The Church of St MaryinWitham Friary, Somerset, England, dates from around 1200 and it has been designated as a Grade I listed building.[1]
| Church of St Mary | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Location within Somerset | |
| General information | |
| Town or city | Witham Friary |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°10′07″N 2°22′03″W / 51.1686°N 2.3675°W / 51.1686; -2.3675 |
| Completed | c. 1200 |
The church was originally part of the priory which gave the village its name.[2] The Witham Charterhouse, a Carthusian Priory founded in 1182 by Henry II,[3] which had peripheral settlements including one at Charterhouse and possibly another at Green Ore.[4] It is reputed to be the first Carthusian house in England.[5] One of only nine Carthusian Houses, the priory did not survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries.[6] At the dissolution it was worth £227; the equivalent of £52,000 today (2006).[7]
Although the original building dates from around 1200 it was altered in a transitional style in 1828, and then rebuilt and extended 1875 by William White in "Muscular Gothic" style. It has a three-bay nave and continuous one bay apsidal chancel, built of local limestone rubble, supported on each side by four massive flying buttresses. The plastered interior is entered through a Norman style doorway. Inside the church is a scraped octagonal font dating from around 1450. The Jacobean pulpit contains medieval work and there is a royal arms of 1660 at the west end. The stained glass windows contain fragments of medieval glass, with those in the south being made by Sir Ninian Comper.
