The Church of St Mary the Virgin is located on Church Street (not Raby Place as Pevsner mentions, although the two are the same street) in Bathwick section of Bath, Somerset, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The church is Anglican

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...

 and located near Pinch's Sydney Place

Sydney Place, Bath

Sydney Place in the Bathwick area of Bath, Somerset, England was built around 1800. Many of the properties are listed buildings.Numbers 1 to 12 were planned by Thomas Baldwin around 1795. The 3 storey buildings have mansard roofs. Jane Austen lived in Number 4 from 1801 to 1805.The 3 storey houses...

 (1808) and Bath's famed Sydney Pleasure Gardens.

The church was constructed by the Pulteney family, who used it to replace the medieval parish church of St Mary's, Bathwick, known even in Georgian

Georgian era

The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...

 times as Bathwick Old Church.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin was where the band Muse

Muse (band)

Muse are an English alternative rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy , Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard...

 recorded the organ parts on their second studio album Origin of Symmetry

Origin of Symmetry

Origin of Symmetry is the second studio album by English alternative rock band Muse, released on 17 July 2001 by Taste Records. In the UK it reached #3 and was certified platinum. The title for the album comes from a concept put forward by Michio Kaku in his book Hyperspace.On Origin of Symmetry,...

.

Pevsner

Pevsner

Pevsner is a surname, and may refer to:* Antoine Pevsner , a Russian sculptor* Sir Nikolaus Pevsner , a German-born British scholar of the history of architecture;** ....

's description

"St Mary [the Virgin], Raby Place, Bathwick

Bathwick

Bathwick is an electoral ward in the City of Bath, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre.Bathwick was part of the hundred of Bath Forum....

. 1814–20 by Pinch (John Pinch the Elder). The chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 by G.E. Street

George Edmund Street

George Edmund Street was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex.- Life :Street was the third son of Thomas Street, solicitor, by his second wife, Mary Anne Millington. George went to school at Mitcham in about 1830, and later to the Camberwell collegiate school, which he left in 1839...

, 1873–5. Meant to be in the Somerset Gothic style, though of course the result is typical of early C19. W tower with pierced parapet

Parapet

A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...

 and polygonal pinnacles. Nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

, aisles, clerestory, high and a little pinched. Perp[endicular] tracery

Tracery

In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...

 in the tall aisle windows and the lower clerestory

Clerestory

Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...

 windows with thin four-centered heads. Very tall thin piers of standard Somerset section (four hollows). Three galleries. No arcade arches, but a flat timber lintel running through. This was originally plastered. Ribbed coved ceiling. The chancel not of particular interest. – PAINTING. On the altar early C16 polyptych

Polyptych

A polyptych generally refers to a painting which is divided into sections, or panels. The terminology that follows is in relevance to the number of panels integrated into a particular piece of work: "diptych" describes a two-part work of art; "triptych" describes a three-part work; "tetraptych"...

, four winds, Netherlandish. – The original altar painting, an Adoration of the Child by Benjamin Barker, hangs high up against the W wall. – PLATE. Chalice and Cover 1572; Paten by Fawdery 1723; Chalice and Paten 1837."

Music

The organ in St. Mary's is the only example in the city of the work of Father Henry Willis. The musical tradition of the church dates back to the late 1800s when the Oxford Movement's influence caused the establishment of a robed choir. For many years the reputation of the church choir rode high but during the 1970s and 1980s difficulties in maintaining the numbers of boy trebles caused challenges and eventually led to the formation of an all-adult choir. Over the past 15 years or so the standards have once again risen and the choir of St. Mary's is now held in high regard, and has made many recital tours within the UK and abroad, and has made a number of broadcasts on radio and television.

External links

• Photos of St Mary's