Officers
For further information please e-mail:
RECTOR
the Revd David Gent
Email: david@rectory.org.uk
or the CHURCHWARDENS:
Gabrielle Wilson
[01934 862303] Andrew Whiting
[
Andrew Whiting
[01934 862039]
PARISH SAFEGUARDING OFFICER
Jill Bagnall
[01934-863097 Mobile 07765226852]
Very popular for a village church wedding
History
There are no records from either Glastonbury Abbey or locally as to any previous building before the 13th century. However, there is some surviving 13th-century work in the present building, mostly in the chancel, which is notably plainer in appearance than the nave, indicating its earlier age.[2]
The church underwent a period of extensive remodelling and expansion from 1420 to 1450,[3] including rebuilding the nave and aisles and constructing the large west tower. The chancel was also modified in this period, which involved widening the western face of the existing chancel to fit the new, larger nave. The former line of the roof ridge can still be seen where the nave meets the tower arch from within.[2]
Major restoration of the church took place from 1859 to 1860, which involved plastering and stuccoing the previously whitewashed walls, the medieval pews removed and replaced, the gallery installed across the tower arch was removed, removing the piscina from the chancel, removing the monuments in the church, moving the organ to underneath the tower vaulting, covering the floor of the chancel with tiles, adding a new font and adding clerestory windows to the nave. The present east window was also installed in this restoration, as a copy of the previous 13th-century work.
also was installed in the chancel at this time.[2] The tower was restored in 1948.[1]
In 2017, a major reordering and restoration of the church interior took place, undertaken jointly by Benjamin & Beachamp Architects and Ellis & Co. This restoration, taking some 8 months, involved lifting the church floor, improved the draining, and relaying it with underfloor heating and new stone.[4] Masonry throughout the church was cleaned, wiring and plumbing was overhauled, and the timber ceilings were conserved by removing centuries of dust and wax and gilding the decorative elements. Some pews were also removed, and the floor was lowered.[5][6][7] The first service in the church following the work was held on Palm Sunday, 2017.[8]
Architecture Exterior:
The principal feature of the exterior of the church is the tall west tower, which rises to 113.5 feet (35 metres)[2] high at the pinnacles, and was described in 1851 by Edward Augustus Freeman as one of the “highest achievements of architectural genius”.[9] The tower is formed of four stages, including a tall belfry which rises through the upper two stages, common with other towers of the Long panel generation like St Cuthbert, Wells and St Peter, Evercreech.[10] A stair turret rises in the south-east corner of the tower. At the four corners are the square turrets carrying the main corner pinnacles, which each bear four smaller angle pinnacles. The large west door at the base of the tower contains tracery and heraldry in the spandrels.[11]
Sir Charles Barry, one of the two main architects for the Houses of Parliament in London, was said to have used Wrington’s tower as inspiration for the Victoria Tower.[2]
The tower from the west.
The nave, clerestory, aisles and south porch date from the 15th century and are Perpendicular Gothic in style. The clerestory has windows of three lights whilst the aisle windows are of four lights. Surmounting both aisles and clerestory is a parapet pierced by trefoils, matching that on the tower.[11] The south porch also has a stair turret in its south east corner.[1] The parapet on the porch differs from that upon the remainder of the church, being of pierced quatrefoil design.[2] The eastern gable of the nave features an elaborate bell-cot, in which hangs a small sanctus bell.[2]
The aisles, which are of the same design as the nave, extend beyond the eastern wall of the nave, approximately halfway into the chancel. Both aisles terminate in large four-light windows.[11]
The chancel is lower and plainer than that of the nave, featuring a steeper, tiled roof rather than the taller but shallower roof of the nave. In the buttresses on the eastern gable of the chancel are two well-decorated Perpendicular niches which once contained statues.[11]
There are numerous gargoyles placed on the exterior of the church.[11]
Architecture Interior
The nave, looking east.