St. Mary's Church in Nottingham

A general view of St. Mary's church from the south-west

Approaching St Mary’s church from the west along High Pavement, the wholly Perpendicular Gothic style of the building is very striking – with its strong emphasis on vertical lines. A church was mentioned in Domesday Book and the building of this, the current third church on the site, was commenced c.1390 and finished c.1475. 

The west front

Entering the south-west entrance to the churchyard, it soon becomes clear that very much of the masonry to the south aisle and the clerestory has been extensively replaced – by William Stretton in 1814 - with the entire west front being rebuilt from 1840-1845 by William Moffatt and George Gilbert Scott to renew an earlier facade that had a very unpopular Classical Doric style. 

Stonework on the south side of the nave

The stone used for these restorations are in uniformly buff coloured Millstone Grit from Derbyshire, probably from the Ashover Grit between Bakewell and Matlock, and in the north elevation the stone used for later additions looks slightly reddened, when seen from a distance. 

Masonry to the north wall of the C15 vestry

With a full day of exploration ahead of me, I didn’t have time to examine any of the stones closely and they deserve a much fuller investigation in the near future, but the stone used in the unrestored parts of the mediaeval structure is clearly different to the Derbyshire Gritstone. 

Masonry to the east window

Although the mullions and tracery to the windows, the dressings and mouldings have largely been restored, much of the plain walling constitutes yellow/pink cross bedded Triassic sandstone that is believed to have been quarried from nearby Sneinton or Gedling, where sandstone occurs in the Tarporley Siltstone Formation. 

Masonry to the west wall of the south transept

This cross-bedded sandstone contains clasts or fine layers of mudstone that are weathered and, while extensively used in mediaeval churches in the parts of Nottinghamshire where it is found, it is not very durable and very many blocks of stone in the walls have lost their arrises and corners. 

A general view of the tower

The original masonry is most extensive in the tower but, zooming in with a telephoto lens, it can be seen that this has also been quite extensively replaced quite recently, this time using mottled yellow/red Triassic sandstones from Staffordshire, such as Hollington stone, that are a much better geological match than those used in the Victorian restorations. 

A grotesque and restoration using sandstone from Staffordshire

The entry on the very useful Southwell & Nottingham Church History website refers to some mullions of the Lady Chapel being partly replaced with Bulwell stone and another source refer to Brackenhill stone also being used for repairs. 

Restored (left) and original (right) masonry

Knowing both of these from time spent in Nottingham and working on All Saints church in Pontefract, I have to say that I didn’t notice these when making a basic photographic record of the exterior of St. Mary’s church. 

Extensively restored masonry to the south aisle

I finished my brief survey of its stonework at the south porch, which is considered to be the oldest remaining masonry in the church and where the intricate stone carving in the Triassic sandstone has lost much of its detail. I didn’t look at the stone used during its most recent phase of restoration but, perhaps in the near future, the church architect will need to take advice from the Geological Detective?

Highly weathered Triassic sandstone to the south porch