Monument record BYG 006 - Church of St Mary

St Mary's Church, Great Bradley, is situated in the centre of the parish, next to the Hall. A church is recorded here in the Domesday book. The church consists of a chancel, nave, S porch and W tower. The nave & chancel are mainly C14 although the walling is of C12 and the chancel arch is C13. The E end was shortened in the C18. The church is built of random flint & stone and is now mostly stuccoed over. The W tower is C14 with angle buttresses and castellated parapet with knapped flint and stone chequer work in the base. An octagonal staircase turret rises above the parapet on the SE corner. The stone weathering of the buttresses are carved with the figures of animals & heraldic devices. An old flue from the priest's chamber in the tower has a baffle stone outlet about 20ft up. There is a good late Norman S door with spiral fluted shafts, decorated capitals and some zigzag ornamentation in the arch. The S porch is early Tudor, in red brick, with a crow stepped gable and arched niches. The N door is Norman, plain with scalloped capitals to the shafts. The roof is tiled with king post roof trusses. There is a good C14 piscina with an ogee arch and a head. The font is C15, octagonal with sides carved with quatrefoil rosettes and with a panelled shaft. The pulpit is C18, octagonal with a sounding board behind (S1).