NHER 12903 (Building record) - St Mary's Church, Yelverton

September 1960. Listed, Grade I.
Listing Description Excerpt:
"Parish church. 12th century fragments with 14th and 15th century remodelling. 17th century west tower. Flint with red brick and limestone dressings; roofs slated. West tower, nave, chancel, south aisle, south porch. Square west tower of flint with red brick dressings; datestone on south side reads "1674, THOMAS THETFORD, WORKEMAN". Other inscribed tablets on south wall now indecipherable."
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
H. Hamilton (HES), 15 June 2023.

October 1977. Field Observation.
St Mary's church. Of Norman building one chancel north window survives, and walls of nave. Northeast nave window Y-tracery with rood stairs in base; northwest window Decorative (both 14th century). Later in 14th century chancel altered, south aisle, south chpel and porch added, chancel arch inserted with niche or lancet over. Chancel south window Decorative with sedilia, and piscina beside. Piscina also in south chapel: vicar believes arch to this from chancel is 16th century, but it may be of Decorative style. Rood loft cuts through south pillar of chancel arch to the chapel. Chancel east wall 15th century with Perpendicular window. Perpendicular brick priest's door inserted in case of window in south chapel. Later flint tower with brick dressings: vicar says 16th century but bears plaque with date 1674 andn ames of workmen, plus other plaques, and it could easily be this date. 16th century clerestory on both sides, same date as nave roof which has tie beams. Aisle roof, traceried arched-braces, is 14th century. 15th century painted screen. Some old poppyhead benches. Jacobean seat. Figured brass 1525, and othes. 17th-19th century memorials and lengthy floor tombs; also an early 18th century double plaque in brick surround on outside south wall. Font 14th century. Chalice, Norwich 1567, paten, London 1801 and another undated.
Transcribed from HER Record Card (S2).
H. Hamilton (HES), 15 June 2023.

January 1982. Documentary Research.
Screen is in fact of 1505, though still in Perpendicular style. Bequests to south aisle 1463, to roof 1479 (aisle or nave?) and church "remade" 1496. This suggests aisle later than suggested in 1977 and "16th century work" is really very late 15th century.
Information from Dr. Cotton.
Transcribed from HER Record Card (S2).
H. Hamilton (HES), 15 June 2023.

February 2006. Field Observation.
A detailed survey of the fabric of the church was carried out.
Early Norman massive conglomerate northeast nave quoins, and north chancel window. South chapel probably originally of around 1300, as are some windows. Present overall form of building except tower is later 14th century. Chapel remodelled and nave reroofed around 1500; rood screen of this period. Tower rebuilt 1674. Restoration 1883. Contains a number of interesting monumental brasses and an important memorial of 1661.
See unpublished report (S8) for full details.
E. Rose (NLA), 18 February 2006.

July 2006. Field Observation.
A double splayed circular window is beginning to appear in the north chancel wall as render falls. The windows is located adjacent to and east of the high level norman window, west of the vertical offset. Reported by church warden [1] and confirmed by E. Rose (NLA). This, taken with the early Norman work, must raise the possibility of a Saxon date.
Information recorded in HER Notes (S3).
See also published note (S10).
E. Rose (NLA), 16 August 2006.

October 2006. Field Observation.
Exposure of the aisle floor revealed that the joists are of very recent date (stained with green preservative) and rest directly on hard flint rubble, with a course of pamments along the wall. The rubble seems to have been deposited at the time of the 19th century restoration. The tomb slab protruding at the west end is in fact in the walkway and has been covered over by a wooden platform in recent times.
A small coffin slab set in a depression against the south wall, between the aisle and the chapel, was examined as it was not seen during earlier visits but has been noted in church guides (S5?). It dates to the 13th century and is extremely fine, made of Purbeck marble. It was previously suggested to be a child's burial but may in fact be a heart or viscera burial.
The interior of the south chapel was now seen, It has a piscina with cusped head, petalled drain and offset for a credence shelf.
The north nave doorway has a tomb slab as step.
The northwest chancel window has post-medieval inscriptions on two of its glass quarries. See unpublished report (S9) for dates and transcription.
See unpublished document (S9) for further details.
See also published note (S10).
E. Rose (NLA), 24 October 2006.

December 2011-January 2012. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with installation of new toilet within church tower.
These works saw the excavation of a shallow hole in the south-west corner of the tower, which revealed a trough-like structure. This appeared to be built from reused floor bricks of probable 18th- or 19th-century date and had a dark ashy fill - suggesting it may have been used to hold fuel or fire debris from a stove. This structure was overlain by a layer containing frequent brick, tile and mortar rubble, which formed the bedding for the tower's pamment floor. The stepped footings of the tower itself were also exposed, with it being noted that the footings for the west wall contained brick as well as flints.
See report (S11) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 21 August 2024.