The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the oldest parish churchDomesday Book: A Complete Translation (Penguin Classics) in Nottingham, England. The church is Grade I listed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as a building of outstanding architectural or historic interest. It is one of only five Grade I listed buildings in the City of Nottingham.
It is situated on High Pavement at the heart of the historic Lace Market district and is also known as St Mary's in the Lace Market. It is a member of the Major Churches Network.
History
The church is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and is believed to date back to Saxon times. The main body of the present building (at least the third on the site) dates from the end of the reign of Edward III (1377) to that of Henry VII (1485–1509). The nave was finished before 1475 and it is notable for its uniformity of gothic perpendicular style.Gill, Harry, 1916, Thoroton Society Transactions Volume XX. Architectural Notes on The Church of St. Mary the Virgin Nottingham. It is likely that the south aisle wall was the first part of the building to be constructed in the early 1380s, with the remainder of the nave and transepts being from the early 15th century.Peters, D. J., 1974, A Short History and Guide to Nottingham Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin. The tower was completed in the reign of Henry VIII.Allen, Frank J, 1932, The Great Church Towers of England. Chiefly of the Perpendicular Period Cambridge University Press
The church was owned by Lenton Priory from 1108 to 1538History and antiquities of Nottingham. James Orange. Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1840 and the monks took the living of the church as Rector, and appointed a Vicar to perform the daily offices.
In 1513, a school was founded in the church by Dame Agnes Mellers as The Free School of the Town of Nottingham.A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools in England and Wales. Nicholas Carlisle. 1818 This is now Nottingham High School. In the Foundation Deed, Mellers provided that a Commemoration Service should be held in the church "on the Feast of The Translation of St Richard of Chichester". With the exception of the Goose Fair, it is the most ancient ceremonial event still perpetuated in the City of Nottingham.Founder's Day Programme of Events, Annual Publication, Nottingham High School Archives
George Fox founder of the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as the Quakers or Friends, was imprisoned in Nottingham in 1649 after interrupting the preacher at St Mary's.
Nottingham Bluecoat School was founded in 1706, and the first lessons were taught in the porch of the church.
For several years from 1716, the church was used to house the town fire engine. It was kept at the west end, and was still there until at least 1770.Nottingham Date Book. John Frost Sutton. 1852. p.86
St Mary's opened a workhouse in 1726 at the south end of Mansfield Road and ran it until 1834 when responsibility for workhouses was transferred from parishes to secular Boards of Guardians. The workhouse was demolished in 1895 to clear part of the site needed for the construction of the Nottingham Victoria railway station.
The church was closed for 5 years from 1843 for a major restoration. It re-opened on 19 May 1848 when the Bishop of Lincoln John Kaye presided.Nottingham Date Book. John Frost Sutton. 1852. p.510
First Sunday School St Mary's pioneered Sunday School education for those children unable to attend a day school. Pupils were taught reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as religious knowledge. The first Sunday School was opened in 1751, 35 years before the generally acknowledged first Sunday School was founded in Gloucester by Robert Raikes.Church of England in Notts & Derbys. 1911–1915, Parochial visitation of Edward Hoskyns Bishop of Southwell, Nottinghamshire Local Studies Library Ref. L21 "A society of good and well meaning persons which meet every Wednesday and Sunday evenings in the vestry of St. Mary's, pay yearly 6l. 8s. for the instruction of sixteen more poor children; and about six are put to school by the charity of private persons."
New parishes created from St Mary's 1822: St Paul's Church, George Street, Nottingham, built as a chapel of ease 1841: Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Square 1844: St John the Baptist's Church, Leenside (destroyed by enemy action in May 1941) 1856: St Mark's Church, Nottingham 1856: St Matthew's Church, Talbot Street 1863: St Ann's Church, Nottingham, with St Andrew's created out of this parish, in 1871 1863: St Luke's Church, Nottingham 1863: St Saviour's, Arkwright Street 1864: All Saints', Raleigh Street, as a chapel of ease 1881: Emmanuel Church, Woodborough Road, in 1885 1888: St Catharine's, St Ann's Well Road, out of the parishes of St Mary, St Mark, St Luke and St Paul 1903: St Bartholomew's Church, Blue Bell Hill Road
Restorations
1762: West front rebuilt by William Hiorne of Warwick in the Classical style. c.1818–20: South aisle restored and crossing vault replaced by William Stretton.William Stretton, Stretton Manuscripts. 1910 1843: Tower saved from collapse by Lewis Nockalls Cottingham.Cottingham, L. N. 1842–1843, Report to the Archdeacon and Churchwardens & Report on the Church Tower. 1844–1848: Five-year restoration of roofs and west front returned to gothic style by George Gilbert Scott (church closed) at a cost of £9,000 (), 1848–1860s: Internal restoration by George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt.Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire. 1979. 1872: Chancel reroofed by George Gilbert Scott. 1890: The Chapter House was built by George Frederick Bodley. 1912: The Lady Chapel added by Temple Lushington Moore.Temple Moore, An Architect of the Late Gothic Revival. Geoffrey Brandwood, 1997. 1935: Tower ringing room floor concreted and new bell frame 1940: The Simpson memorial choir vestry added. 1992–93: Exterior fabric restored and cleaned. 2008: New kitchens and toilet facilities. 2013: Removal of the wooden flooring platforms, installation of underfloor heating and new stone floor. 2024: Repair of the South Transept, installation of a servery and new west porch.
Chantry door The chantry door is considered to be the oldest surviving door in Nottingham, dating from the 1370s or 1380s. it contains an example of iron work from the medieval period in the locking mechanism.Jane Geddes, Medieval Decorative Ironwork in England. Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London. 1999.
