St Mary, East Knoyle

St Mary’s is the Grade I parish church of East Knoyle, Wiltshire, a medieval church with notable seventeenth-century chancel plasterwork, in the Diocese of Salisbury.

Overview

Historic England records fabric of the twelfth to fifteenth centuries: a Norman chancel with thirteenth-century lancets and traces of twelfth-century blind arcading, a fourteenth-century south porch, and a large fifteenth-century west tower. The north aisle was extended west in 1829 and the south aisle in 1845. Wyatt and Brandon restored the church in 1845; Arthur Blomfield remodelled the interior in 1876; Philip Webb restored the tower in 1893. The walls are rubble and dressed limestone, with a stone-slate nave roof and tiled chancel. The church was listed Grade I on 6 January 1966 (list entry 1131168).

Dean Christopher Wren, father of Sir Christopher Wren and rector from 1623 to 1646, commissioned the chancel plasterwork about 1639, by Robert Brockway, with biblical scenes including Jacob’s Dream and the Ascension. The work was later cited at Wren’s trial at Longford Castle in 1647.

A church stood at Knoyle before the Conquest. Since 2008 the parish has formed part of the St Bartholomew benefice.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1131168
• Victoria County History: East Knoyle
• Wikipedia