St. Mary,Hitchin
A pride of angels.
Whilst most churches gained from the English trade in wool in the late middle ages, Hitchin’s is the only one in the county which could truly be called a wool church. Built by merchants who left their trade marks on almost every part, this low spreading church aptly sits beside the striped awnings of the outdoor market. The view from the east across the river Hiz to the weeping willows in the graveyard is reminiscent of the backs in nearby Cambridge, with the three gables of the eastern chapels each boasting different patterns of Perpendicular tracery. The wide squat tower has a fine Early English west doorway; buttresses were added after the fall of the nave, which was rebuilt in the fourteenth century. Over the next hundred years the chancel was rebuilt, then the eastern chapels, and finally both two storey porches. Apart from the tower, the exterior is all in the Perpendicular style, with battlements on every parapet, including the stair turrets. A west doorway of some splendour dating from the Early English period leads into the tower, which is held together by at least ten iron ties. A large Perpendicular window was added above the west door, and the top has been rebuilt in brick. The sundial was a thank offering for the restoration of Charles II.
A pride of angels.
Whilst most churches gained from the English trade in wool in the late middle ages, Hitchin’s is the only one in the county which could truly be called a wool church. Built by merchants who left their trade marks on almost every part, this low spreading church aptly sits beside the striped awnings of the outdoor market. The view from the east across the river Hiz to the weeping willows in the graveyard is reminiscent of the backs in nearby Cambridge, with the three gables of the eastern chapels each boasting different patterns of Perpendicular tracery. The wide squat tower has a fine Early English west doorway; buttresses were added after the fall of the nave, which was rebuilt in the fourteenth century. Over the next hundred years the chancel was rebuilt, then the eastern chapels, and finally both two storey porches. Apart from the tower, the exterior is all in the Perpendicular style, with battlements on every parapet, including the stair turrets. A west doorway of some splendour dating from the Early English period leads into the tower, which is held together by at least ten iron ties. A large Perpendicular window was added above the west door, and the top has been rebuilt in brick. The sundial was a thank offering for the restoration of Charles II.
Whilst the north porch with its upper room would be swagger enough for many churches, the real splendour here is reserved for the south side. Here the porch is two bays deep, with four big niches beside the three lights of the upper room, and two more beside the entrance. Each niche has an image plinth, and each has a miniature vault with ribs and bosses. One of these has a small priapic caryatid figure supporting one corner. Each buttress has an angel carrying a scroll carved at the top, and the middle merlon of the battlements is carved with the three seated figures of the Trinity, before whom kneel the donor with a book and his wife with her prayer beads. To each side are the merchant mark of Nicholas Mattock and arms of the Staple of Calais; on the plinth below are the trade-mark again, whilst the other shield has been changed to that of the post reformation rector, Trinity College Cambridge. Inside this porch are multiple mouldings and shafts around both doorways, and four crisply traceried windows lighting the bays of lierne vaulting. Here the main tierceron ribs are doubled up, and bosses bear the figure of Christ showing his wounds, angels, male and female faces, a pelican in its piety, lions, roses and beasts; in short, no money was spared on this and it shows. Even the wooden doors bear tracery patterns; this porch is the business and would stand beside any other in England
Inside, the late fourteenth century font stands in the middle of the nave, with the twelve apostles carved around it, all carefully beheaded during puritan times. The arcades are Decorated work of the fourteenth century, with a later clerestory on top. In the south aisle, large corbels support the roof, beautifully carved with big faces and figures; a king, an angel talking to a woman whilst a devil whispers in her ear, a hooded man cooking his dinner, many looking as fresh as if cut yesterday. The north aisle has an ornately panelled roof of the 1350s, with stone corbels of angels holding shields with merchants’ marks upon them, and three effigies rest upon the window sills here, one a very battered knight of the mid Thirteenth century who must have been outside to be so weathered, the other two a couple of the fourteenth century, the knight with his feet on a lion, and his lady with two lap dogs playing at hers.
The five fourteenth century bays of the nave are repeated in the later chancel arcades, with the guild chapel of St. Mary on thesouth built around 1450, and the chapel of the Trinity to the north. A full set of screens runs around the chancel, and divide the two chapels off from the aisles. Unusually, the east end ran as an ambulatory across behind the altar. Under the east end a charnel chapel was built, the doorway to the crypt carved with an angel and a squirrel, the symbol of the Squery family. The south chapel was paid for by a draper’s wife, Alice Pulter, and must have cost a small fortune, with its wonderful full size angels decorating the roof. The finest screen stands at its west end; this has beautiful angels with outspread wings holding symbols of the Passion all along the top, and is without doubt one of the most beautifully carved in the county. In Hitchin it was merchants not lords holding both power and purse strings, and the proud display of their wealth and trade-marks can be seen on all sides.
The church is open daily, but check hours first with the office on 01462 452758.
The church is open daily, but check hours first with the office on 01462 452758.
All rights reserved for this entire site. Copyright reserved to stiffleaf for all text and images, which may not be reproduced without my permission.