The chantry room has latterly been used as a bonehouse, a coal store, and a chair store. It now contains a toilet for wheelchair users.
The survival of the door is likely to be due to the fact that it has not been heavily used, and is internal within the church.
List of vicars Source:Train, K. S. S., 1953, Thoroton Society Record Series XV. List of the Clergy of Central Nottinghamshire.
1086 Aitard 1228 Thomas de Punignal c.1235 Nicholas (? of Ostia) c.1250 Philip de Norhamptone c.1266 William de Birley c.1279 Robert de Adinburg 1289 Richard de Notingham 1290 John de Ely 1304 Robert de Dalby 1313 Henry de Parva Halam 1317 John de Ludham 1322 John fil William Cosyn 1347 John de la Launde 1347 Robert de Wakebrigge 1348 Richard de Radclyff 1348 Roger de Nydingworth 1349 Richard de Swanyngton 1351 Thomas Pascayl 1357 John Chatarez 1357 John Lorymer, of Hoveden 1364 John de Stapleford 1371 William de Sandyacre 1374 Robert de Retford 1401 Richard de Chilwell 1409 William Ode 1442 William Wryght 1461 John Hurt, S.T.D. 1476 Thomas Turner, M.A. 1498 John Greve, S.T.B. 1499 Symeon Yates, Dec. B. 1504 Richard Taverner LL.B. 1534 Richard Mathew, Dec.B. 1535 Richard Wylde, M.A. 1554 Oliver Hawood 1568 John Louth, LL.B. 1572 William Underne 1578 Robert Aldridge 1616 Oliver Wytherington, M.A. 1616 John Tolson, S.T.B. 1617 Ralph Hansby, M.A. 1635 Edmund Lacock, B.D. 1645 William Howitt 1647/8 Nicholas Folkingham 1649 Jonathan Boole 1651 John Whitlock M.A. and William Reynolds, M.A. 1662 George Masterson, M.A. 1686 Samuel Crowborough, D.D. 1690 Benjamin Camfield, M.A. 1694 Timothy Caryl, M.A. 1698 Edward Clarke, M.A. 1708 Samuel Berdmore, M.A. 1723 John Disney, M.A. 1730 Thomas Berdmore, M.A. 1743 Scrope Berdmore, D.D. 1770 Nathan Haines D.D. 1806 John Bristow, D.D. 1810 George Hutchinson, M.A. 1817 George Wilkins, D.D. 1843 Joshua William Brooks, M.A. 1864 Francis Morse, M.A. 1886 John Gray Richardson, M.A. 1900 Arthur Hamilton Baynes, D.D., Bp. 1913 Thomas Field, D.D. 1926 James Geoffrey Gordon, M.A. 1933 Neville Stuart Talbot, D.D., Bp. 1943 Robert Henry Hawkins, M.A. 1958 Douglas Russell Feaver, M.A. 1973 Michael James Jackson, M.A. 1991 James Edward McKenzie Neale, B.A. 2004 Andrew Gilchrist Deuchar B.Th (Priest in charge) 2009 Christopher Dennis Harrison B.A. (Priest in charge, appointed Vicar 2011) 2018 Thomas Alan Gillum B.Sc. 2024 James Benedict John Saunders Ph.D.
Laying on of hands It was at St Mary's that the practice of laying on of hands by the Bishop during a confirmation service was first observed ca. 1760 and documented by Thomas Newton, Bishop of Bristol.The Lives of Dr. Edward Pocock: the celebrated orientalist. Leonard Twells, Zachary Pearce, Thomas Newton, Samuel Burdy, A.C. 1816 It was performed by John Gilbert, Archbishop of York.
Features
Bronze doors
The bronze doors were designed in 1904 by Henry Wilson in memory of his father-in-law, Rev. Francis Morse.
The intention of the design of the doors is to illustrate the Life of Our Lord in its relation with the Holy Mother to whom the church is dedicated and by the general treatment to suggest the idea of pity.
In the tympanum enclosed within a vesica the Holy Mother supports and cherishes the body of Christ, while in the spandrels, on either side, the gates of Death and Life are suggested: the Dove, typifying the spirit, enters weary into the one and issues strong-winged from the other, thus symbolising the unending round of Death and Life.
The dedicatory inscription "In loving memory of Francis Morse, 1818–1886, Father, Pastor, Friend" in the form of a pierced cresting, divides the tympanum from the doors themselves. These are formed into panels by mouldings of beaten bronze, with angel bosses at the intersections.
On each leaf of the door are five panels, in relief, illustrating the Life of Our Lord, the subjects on the left leaf being "The Annunciation", with Gabriel appearing at the Virgin's window in the early morning; "The Visitation", with the Virgin running to meet her kinswoman. Below these come "The Nativity", followed by "The Epiphany", and the lowest panel shows the Salvator Mundi on a Cross of branching vine. At the foot of the Cross stand Adam and Eve, conscious of the fall, while the doves of peace and pardon hover overhead.
The subjects of the panels on the right door of the leaf are "The flight into Egypt"; "The Baptism in the Jordan"; "The entry into Jerusalem"; The three Maries at the Sepulchre"; and "The Resurrection". In this panel the Saviour is shown emerging from the tomb and while still bound with the grave clothes, the Spirit of Life, in the form of a Dove, flies to His breast, and overhead the birds sing at the coming of a new Dawn.
Other features The church has a fine collection of late Victorian stained glass windows by many famous makers, including Kempe, Burlison and Grylls and Hardman & Co.Hood, J. C. F., 1910, St. Mary's Church Nottingham. The reredos above the altar is by the artist Charles Edgar Buckeridge.