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St Mary the Virgin - Carlton le Moorland A CHURCH has
stood on this site for nearly a thousand years, though very little remains of
the earliest buildings. The oldest thing in the church is the font with its
narrow lancet arches and small supporting corner columns, probably dating from
the end of the 12th century. The oldest part of the church is the 13th century
chancel with its pitched roof and small 13th century window in the south wall.
The other windows are more recent restorations. The nave and the tower are
unusual. They were built in the late Tudor period after the Reformation, at a
time when more churches were being busily dismantled than were being rebuilt.
The nave is in a Tudor style with battlements and a low pitched roof and is much
wider than the original nave. The rectangular Elizabethan windows look almost
out of place in a church. It is clear that the church originally had north and
south aisles. Traces of the original aisles may be seen on the north side of
the chancel arch, and the foundation stones of a column on both sides of the
nave were revealed when the floor was renewed in 1890-91. The
massive square embattled tower is another Tudor curiosity. Externally, its style
is late perpendicular (c1500) but internally the arching above the windows
belongs to the Elizabethan period about 1570. The builders incorporated a lot
of earlier stonework into the tower. They also left open the internal scaffold
holes, which bees have occupied for at least the last seventy years. The present
vestry is all that remains of the north aisle lady chapel. It has embedded in
its walls three cross roundels, which are maybe 13th, or 14th century. Two
mutilated corbel heads and fragments of Norman work are embedded in the east
wall of the vestry. Little of
the earlier furnishing of the church has survived. The present altar table rests
on the framework of an altar that was in use before the Civil War of 1642-49;
the altar rails are 17th century. The original Elizabethan nave benches were
replaced in 1890 and a few were placed in the choir. Note the candle holes in
the heads of the bench ends. The remains of a rood screen is probably the oldest
piece of woodwork in the church. The church
was restored and refurnished in 1890-91, the total cost being £1093. In the restoration, the western gallery, approached through
the tower, was taken down. The barrel organ, installed in 1863 and playing 32
tunes, was sold and a new organ and fixtures installed. THE CLOCK
DIAL on the western face of the tower is dated 1799 and is a fine example of
Swithland slate carving. The original clock mechanism was replaced in 1902 when
the present clock mechanism was installed. The constables' accounts for 1752
tell us that there was already a tower clock at that time. Two wall
brasses framed with friezes are to be found, one in the vestry dated 1595 and
the other on the north wall of the chancel dated 1612. Both are inscribed in
Latin and are in memory of members of the Disney family, whose holdings in
Carlton were extensive before the Civil War. St Mary's
has a ring of three bells (mi, fa, so in the scale of Bb):
a tenor of 5cwt 2qu 7lb cast by Mears of Whitechapel in 1849, and two trebles
cast by *John Hadderley in 1733. All three bells are complete with canons and were
re-hung for full-circle ringing in a wooden frame from wooden headstocks on
plain bearings. After many years of neglect,
they were brought into good ringing order again in 1991.
*The use of his name by
John Hedderly, son of Daniel Hedderly, is extremely unusual. N Stan Underwood December 2004 |
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