221005 MArys D&AStatement - Flipbook - Page 9
2.9. Description of the Church
2.9.1 Victorian exterior
The 1871 Manning church is built loosely in the French
Gothic style, with a sharply pitched roof to the nave,
transept and chancel, and tall Gothic arched windows
with plate tracery sitting between the chancel
buttresses. The church is built of soft red brick with
Bath stone dressings. The roof is made of Welsh slate.
The north aisle, which was re-built following
subsidence, is heavily buttressed.
2.9.2 Nave and Aisles
The nave is tall and simple, with large clerestory
windows. The ceiling has large exposed roof trusses
with a series of wooden tie-beams. The floor of the
nave is timber boarded with red and black quarry tiles
to the central and side aisles and along the west end.
The aisles are more intimate, with shallower pitched
roof and small windows. Windows to the chancel, west
end and aisles are stained glass, and the clerestory
windows are clear. The lady chapel is more decorated,
with a mosaic floor. The interior is still painted white,
following Percy Dearmer’s intervention in 1903. More
recently, the nave ceiling has been painted blue with
pink trusses.
The reredos
View towards the west
West end of the church
2.9.3 Chancel
The chancel is raised above the nave with York stone
steps and floor, without chancel rails. The altar sits
within the vaulted semi-circular apse, with a large
reredos designed by George Frederick Bodley. Simple
timber choir stall are placed to either side, with the
organ loft to the north side at high level.
2.9.4 Sacristy
The sacristy sits to the south of the chancel, and is
made up of a room with part of the ambulatory as a
storage area. It connects into the St Mary’s Centre.
The ambulatory store was re-roofed with a flat roof as
part of the construction of the St Mary’s Centre, with its
eaves raised to form a parapet.
The vestry and ambulatory store
Mary’s, Primrose Hill
East end of the church and the St Mary’s Centre
Dow Jones Architects