St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Hartley Wespall
St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Hartley Wespall
St Mary’s is a Grade I parish church at Hartley Wespall, Hampshire, in the Diocese of Winchester and the united parish of Stratfield Saye with Hartley Wespall with Stratfield Turgis.
- Location
- Hartley Wespall, Hampshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Hampshire
- City / town
- Hartley Wespall
- Address
- Hartley Wespall, Hampshire, RG27 0BB
- Postcode
- RG27 0BB
- Built
- C14; restored 1868
- Architect
- Sir Gilbert Scott
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Winchester
- Parish
- Stratfield Saye with Hartley Wespall with Stratfield Turgis
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Medieval timber-framed; Gothic Revival restoration
- Materials
- Flint walls with stone dressings; tile roof; tile-hung tower with shingled broach spire; exposed timber west wall with rendered infill
- Grid reference
- SU 700 576
- Opening hours
- Open at all times.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
Historic England lists a fourteenth-century church restored in 1868 by Sir Gilbert Scott. Apart from the west wall, the visible fabric is of that restoration: an aisleless nave and chancel, a tower north of the chancel and a small north porch, in flint with stone dressings and a tile roof. Above eaves the tower is tile-hung on reused framing from the old west tower, with a slatted bell cage and shingled broach spire. Grade I status rests on the medieval timber-framing.
The west wall shows its frame externally, with rendered infill and a massive cusped vertical and braces below the tie-beam. Inside, a three-bay open roof of the first period has ornamental struts and arch-braced tie-beams on timber verticals. Fittings include a wall monument of 1692, a Jacobean pulpit from the earlier church, and two floor slabs with brass fragments (one of 1448). The parish council notes a timber nave by the thirteenth century, a first rector in 1286, and patronage of the Dean and Canons of Windsor since 1482.