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St Mark

St Mark

Bilton

Warwickshire

A largely C14 and C15 church with a pleasing Dec tower and later spire. Pink sandstone ashlar (reportedly from around Kenilworth), slate roofs

Architectural Features

There is an embattled parapet, then an octagonal spire, reportedly added in the C15

The four-bay boarded roof is richly painted and gilded, with carved shields on the principal rafters

The restored C14 vestry door (north side) has a hoodmould and head-stops

It was altered in the C17 to house a tomb

Geometric floor of stone and marbles, with encaustic tiles on the altar steps

Similar richly carved reredos

Above the stalls, a pair of hanging iron and brass candelabra

Late C17 communion rails with turned balusters, from Great St Mary, Cambridge

The oak organ case is sumptuously carved and decorated

Richly pierced and gilded pipe shades (C17) including the rose and portcullis

Bulky stone font with shallow panelled sides

as is the oak pulpit

set of folding painted panels of angels playing musical instruments

1872-3. Royal arms of George IV

In the nave are two large brass chandeliers purchased in Holland in the 1870s

Stained glass

Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) reports that St Mark was principally Norman, "of which style it exhibits some good specimens", with a later tower and spire

Whatever Norman features existed in the nave or chancel must have been removed, perhaps at the 1870s restoration

A rebuilding was undertaken in the mid-C14, perhaps by Sir Nicholas de Charnels

A west gallery was erected in 1795, and a south porch added probably in 1821, when work was done to the pulpit and pews, the east window altered and the floors raised