HISTORY AND ARCHTECTURE
“Leicestershire’s most sophisticated church, even before we go inside.” from England’s Thousand Best Churches, author Simon Jenkins, published by Penguin Books).
St Mary’s Parish Church, in the centre of the market town of Melton Mowbray, is the largest parish church in the Leicester Diocese. It is certainly the finest. St Mary’s is a grand cruciform church with transepts and a crossing tower. The tower of scrubbed limestone has dominated the town for centuries. The building dates mainly from the 13th-15th centuries.
The stonework in the lowest section of the tower, which has Norman windows, dates from 1170, although there were certainly one or more Anglo-Saxon churches on this site before the Norman one. It is built on a plan more usual for cathedrals and the 100-foot tower dominates the town and is a rare example of a parish church with aisled transepts (one of only five in the country) a feature usually found only in a cathedral.
The belfry contains ten bells. The earliest bell (No.6) is by John of York dating from the fourteenth century. Most of the rest have been recast. Until 1802 there were only six bells: then two more were added and in 1894 a further two made the total ten. In addition, there is a small Sanctus bell which dates from the seventeen centuary.
The carillon, on which chimes are played twice a day (at 12 noon and 3pm), was restored in 1938.
In 1865 the Victorians undertook a major reordering of the building, stripping off the wall plaster and paintings to leave the bare stone which they pointed up, stripping out all the Georgian box pews and a three tier pulpit, reducing the floor level in the nave and side aisles and creating 5 steps to the High Altar.
They lifted the roof of the chancel by eleven feet and replaced the medieval east window with the one you see today. They laid the marble floor in the Chancel and at a slightly later date panelled the chancel walls and inserted the Chancel screen.
Most of the windows were reglazed. In 2017 we raised the floor back to the original level, enabling us to insert underfloor heating, and creating level access at the three main doors and to the majority, of the internal floor area. Whilst this work was being done, we inserted service ducts for cabling to service the organ, electrical outlets, and the sound and audio-visual equipment.
A fully disabled toilet and an accessible toilet were installed along with a servery to enable us to serve light refreshments. To make the building more comfortable a draft lobby was formed in the west porch with automatic doors. New lighting, sound and audio-visual equipment were installed along with an electronic screen and back projector.
Whilst all the work was being carried out the organ was stripped out and the pipes removed for refurbishment. We moved back into the building after eleven months and gradually the organ was rebuilt, with pipes relocated and additional fretwork installed to provide a better voice. A new window was installed, designed, and created by Limelight Studios, it celebrates the ‘Tree of Life’ with many Melton Mowbray connections and is in memory of John Plumb, a generous benefactor who enabled all the work to be done.
How To Find Us
Parish Office
8 Burton Street, Melton Mowbray
Leicestershire, LE13 1AE
United Kingdom
January 2023 issue
Parish Office
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