St Mary the Virgin, Keysoe
St Mary the Virgin, Keysoe
St Mary the Virgin is the Grade I parish church of Keysoe, Bedfordshire, a late twelfth- to fifteenth-century limestone church with a prominent spire, in the Diocese of St Albans.
- Location
- Keysoe, Bedfordshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Bedfordshire
- City / town
- Keysoe
- Address
- Keysoe, Bedfordshire, MK44 2HW
- Postcode
- MK44 2HW
- Built
- Late 12th to 15th centuries; west tower early 15th century
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- St Albans
- Parish
- Keysoe
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Gothic
- Materials
- Coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings
- Grid reference
- TL 073 624
- Opening hours
- The church is open on Tuesdays from the 1st May between 10am and 4pm. There is a list of keyholders in the porch from whom a key can be obtained if access is desired outside these times.
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Ramp or level access available on request
Overview
Historic England dates the parish church from the late twelfth to the fifteenth century. The plan is chancel, north chapel, nave, south porch, north aisle and west tower. The chancel has a late twelfth-century round-headed south doorway and a reset thirteenth-century lancet; the north arcade of about 1340 is of three bays. The mid-fourteenth-century south porch has a worn image niche. The early fifteenth-century four-stage west tower has angle buttresses, crocketed pinnacles, an embattled parapet and an octagonal spire with three tiers of lights; an eighteenth-century inscription is on the west wall.
Interior fittings include a fourteenth-century octagonal font with gablets and a French inscription, a thirteenth-century coffin lid in the north chapel, and some sixteenth-century bench ends. The church was listed Grade I on 13 July 1964 (NHLE 1114778).