St Mary the Virgin, Higham Ferrers
St Mary the Virgin, Higham Ferrers
St Mary's is a Grade I parish church on Church Walk beside the market square at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in the Diocese of Peterborough.
- Location
- Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Northamptonshire
- City / town
- Higham Ferrers
- Address
- Church Walk, Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, NN10 8BT
- Postcode
- NN10 8BT
- Built
- C13 to mid C14; founded c.1220; tower completed c.1250; restored C17 and C19
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Peterborough
- Parish
- Higham Ferrers St Mary the Virgin
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular
- Materials
- Squared coursed limestone, part banded with ironstone, and limestone ashlar; lead roofs
- Grid reference
- SP 961 685
- Opening hours
- Church is open everyday from 10am to 4pm.
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby. Level access to the main areas
Overview
Historic England dates the church from the thirteenth to the mid fourteenth century, restored in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The fabric is squared coursed limestone, part banded with ironstone, and limestone ashlar with lead roofs. The plan is an aisled double nave, chancel, Lady Chapel, south porch and west tower. Windows include reticulated and intersecting tracery under castellated parapets with pinnacles and gargoyles.
The present church was founded by a charter of Henry III about 1220, with the west tower completed about 1250. About 1320 the north aisle was widened and the Lady Chapel added. The early fifteenth-century clerestory, rood screen and choir stalls with misericords are associated with Henry Chichele, later Archbishop of Canterbury, who was born in the town. In 1631 the spire and part of the tower collapsed and were rebuilt; Simon Jenkins called the spire one of the finest in a county famous for them. The churchyard group includes the Grade I Bede House and the chantry chapel of All Souls.