St Mary. Ticehurst. East Sussex.TN5 7AB. скачать в хорошем качестве

St Mary. Ticehurst. East Sussex.TN5 7AB.

** sussexparishchurches.org/church/ticehurst-st-mary/ ** The big, much restored church dates back to the C13, but is mainly C14 except a C15 two-storeyed north porch. The C16 font-cover has opening doors. The aisles and the arcades at Ticehurst are mostly C14, but the heightened west walls show there was an earlier aisled church, which was probably C13. Their replacement within a century may be the result of structural problems, for the south west bay of the present arcade was rebuilt again later (see below). Though the arch of the north porch has been seen as re-used C13 work, the detail looks C15 like the rest. Nothing else of the C13 remains except, perhaps, the groundplan with a tower, four-bay nave, chancel and chapels. The C14 tracery is exceptional by local standards, despite considerable and in some cases debatable restoration. The big segmental aisle windows have teardrop shaped reticulations; the heads in the north aisle are flatter and both aisles have ogee-headed west lancets. The south chapel windows are like those in the aisles, except for the east one, and the Sharpe Collection drawing (c1797) shows similar ones in the north chapel, though that was rebuilt in the C19. Doubt centres on the clerestory with three pointed openings on each side with tracery in the style of the earlier C14. On the Sharpe and the Burrell Collection drawings (1786) the openings resemble the aisle windows, whilst in 1852 Adelaide Tracy shows smaller plain openings within the main ones, so alterations after 1797 are likely. W Slater, the restorer in 1855-57, that he reinstated the tracery on the basis of original springings he found. The windows in the C18 drawings do not look post-Reformation, so probably Slater misinterpreted what he found, though the effect is undeniably remarkable. In 1863 on his second visit Sir Stephen Glynne sounded unconvinced, when he noted that they had been restored ‘according to what seems to be the original design’ The arcades and chancel arch are more straightforwardly C14 with octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches, whilst the roof has crownposts. Inside, the lower stage of the tower of c1370 has a tall arch with semi-octagonal responds and externally it has angle-buttresses, a three-light west window and a moulded doorway with head-stops. Though retooled in 1856, the tracery looks original. The upper stage is of a different stone, so construction may have been interrupted. It has single trefoiled openings and a squat broach spire. Unusually, the eastern parts appear later, for although the chancel was largely rebuilt in the C19, the Burrell and Sharpe drawings show the work was done accurately. Thus the east window of the chapel has panelled tracery, like the five-light one of the chancel. The main mullions curve inwards and cross, indicating it is not later than c1400, like the long square-headed side windows with pierced spandrels. The chapel-arcades and arches into the aisles resemble the nave arcades and suggest the rebuilding was a single project, though spread over 30 or 40 years, whilst the roof timbers in both chapels (those in the north chapel were presumably re-used) recall those of the nave. By about 1400 the church was substantially complete. A two-storeyed north porch was added in the C15, similar to others in the area. Above the arch is a canopied niche and a window for the upper chamber, which is approached from the north aisle by a wooden stair to the massive door. This is original, including the lock. The vaulted lower storey has hollow-chamfered ribs springing from defaced angel-corbels and the centre boss bears the arms of Etchingham. The battlements are like those on the aisle and are part of the original design, whereas those on the south aisle date from 1902. The reason for the greater elaboration on the north side is that this was the main approach, as the presence of the porch confirms. Also C15 is the stair to the rood-loft, of which the upper opening is north of the chancel arch. Probably in the early C16, the south west arch of the arcade was replaced by one largely resembling the C14 work, but slightly four-centred, with rougher chamfers and broader and shallower mouldings on the respond. The clerestory opening above may also have been altered. Apart from the clerestory and the previous general dilapidation, the Sharpe and Burrell drawings show little has changed today. The C19 restorations are poorly documented, e g as already noted the alterations to the clerestory after 1797, and the identity of the unnamed architect who is said to have restored the chancel 1856 before Slater came in 1855. Whoever he was, most of the exterior was rebuilt and the inside was heavily scraped. Slater restored the nave, aisles and tower and followed what he found or, as with the clerestory, believed he had. Apart from the latter most work then was inside and in 1861 repairs to the exterior were in progress.