Church Heritage Record 632165

The church building consists of a west tower, 4-bay aisled nave, north and south porches, 4-bay chancel with flanking chapels.

The tower is 7m (23ft) square. The nave measures 75ft (23m) x 23ft (7m), the aisles are 22 ft (6.8m) wide. The chancel and the side chapels are 19ft (6m) long and equally wide, the chancel slightly narrower than the nave; they are kinked by several degrees to the north from the line of the nave.

The roots of the church may lie as far back as the Late and/or Post-Roman Christian settlement on the banks of the Hiz.  The discovery of burials dating to the 5th/6th centuries at Jeeves Yard and possibly Moss’s corner indicates a settlement between these two, which is confirmed by settlement remains excavated at St Mary’s place. The Saxon names Walsworth and Bearton means ‘the farm by the burh’ and stands in relation to the burh at Hitchin in the same way as does Bierton to the burh at Aylesbury, Bucks, for instance. This suggests a British community living alongside the immigrant Saxon community, perhaps from the 7th century onwards, ie the Middle Saxon period.

The Minster church is first recorded at the end of the 10th century and confirmed in Domesday Book, however the riverbank location and dedication to St Andrew strongly suggest an earlier foundation.  The existence of a burh here in the early 10th century is indicated by the place-name Bearton (Byrrhtun, the farm of the burh) and recent archaeological excavations, and the most likely model is that a settlement and market developed adjacent to the Minster, which provided the focus for the burh at a time when Hitchin was on the border with the Danelaw.

There is no documentary and so far only a little archaeological evidence as to when Hitchin town centre was laid out, though a date of around 1100 is possible for the laying out of the town centre and market place as many major settlements were re-ordered after the Norman Conquest. By comparison with other market towns in Hertfordshire, it is this may not have this happend before the 12th century. However, the town may have been earlier and have developed from a burh in the 10th century. If this is the case then this early market and settlement may not have had the same layout as the town has today, with the probably 13th-century burgage plots and later encroachment on the market and Minster.  The market may have developed adjacent to the Minster, possibly west of the latter in the area of the later market, leading to this nascent settlement’s enclosure by the burh defences in the late 9th or early 10th century. 

After the Conquest the advowson of the church was given to Elstow Abbey and the Minster became a parish church to the developing town. The church was rebuilt in the 11th and/or 12th century, and expanded with aisles and longer chancel in the early 14th century. It assumed its present form in the mid-15th, expanded with porches, still longer chancel and equally large side chapels with money generated by the wool trade and spent on the church by the Guild of St Mary.

After the Reformation the church dedication gradually changed to St Mary’s, the Guild and chantries were dissolved. The church was damaged in the Civil war, and repaired after the Restoration.  It was reordered and partly rebuilt in the 18th century, and substantially repaired and reordered in the late 19th by G G Scott (nave) and R Blomfield (chancel and chapels). There were repairs in the early and mid-20th century. Some reordering was undertaken in the 1960s by G Pace and Ron Sims, and there was more in the 1980s.

The church was wholly remodelled in the mid-late 15th century. There have been some additions and changes since this date, but basically this phase is the one which predominates, at least in form. A great deal of fabric and features survive from the earlier phases, particularly the tower.

The Tower

The tower is of two stages, a lower stage and a belfry stage, without demarcation.  The deep square angle buttresses of the 14th century are built against the remains of 12th-century pilaster buttresses, which were revealed during repairs in 1911 as recorded by Millard.  The buttresses have regularly spaced, much restored putlog holes. The lower part of the walls are built of ferruginous stone, carstone or similar, a favoured stone of the Normans.

The upper belfry stage of the tower has two pointed Early English windows in each wall (one in the west), all much restored with brick in the 17th and again in the 19th and early 20th century. The blocked belfry openings in the west and north faces appear to be of the early 13th century, the replacements we see are thyought to have been put in following an earthquake in 1299.

The west door is of the 13th century, but has since been restored with new colonnettes, leaving only the much eroded moulded arch. There is a 4-light pointed Perpendicular window above this with a transom, much restored.

The Nave

The clearstorey has four Victorian 2-light windows with 4-centred heads on each side, under a restored brick parapet. The aisles have four three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery, and one in the west wall, all of the 15th century, inserted in the 14th-century walls between buttresses of two weatherings. They form with those to the chapels an unbroken rhythm, but the aisles fabric is of flint, with some stone facing below the windows.  It is unclear if this has any significance, or is the result of patchwork repairs.

On the north side is a large, much restored early 13th-century lancet window, above the boiler house – much rebuilding in modern brick here.  The stair turret at the south-east angle is also of the 13th century. It is built against the wall, without bonding, and rises above the parapet of the tower. The lower part is lit by small lancets, and the upper part, which with its parapet has been repaired with 16th- or 17th-century brick, and has cross-loops, restored by Sims. There are two sundials here, of 1660 and somewhat later. A clock face partially obscures the belfry openings here.

