Oliver Hancock (Director of Music) Mark Swinton (Assistant Director of Music)
The church has the status of collegiate church as it had a college of secular canons. In governance and religious observance it was similar to a cathedral (although not the seat of a bishop and without diocesan responsibilities). There is a Bishop of Warwick, but this is an
episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Coventry.
Historyedit
Foundation and early yearsedit
The church foundations date back nine hundred years, being created by Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick, in 1123.[1] In addition to founding the church, de Beaumont established the college of dean and canons at the church. The only surviving part of the Norman church which de
Beaumont had built is the crypt.
The college was dissolved in 1546, and the church was granted by the Crown to the burgesses of Warwick.[2] Before their destruction in the Civil War, Wenceslaus Hollar copied many of the stained glass windows in the Beauchamp Chapel, showing heraldry of the Beauchamp family.
The church, along with much of Warwick, was devastated by the Great Fire of Warwick in 1693. The nave and tower of the building were completely destroyed. In 1704, the rebuilt church was completed in a Gothic design by William Wilson
(appointed by the Crown Commissioners).[5] Sir Christopher Wren is also said to have contributed to the design, but that is disputed.[1][2] The tower rises to the height of 130 feet (40 m).[4] The design was described by John Summerson as being "as remarkable for its success as for its independence in style from other seventeenth-centuryEnglish Gothic".[6]
The church has been undergoing significant maintenance for renovation since early 2023 and is expected to be complete by the end of 2023. At a cost of £1.4 million, the renovation was planned after a piece of masonry fell from the church's tower.[7]
Deans of the Collegeedit
Robert Plesset, 1282
Thomas de Sodynton, 1290
William de Apperley, 1297
Robert Tankard, 1306
Richard de Alcester, 1313
Robert de Geryn, 1314
Robert de Lee, 1321
Thomas Lench, 1338
Robert de Endredeby, 1340
Nicholas Southam, 1361
Thomas Yonge, 1395
John Porter, 1432
Robert Cherbury, 1443
William Berkswell, 14
John Southwell, 1469
Edmund Albone, M.D., 1481
Richard Brackenburgh, 1485
William Stokedale, 1498
Edward Haseley, 1498
Ralph Colingwode, 1507
John Allestre, 1510
John Carvanell, 1515
John Knightley, 1542
Musicedit
Organsedit
There are two organs in St. Mary's, the transept organ and one at the west end. The specifications of both organs can be found on the National Pipe
Organ Register.[8][9]
The entrance to the Beauchamp family chapel in St Mary's
Effigy of Ambrose Dudley on his tomb in the Beauchamp Chapel
Bear at feet of Ambrose Dudley on his tomb
Effigies of Robert Dudley and Lettice Knollys on their tomb in the Beauchamp Chapel
Effigy of Lettice Knollys.
Lion rampant queue-fourché, emblem of the Dudley family, on the Dudley/Knollys tomb
Inscription on rear panel of tomb of Robert Dudley and Lettice Knollys
Coat of Arms of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester
Bear and ragged staff, emblem of the earls, city and county of Warwick. Tomb of Robert Dudley and Lettice Knollys
Effigy of Richard Beauchamp
Effigy of Robert Dudley, son of Robert Dudley and Lettice Knollys, known as the "Noble Impe", on his tomb in the Beauchamp Chapel
Tomb of Robert Dudley, the "Noble Impe"
Inscription on tomb of the "Noble Impe"
Scaffolding on the tower during maintenance works in 2023 from Castle Street
Referencesedit
^ abCooke, Henry T. (1841). A Description of the Collegiate Church and Choir of St. Mary, Warwick and the Beauchamp Chapel Adjoining Thereto.
^ abcSmith, William (1830). A New & Compendious History, of the County of Warwick: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Comprising Views, of the Principal Towns, Buildings, Modern Improvements, Seats of the Nobility & Gentry, Ecclesiastical Edifices. W. Emans.
^E-mail from 2023-08-03, 17:06 : "Thank you for your enquiry about St. Mary's. ...
The following information about the pre-1694 church may help:
1. The church tower was Norman, built about 1150.
2. The nave and transepts were rebuilt at the same time as the chancel, so between 1370 and 1394 (approximately).
3. The transepts were slightly shorter and slightly narrower than the present ones.
4. The nave was the same width as the present church, but was a little shorter. The tower sat slightly to the east of the present one.
5. The nave and transepts had a wooden roof. I assume it was of the hammer beam (open truss) type; it is too late to have been a barrel vault.
6. The nave had clerestory windows, so a typical design for English churches of the time; it was not a hall church.
7. A drawing was made after the 1694 fire which gives a likeness of the old church. You can see a copy at Universal Viewer - Digital Bodleian (ox.ac.uk)
I hope that you find this useful, and we look forward to welcoming you to St. Mary's one day.
Kind regards
Tim Clark
Church historian
The collegiate church of St. Mary, Warwick"
^ ab"Warter - Warwick-Bridge", A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 475-482. Date accessed: 28 May 2011.
^Sabin, John; Hands, John (1757). A Brief description of the Collegiate Church and Choir of St. Mary's in Warwick: With a concise account of the antiquities and curiosities of the same, and of the chapel adjoyning thereto. Henry Keating.
^Summerson, John (1970). Architecture in Britain, 1530 to 1830. Pelican History of Art. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 265.
^Smith, Kirstie (16 February 2023). "Warwick's iconic St Mary's Church gets much-needed funding to help complete restoration work". Warwickshire World. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
^"Transept Organ",
National Pipe Organ Register, British Institute of Organ
Studies.
^"West End Organ",
National Pipe Organ Register, British Institute of Organ
Studies.