St Mary the Blessed Virgin, East Brent

St Mary is a Grade I Perpendicular parish church on Church Road, East Brent, Somerset, in the Diocese of Bath and Wells and the Parish of Three Saints.

Overview

Historic England records a fifteenth- and seventeenth-century church, restored in the nineteenth century, with the chancel by William Butterfield. The fabric is coursed and squared rubble with gabled and lean-to lead roofs and copings with cruciform finials. The plan comprises nave, chancel, north aisle, north vestry, south porch, south chapel and a five-stage west tower with a stone spire, angle then diagonal buttresses, a pierced parapet with pinnacles, an embattled stair turret, three crocketed figure niches on the west face, and a collar of blank arcading to the spire. The north aisle is of five bays with a pierced parapet; the south chapel is of two bays.

The interior is dominated by a ribbed plaster nave ceiling with three pendants, dated 1637. A west gallery incorporates part of the rood screen dated 1635, with carved vine columns and Ionic capitals. The chancel retains a fifteenth-century sedilia and triple piscina; Butterfield rebuilt the chancel in 1845. The south door is fifteenth-century; traces of wall painting survive in the restored south porch. The church is open daily in the daytime.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1262673
• Parish of Three Saints