Adjacent to the south porch there is the round-arched head of a 10th or 11th-century window, set upside down, but shown inverted above. The crenellated parapets, much restored, are of flint cobbles with tile lacing and stone frame.

The Chancel and Chapels

The ashlar stonework is much eroded with areas of stone replacement, the older stone shows pecking from the time when the exterior was rendered. The chancel has a much-restored 15th-century east window of five lights traceried in the head; the centre light is not crossed by the transoms, of which two divide each pair of side lights. The lower part of the window was blocked up when the Victorian reredos was inserted.  Beneath this are two barred mullioned windows and a third which is now a door.

The chapels have original traceried east window of five lights, and the five windows of three lights in the side walls are also original. There is a priest’s door with pointed head within a square frame in the second bay from the east to the south chapel. Adjacent to this is a mutilated bowl within a recess in the wall, probably a holy water stoop.

The North Porch

The north porch is the simpler of the two, and is slightly earlier. It has two stories, the upper storey being reached by a polygonal stair turret which opens into the aisle by a 4-centred door. The inner north doorway is of two chamfered orders.

The exterior entrance door of the porch is two centred, of two moulded orders. The lower story has two three-light windows, one on the east and one on the west, and the window in the north wall of the upper story is also of two lights. There are the remains of a stoup in a pointed recess in this porch. The roof has simple flat trusses.

The South Porch

The elaborate south porch is of two stories. The upper room was possibly used to lodge a chantry priest, and later as a schoolroom and for other functions. The entrance arch is of two shafted orders, an arch inclosed in a square, with tracery enclosing foliate sculpture in the spandrels.

On either side of the entrance is a deep shafted and cusped niche with a pedestal, and below them are cusped panels inclosing shields, one with the arms of the Staple of Calais. Small shafts with capitals at the same level as those of the entrance, but without bases, meet the frame moulding of the lower compartments of the scheme. On the east and west sides are traceried 3-light windows, having an exterior hood mould with a mask stop at the southern extremity, and dying into a buttress on the northern.

The ceiling of the entrance is elaborately groined, and the interior walls are panelled below the windows. A string-course all round the three sides of the porch marks the level of the upper story, which is plain on the east and west, and lighted by a small three-light window on the south, with identical blind lights below, to the level of the string-course. On either side of these are pairs of niches with shafts and capitals supporting square heads inclosing pointed arches, again with foliage in the spandrels. Moulded pedestals stand in the niches on low plinths rising from the sloping upper surface of the string-course.

The whole scheme of windows and niches is inclosed in a square frame supported on six slender shafts with capitals and bases resting on similar plinths. Above is another string running round the three sides of the porch, with grotesques at the south-east and south-west angles. Pairs of gabled buttresses at right angles in two stages run up to the level of the upper string, at the south-west and south-east angles. Their upper portions are panelled, the gables are cusped, and they have small sculptured demi-figures in their heads. Identical buttresses stand on the east and west sides of the porch a short distance from the wall of the aisle.

The sides of the central crenelle of the battlement on the south side are continued down to the upper string to form a panel with a four-centred head containing a sculpture representing the Trinity. There is a small shield above with the cross of St Andrew, which may be a relatively recent addition. Above the buttresses are pinnacles with crockets and finials, and tête-bêche trefoiled panels on the outer faces.

All wall surfaces are whitewashed, which seems to have been done on the recommendation of the Council for Care of Churches. The light from the large expanses of clear glass reflects off these surfaces, so that the interior feels airy and light.

The many monuments mounted in rows and ranks on the walls give texture, so that the interior does not appear blank or stark, but mellow and mature.  The floors are of a mix of woodblock and red and black quarry tiles, some of which are loose. There are rows of ledger slabs down the alleys and occasional others re-set in the floors at the east and west ends of the nave and elsewhere. 

The south chapel is completely paved with re-set Medieval ledgers, many still with intact brasses of high quality, an important collection. There are also some re-laid Medieval tiles, described below.

The Tower

The west tower arch is very tall and sharply pointed and of three chamfered orders, with half-octagonal responds, and moulded capitals and bases; it may be of the 13th-century, though much restored. There is a neo-Georgian (dated 1952), partly glazed screen under the west gallery, with gilded mitre finials to the rail. Within double doors there are vestments cupboards lining the walls of the tower space.  A partition at the west end allows the use of these spaces as the vestry, and there is a store. A simple pointed doorway with antique door gives access to the tower stair, which has clearly been restored. On the way up one sees the 11th-century carved Romanesque fragment, possibly part of a capital from a doorway, embedded in the wall.

The ringing chamber of the tower is entered through a similar pointed doorway.  It is lined with ringing boards. The belfry stage is entered through another pointed arch.  St Mary’s has a fine ring of bells housed in an iron frame. Above this one exits onto the lead-clad roof through a trapdoor, enjoying excellent views of the roofs and surrounding town. The lead has scratched graffiti, some recording repairs.

