Architectural Features
mid C14 nave, N aisle, transept and chancel
mid C15 E bay of Lady Chapel and library
spire damaged 1446 and rebuilt 1872
the 2-bay N elevation is divided by an octagonal 3-stage turret with cinquefoil panels and a crocketed ogee dome with an elaborate finial, has C15 E bay with a 4-light, 2-centred arched window, above a wide 4-centred arched doorway,
C14 W bay with a 5-light window in a flat-sided arch, the E light concealed by a projecting buttress, with pierced quatrefoils in the spandrels above.
The much-restored 3-storey c1325 outer N porch is hexagonal in plan with 5-sided turret buttresses to square pinnacles: the main doorway has a cinquefoil-arch in a frame of 3 richly carved reverse-cinquefoil orders, with a restored door with scrolled strap hinges
Carvings in the door surround to St Mary Redcliffe, perhaps creating a somewhat incongruous image.
smaller but similarly enriched E and W doorways have crocketed hoods, carved tympana, attached, diagonally-set steep gable pinnacles with rich finials either side, and doors with scrolled strap hinges
the buttresses have niches on plinths with good carved figures, nodding cusped ogee canopies and crenellated hoods
The doorway from the inner porch to the church has a cusped cinquefoil arch with hollow moulding with square flowers and a crocketed ogee hood, and canopied niches on angel corbels to the sides and above
To the N extends the 1941 undercroft with a central flight of steps up, sides with 3 plinth mouldings and triple stepped lancet windows to the E and W. The 3-stage tower has angle buttresses and an octagonal spire: 3-light N and 4-light W windows have Geometrical intersecting tracery to the C13 bottom stage, below an arcade of trefoil-headed niches with stiff-leaf capitals and gable hoods containing C19 statues of the Apostles
a band of quatrefoil panels runs round the tower below the elaborate C14 upper stages, 3 arches with Y-tracery in gable hoods, the middle one to the N glazed above a clock
cinquefoil-headed panels to the tops of the buttresses, which end in crocketed pyramids in front of a parapet of open triangles with gargoyles, and tall octagonal panelled pinnacles inside the parapet
The S elevation differs from the N in the Chancel aisle doorway beneath the transom in the bay second from the E, which has 3 gable hoods, taller in the middle, with blind tracery and crocketed pinnacles, above a depressed-ogee doorway, and in the mid C14 S transept: this has gableted buttresses and unsupported flying buttresses with crockets, and is unpanelled above the clerestory windows, which have a central arch of 3 lights surrounded by a band of glazed quatrefoils.
the doorway to the Library has an ogee head with Tudor flowers, flanking pinnacles and 2 canopied statue niches above with C19 statues
the arcade does not extend into the 2 W bays below the tower, in which the line of the C13 vault can be seen, and the nave vault is carried on a good Early English corbel with 3 shafts on an octagonal pedestal.
The early C14 N entrance has a square doorway flanked by pairs of ogee panels with crockets and pinnacles below a frieze with fleurons, and 4 cinquefoil panels set back to the window behind with a similar frieze
the S aisle vault has a hexagonal central cell with concave ribs, and 3 fine stellate memorial niches, concave crocketed hoodmoulds with large finials to a 4-sided niche with pierced cusping.
The late C13 W window is set back from the W wall, with a parapeted passage at the bottom, and cusped ogee-arched panels from the passage doorways upwards to the soffit
FITTINGS: an oak chest inscribed ST MARY REDCLIFFE 1593 with caryatids
a fine C18 brass candelabrum
three C17 chairs with ram's head arm rests and leather backs
C15 choir stalls with poppy heads and Perpendicular bench ends
a C19 oak pulpit by William Bennett, a shafted base with ogee niches and figures of the Apostles
and a 1755 octagonal marble font by William Paty.
MEMORIALS: an effigy of John Lavyngton died c1411 in one of the stellate niches
alabaster effigy of William Canynges d. 1479 as a priest with a bearded man at his feet
a tall wall memorial to Harriet Wild d. 1830, a marble tablet in an ogee arch with cusping, crockets, finials and buttress pinnacles
a wall memorial to Nathaniel Bridges d. 1834, 3 ogee niches with crockets, cusping, finials and buttress pinnacles
chest tomb to Robert de Berkeley, C13, has effigy in Crusader's mail
double dresser tomb to Phillip Mede d. 1475 and family, a base of narrow trefoiled panels, diagonal piers to a brattished frieze, with a screen below of angels between crocketed finial tops to ogee arches to a fully panelled recess containing an effigy of Mede and his wife to the W and a brass to the E to Richard Mede depicting a kneeling man and 2 wives
wall memorial to Richard Sandford d. 1721, by Ian Paty, a marble aedicule with Corinthian columns on brackets and a skull apron, below an urn and cartouche
wall memorial to Matthew Morgan d. 1726, a large cartouche on a slate background
painted wooden statue of Queen Elizabeth, C16, purported to be ship's figurehead
Stained glass: C19 and C20, eight large C15 figures in tower W window, and figures by Ninian Comper, 1914, to S window of S transept.
one of the finest medieval parish churches in England, and of a remarkably unified design.