Guide to St Mary's Church
The Chancel
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The
roof of the chancel is unique.
Its forty panels contain representations of the Kings of England, with inscriptions in Latin on scrolls recording the name of the king, the length of his reign, and the place of his burial. In order to complete the required number, some legendary monarchs such as Brutus, Ebraucus and Lud have been included. From Egbert, 802-839, the list is historically correct. The last king of the series is Henry VI (third from the East on the North side) and the inscription records that the work was done in the 23rd year of his reign, 1445. This painted roof was carefully restored in 1863, and again in 1939 when the image of George VI was substituted for the legendary monarch, Lochrine.
The chancel stalls are of early fifteenth century work, and the carving on the misericords, most of which are original, illustrate the life, religion, sport and costume of that period.
Beginning at the returned stall on the South side, the subjects are as follows:
|
1 Hart with hounds |
2 Modern |
3 Modern |
4 Monk between two foxes with croziers, and geese on their backs |
| 5 Elephant and castle between two trees | 6 Head between leaves | 7 Two griffins defending Tree of Life | 8 Bear baiting |
|
9 Modern |
10 A wild man treading on wyverns between two lions |
11 Head | 12 Modern |
|
13 A fox in centre pierced by an arrow shot by an archer on the left: on the right a chained monkey taking a large bag of money in return for a small bottle of physic |
14 Head with grapes issuing from the mouth |
15 Phoenix behind book held by two foxes |
16 Head |
| 17 Fox in pulpit preaching to monk and nun, between two seated monkeys in hoods | 18 Head | 19 Robin Hood and the King? |
20 King with mace between a man holding the mouth of a lion and a man in a net riding on a goat holding a hare under his left arm |
| 21 Modern | 22 King with two maces between two griffins dancing on wyverns to music | 23 Boar hunt | 24 Two woodmen triumphing over two wyverns |
|
25 St George and two wyverns |
26 Monkey tempting with a money bag an ecclesiastic who holds an axe on his right shoulder, a circle bearing a cross (possibly the sacred host) in his left hand a gentleman with club on the right behind monkey |
27 Modern |
28 Modern. |
(see a much fuller description of the misericords by Ben Chapman via the main menu at the top of the page)
The two arcades of the chancel present an interesting illustration of the development of architectural design in the early fourteenth century.
A Consecration Cross can be found on one of the piers of the North Arcade marking the position of the Easter Sepulchre.
The southern arcade is about thirty years earlier than that on the north side. In the latter, the moulding of the capitals and of the arches is of much higher quality and more refined in detail; the trefoils in the spandrels are more richly ornamented, and in the string course above the arcade there appears the striking and unusual nail-head ornament, which has been called 'the Beverley stud-moulding'.
Specially worthy of notice is the niche in the large pier which divides the three eastern from the two western bays and which holds a fine statue of the Virgin and Child, the work of John Angel in 1916. The screens around the Sanctuary contain some remains of ancient screen work. The reredos was the work of Mr. John Oldrid Scott, in 1881.
| Two fine sedilia are to be found to the right of the altar. |  |