St. Mary's Church, Melton Mowbray
Encyclopedia
St Mary's Church, Melton Mowbray is a parish church
in the Church of England
located in Melton Mowbray
, Leicestershire
.
around 40 members. The full choir is led by Michael Geeson,11 (2011).
The church forms part of the Framland
church trail along with 14 other churches in the 'Framland area'. Copies of the guide to the church trail are available from Melton Tourist Information Centre.
The carillon on which the chimes are played three times a day were restored in 1938 through a bequest by Alice Henton. This restoration involved a new clock to replace the previous one dating from the early nineteenth century.
in 1955. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
located in Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray is a town in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It is to the northeast of Leicester, and southeast of Nottingham...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
.
Features
St Mary's Church is the largest and "stateliest" parish church in Leicestershire, with visible remains dating mainly from the 13th-15th centuries. The stonework in the lowest section of the tower, which has Norman windows, dates from 1170, although there were certainly one or more Anglo-Saxon churches on this site before the Norman one. It is built on a plan more usual for cathedrals and the 100-foot tower dominates the town, and is a rare example of a parish church with aisled transepts (one of only five in the country) a feature usually found only in a cathedral. The church has a large choir containingaround 40 members. The full choir is led by Michael Geeson,11 (2011).
The church forms part of the Framland
Framland
Framland was a hundred in north-east Leicestershire, roughly corresponding to today's borough of Melton. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as one of Leicestershire's four wapentakes....
church trail along with 14 other churches in the 'Framland area'. Copies of the guide to the church trail are available from Melton Tourist Information Centre.
Bells and carillon
The belfry contains ten bells. The earliest bell (No.6) is by John of York dating from the fourteenth century. Most of the rest have been recast. Until 1802 there were only six bells: then two more were added and in 1894 a further two made the total ten. In addition there is a small sanctus bell which dates from the seventeenth century.The carillon on which the chimes are played three times a day were restored in 1938 through a bequest by Alice Henton. This restoration involved a new clock to replace the previous one dating from the early nineteenth century.
List of Rectors
- 1562 Miles Bennes
- 1578 Edward Turner
- 1599 Isaac Cooper
- 1613 Zachary Cawdray
- 1660 John Dowell
- 1690 Simon Henley
- 1731 John Hardy
- 1740 Ffoulk Middleton
- 1741 John Middleton
- 1773 Thomas Ford
- 1820 Thomas Godfrey
- 1832 John Halifax
- 1839 Robert Croughton
- 1866 William Colles
- 1889 Gilbert Karney
- 1891 Canon Richard Blakeney
- 1924 John Llewellyn Davies
- 1928 Canon Percy Robson
- 1937 Canon Harold R. Bates
- 1946 Canon Charles Maurice Strettell Clark
- 1965 Canon George Herbert Codrington
- 1981 Canon Donald Edward Boughton Law
- 1994 Canon Charles Jenkin
- 2009 Kevin Ashby
Organ
The church has a large three manual pipe organ by Haydn Morton of 1929 which was rebuilt by J. W. Walker & Sons LtdJ. W. Walker & Sons Ltd
J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd is a British firm of organ builders established in 1828 by Joseph William Walker in London. Walker organs were popular additions to churches during the Gothic Revival era of church building and restoration in Victorian Britain, and instruments built by Walker are found in...
in 1955. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.
List of organists
- Thomas Hickson 1846 - 1880
- Claude Ferneley 1880 - 1890
- L. Camidge 1890 - 1900
- Percy Jones 1900 - 1914
- Malcolm SargentMalcolm SargentSir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
1914 - 1924 - William Hunt 1925 - 1928
- Percy George Saunders 1928 - 1930 later organist of Wakefield CathedralWakefield CathedralWakefield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of All Saints Wakefield is the cathedral for the Church of England's Diocese of Wakefield and is the seat of the Bishop of Wakefield. The cathedral has Anglo Saxon origins and the tallest cathedral spire in Yorkshire...
- William Dean Pearson 1930 - 1937 - 1940
- Lt. Col. Skentelbury 1941
- Cecil Clarke 1942 - 1946
- Harold L. Barnes 1946 - 1966
- John A. Bellamy 1966 - 1968
- Eric Bennett 1968 - 1973
- Bryan Hesford 1973 - 1978
- Ian Major 1978 - 1982
- Robert Kalton 1982 - 1987
- Douglas Hollick 1987 - 1988
- John Wilks 1988 - 1991
- John Clark 1991 - 1998
- Anne de Graeve 1998 - 2002
- Keith Morgan 2002-2005
- James Gutteridge 2005 - current