1679

 

II*  

Designated  

16/11/1962  

15/03/1994  

Church of Saint Mary  

 

Wrexham  

Overton  

 

 

337332  

341817  

E  

At right-angles to High Street, in churchyard which runs between High Street and School Lane.  

Religious, Ritual and Funerary  

 

Established as a chapel in Bangor parish, and not given separate parochial status until 1867. Decorated W tower, and Perpendicular nave arcades survive from the medieval church, with much of the rest of the fabric remodelled, rebuilt or restored. Chancel of 1710, remodelled in 1870. North aisle rebuilt in 1819, and he S aisle in 1855. A major restoration followed designation of Overton as a parish, and was undertaken by W M Teulon. This involved remodelling the chancel, re-roofing and adding the clerestory, and re-ordering the nave with open seating (galleries had been removed in a previous restoration of c1854).  

Red sandstone with heavy slate roofs. Well-coursed and squared stonework to C14-15 tower; late C19 restoration work characterised by use of ashlar blocks with heavy tooling; earlier C19 work in S aisle uses smaller blocks. Mainly Perpendicular in character, but most of the exterior features date from the C19 restorations, and especially that by Teulon. West tower, however, remained unrestored, and is Decorated. West tower, nave with 2 aisles and chancel. Undivided tower with angle buttresses. Moulded arched west door with hoodmould carried on corbel heads. Two-light decorated window over, and clock of 1862 above. Paired bell chamber lights. Embattled parapet, and stair turret in NE angle. Sundial dated 1803, and originally inscribed with names of wardens, designer and sculptor, but these now badly worn. Small vestry to S of tower added in 1819. Steeply gabled N aisle of 4-bays articulated by buttresses and with Perpendicular-style flat-headed windows of 3 and 4 lights in hollow chamfered surrounds. Cross-gabled chapel to E is an earlier phase of building and has 5-light Perpendicular window with hollow chamfering - possibly the original form of the design taken up in the restoration. Chancel was substantially rebuilt during restoration work in the C19, and the windows are all Decorated, but beneath each window there survives the apron of the C18 windows. South aisle entirely early C19, with Decorated windows.  

Nave arcade of 4-bays with narrower steeper bay to W. Octagonal piers with double chamfered arches. Hammerbeam roof carried on wall shafts sprung from heavy stone corbels. Clerestory with gabled dormer windows. Aisles also have pitched roofs with arched braced trusses in S aisle, and in N, braced tie beams supporting curved principals. Furnishings: Font of 1872 in W of S aisle: octagonal with low relief emblems on each face, surrounded by tiled floor. Various C18 and C19 wall memorials in N aisle, including Francis Richard Price, (d.1858) by J Bedford. Carved screen divides NE bay of N aisle to form a separate chapel: this apparently includes fragments of medieval work. South aisle has organ at E end (damaged by ire on inspection, July 1993) and a memorial to Thomas and Mary Bennion (d. 1803 and 1840), by Patent Marble Works of Westminster. Chancel arch in white stone with clustered shafts. Curved principals to chancel roof. C18 baluster-and basin font adjacent to arch. C18 and C19 wall memorials in chancel, including Owen Wynne, (d.1780) by Van der Hagen, Francis Parry Price, (d.1787) by Benjamin Bromfield, Thomas Hanmer (d.1794), by John Nelson of Shrewsbury, Phillips Lloyd Fletcher (d.1808), by Richard Westmacott. Stained glass in chancel by Clayton and Bell, and in S aisle, 3 by Kempe, the other windows unattributed. Painted wood benefaction boards in tower, one dated 1750.