound, is interesting and significant as it indicates a desire to build in keeping with the rest of the church, even as domestic architectural fashion was moving towards more Classical styles.
Welcome to St Mary's Godmanchester REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The church of St Mary, Godmanchester, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * A very large and significant church, C13 in origin, substantially rebuilt in the later C15 and early C16. * Very fine surviving medieval roofs and some surviving medieval fittings, including C15 benches with misericords, most unusual for a parish church. * An outstanding
remarkable Gothic survival tower of 1625. * Scott's restoration adds a further level of interest
one of a number of significant church architects to have worked here. * Excellent C19 and C20 fittings, including a screen and reredos by Bodley, and glass by several vey well known manufacturers.