User:WereSpielChequers/St Mary's Church, Stottesdon

St Mary's is a medieval Anglican church in the village of Stottesdon, Shropshire, England. Unusually for medieval English churches it still contains elements that predate the Norman Conquest of 1066. There has been a church in Stoddesdon since at least the late 11th century, though little of the current building is earlier than 12th century.

History
Before the Norman conquest the village had belonged to Edwin, earl of Mercia. He and his brother Morcar, earl of Northumbria, who were grandsons of earl Leofric, husband of Lady Godiva. English history tells us the before fighting a battle at Senlac Hill, Harold had put down a rebellion in Northumbria, so Edwin and Morcar missed the battle, add submitted to William of Normandy. But they revolted in 1068, and forfeited their lands. By 1086 Stottesdon was part of the holding of Roger of Montgomery, earl of Shrewsbury, a cousin of King William. He, in effect, owned Shropshire as one of the great Marcher lords defending conquered England against Welsh incursions. Earl Roger had founded a new Benedictine Abbey in Shrewsbury in 1083, dedicated to St Peter, and endowed it with property.copy vio.Orderic Vitalis, the reliable mediaeval historian who wrote Historia Ecclesiastica was a monk at this abbey, Stottesdon became a hundred, and required an impressive church had a chapel of ease.

Description
(c11Stottesdon church today has early C11 nave, a late C11 tower,  north aisle 1180, a  chancel from c1330 and south aisles - the south aisle has its own altar beneath the Epiphany east window. The tower with an active ring of bells is to the west. It has been heavily restored in the fifteen century. The richly carved font dates from c 1160

Religion
Much of the stonecarving is medieval, including Norman work and a little from Saxon times, incorporated in the new tower. There are also substantial parts from a nineteenth century restoration.

the church's Roman Catholic origins, but since the Reformation the church has been Anglican, and is currently part of the Diocese of Hereford.

Construction
The church is largely built of old red sandstone a stone that has in the past been extracted from several quarries in the county.

Before Mercia was merged into England, Stottesdon was more important than a village, and the original church may have been a Minster.

The 1868 National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland credited Robert of Bellême, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury with the building of the church. Though the Domesday Book in 1086 recorded Stottesdon (then called Stodesdone) as having a church, while Robert's father the first Earl was the Lord. Whilst modern sources date the current church building to the twelfth to fourteenth centuries (restored in the nineteenth century), with the tower being twelfth century. Though Pevsner considered the upper parts of the tower, including its battlements, to be late medieval.

Tympanum
The Tympanum over the original west door (now an internal door since the tower was added in the 11th century) is the most noteworthy part of the church to date from the AngloSaxon era, though it may be simply a piece of Anglo Saxon stone carving incorporated into a more modern (twelfth century) part of the structure, and possibly upside down.

Font
The baptismal font is carved Romanesque stonework and is reckoned to be Norman work from the 12th century. Sources differ as to whether it is circa 1160, or a generation earlier, but all agree it is an unusually fine, even "sumptuous" carving. Shropshire History attributes the carving to the Herefordshire School, specifically the Aston Mason, best known for the carvings at Pipe Aston church, and also the font at St Peter and St Paul, Rock, Worcestershire.

Pulpit
The pulpit is Jacobean, carved wood from the early 17th century.

In modern times
The church was restored in the nineteenth century by Thomas Blashill.

In 1902, whilst Walter Murcott was vicar, fragments of old stained glass window were rearranged and reinstalled with a new design.

After the First World War a roll of honour was placed in the church and a stained glass window installed to commemorate nineteen from the village who died of the war.

In March 1970 the church was listed grade 1 by Historic England for its "special architectural or historic interest". It has since been placed on their at risk register. As of 2020 it is "in poor condition and slowly deteriorating" with problems in the roof and guttering as well as some masonry.