St Mary Magdalene (Taunton)
St Mary Magdalene is a church building of the Church of England in Taunton , Somerset , England that was completed in 1508 in the Early Tudor Perpendicular Gothic style. The structure is a Grade I Listed Building .
History and description
St Mary's was probably founded as part of the reorganization of Tauntons by Bishop Heinrich von Blois in the 12th century; since 1308 it has served as the town church of Taunton. In 1437 a new chapel was consecrated.
The building was made of sandstone , the interior is colored. Most of the statues and the leaded glazing are from the Victorian era . There are a number of plaques inside the church, including those commemorating Somerset soldiers, such as the Somerset Light Infantry .
The church tower was built in 1503, financed by the wealth acquired in the wool trade; it was rebuilt as a replica in the years 1858–1862 by Sir George Gilbert Scott and Benjamin Ferrey , using otter sandstone from Williton and igneous diorite from Hestercombe . The church tower is considered one of the most representative examples of the style of church towers common in Somerset and is around 50 m high . Simon Jenkins described the church tower as "the noblest parish tower in England".
The tower has twelve bells and a clock mechanism. Two of the clock mechanism's hammers have stopped striking. The bell founders were Thomas Bilbie, who came from the Bilbie bell foundry family of Chew Stoke , Taylors Eayre & Smith of Loughborough and various members of the Mears and Stainbank families, who owned the Whitechapel Bell Foundry .
The church suffered from the effects of the weather over the centuries, which is why there were several calls for donations for the repair of the facades and the renovation of the masonry on the church tower after two pinnacles fell and the roof broke through. In 2009 vandals damaged some of the church windows, but the lead glass, fragments of which date back to the Middle Ages , remained undamaged thanks to the protection of wire mesh .
The Puritan pastor and writer Joseph Alone was the church's vicar in the 1660s and is buried in the churchyard.
supporting documents
- ^ A b c Church of Mary Magdalene . In: Images of England . Retrieved January 19, 2008.
- ^ A b Church of St Mary Magdalene and churchyard, Taunton . In: Somerset Historic Environment Record . Somerset County Council. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ History . St Mary Magdalene. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
- ^ Robert Dunning: Somerset Churches and Chapels: Building Repair and Restoration . Halsgrove, 2007, ISBN 978-1841145921 , p. 47.
- ↑ St Mary Magdalene Church, Taunton . In: BBC Somerset . BBC. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ Peter Poyntz Wright: The Parish Church Towers of Somerset, Their construction, craftsmanship and chronology 1350-1550 . Avebury Publishing Company, 1981, ISBN 0-86127-502-0 .
- ↑ a b The Bells of St Mary Magdalene, Taunton, Somerset . Bell Historians. Archived from the original on August 21, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ Robert Dunning: Somerset Churches and Chapels: Building Repair and Restoration . Halsgrove, 2007, ISBN 978-1841145921 , p. 26.
- ↑ Lornie Leete-Hodge: Curiosities of Somerset . Bossiney Books, Bodmin 1985, ISBN 0-906456-98-3 , p. 70.
- ↑ Simon Jenkins: England's Thousand Best Churches . Penguin Books, 2000, ISBN 0-14-029795-2 , p. 617.
- ^ Taunton – S Mary Magdalene . In: Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers . Central Council for Church Bell Ringers. September 30, 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2009.
- ^ Joanna Gibbon: Church Appeals , The Independent. July 25, 1992. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ Vandals strike church that got in their way , This is Bristol. March 31, 2009. Archived from the original on September 19, 2012 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ↑ Somerset Guide . England's Christian Guide. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
- ↑ Jof Alone . In: The Gentlemans Magazine . No. 89, September, p. 518.
literature
- James Cottle: Some account of the church of St. Mary Magdalene, Taunton, and the restoration thereof: together with several notices on ecclesiastical matters . 1845. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- Alfred E. Goodman: The Church of St. Mary Magdalene Taunton 1508-1908 . The Phoenix Press, 1908.
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 0 '56.3 " N , 3 ° 6' 2.7" W.