The Nave

The west responds are irregular in form and length, the northern being much longer than that to the south, and both preserve the cut-back remains of a broader wall which must be the remains of the 11th/12th-century nave walls. The aisled nave is of four bays. The piers and arches of the arcades and tower arch are left bare stone.  The aisle arcades have a different rhythm to each other and slightly different carving, reflecting the fact that they were built at an interval of some years, they are however stylistically similar, of the early 14th century. Both have 2-centred arches with drop mouldings and are of two chamfered orders, on octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases. The north arcade dies into the tower respond.

The arch-braced roof is of 15th-century date, much repaired, and has moulded principals and tie-beams, and wall plates with carved angels bearing painted shields. The two western bays of the roof of the north aisle are plain and of the 14th century, the eastern bays similar but offset and with enriched panels; there is also a break in the moulded cornice here below the wall-plate, and redundant moulded corbels which do not appear in the western bays.  These irregularities do not appear in the arcade wall, which has an arcade corbel to each bay of the roof. A 17th-century Adoration of the Magi painting hangs here above the door.  It was brought to the church in 1774 as a reredos.

The south aisle has a different rhythm to the arcade and the arches are slightly wider, a consequence  of the west respond being shorter.  The roof is 15th-century, much restored.

The south door is of 15th-century date, contemporary with the south porch, the upper storey of which is approached by an octagonal stair turret at the north-east angle. The door to the porch still retains its contemporary door with cusped panelling, but its pointed head has been sawn off and fixed.

The Chancel

Over the massive east respond of the north arcade is a blocked pointed doorway in the south face, which formerly led to the rood loft.

Over the chancel arch is a short window of five lights, a side-effect of the raising of the chancel arch and nave roof in the 15th century. The original 14th-century arch was supported on half-octagonal jambs, simply moulded at their heads. On these has been erected a high 4-centred arch with smaller shafted jambs. The outer order of this is continuous and the inner is stopped by the miniature capitals of the shafts.

The north and south sides of the chancel are 15th-century arcades of four bays of two orders with shafted jambs, and the hood moulds have mask stops, all different. They are filled with oak screens, see below; the easternmost arch of each arcade is slightly wider in span than the rest and is four-centred, of two moulded orders, the inner one springing off carved corbels, the outer one continuous. The rest are two-centred, of two moulded orders, and supported on columns with engaged shafts, with foliate capitals and moulded bases. The chancel roof is Victorian (the superstructure is 18th), taken down to foliate corbels. The east bay of the chancel is now effectively redundant, with the reredos rather hanging in mid-air following the lowering of the floor here in the 1980s.

Side Chapels

The chapels are separated from the chancel and aisles by 15th-century screens, described under furnishings and fittings.

The North (Trinity) Chapel

This now contains the organ in the west bay, the rest of the space behind kept as a chapel for private prayer with an altar at the east end.  There is an elaborate organ case with trumpeting gilded angels, by Walker and of 1878. There are several tombs and ledgers.  A blocked doorway previously leading up to the roof survives on the north wall of the north respond. A large Victorian Bishop’s throne with canopied head stands here. A plaque records that the chapel was restored in 1911. A piscina survives in the east wall.

The charnel house beneath the east bay of the chancel is reached by a winding stair from this chapel, now replaced by modern brick steps, and is entered through a moulded 4-centred doorway in the west end of its north wall, with charming carvings of a musician and a squirrel in the spandrels. The charnel house has been vaulted with brick in the 19th century, and has two barred mullioned windows and a third which is now a door on the east. The western part of it has been walled up and is not accessible. A ledger slab is re-used in the ceiling, face down.

South Chapel

This is now dedicated to St Andrew and is kept as a chapel for private prayer and small services.  There are two benches, one fixed, the other recently brought from the north chapel with late 15th-century bench-ends, and a number of plainer Victorian benches, and a reading desk with carved hooded praying figures. 

The floor at the east end behind the 1950s altar platform here in the middle of the chapel is completely made up of ledger slabs with brasses, an important collection. There is also a pair of Medieval tiles, one with an inscribed figure, rare pieces of considerable significance.

These are being damaged as they are in front of the priest’s door here. The doorway frame here is square headed. There is a 15th-century piscina in the south wall east of the doorway. In the west pier of the arcade is a tall moulded niche of the 15th century, with a low projecting bracket.

Chapel Roofs

The roofs of both the north and south chapels are of the 15th century and have undergone considerable repair. They have moulded principals, purlins, wall plates, and there are figures of angels at the foot of the principals, some holding shields. In the north chapel the roof is flat. In the south chapel the roof is ridged, with carved bosses at the intersection of the ridge and the principals, which run to the wall plates. The wall plates here rest directly on the moulded and carved half-octagonal corbels.