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Summary

Medieval parish church

Images

No image caption available © Hertfordshire County Council

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1500 AD)

Associated Events

• Test pits at St Mary's church, Pirton, 2003-4

Protected Status

• Listed Building (I)
• Area of Archaeological Significance 21
• SHINE: Pirton motte-and-bailey castle

Full description

12th century parish church, originally cruciform in plan until the transepts were destroyed by successive collapses of the tower. The S porch, windows, buttresses and chancel roof and fittings date from the 14th century with alterations in the 15th century and a full restoration programme in the 19th century. Features include an early 14th century double piscina, medieval stone corbels carved with heads, fragments of 14th century stained glass and an early 14th century south door <1>.
Iin the 11th century or early 12th century the advowson of Pirton church was given by Ralph de Limesy to St Mary's, Hertford. The standing building is apparently 12th century in origin, a cruciform church; the upper part of the tower collapsed in the 13th century (possibly due to an earth tremor in 1298), destroying the north transept. It was not rebuilt, and by 1850 the south transept was ruinous and the tower in a state of collapse. Renovation and rebuilding in the period 1851-83 included the demolition and reconstruction of the tower. The south transept was rebuilt in 1914 <2>. After bomb damage in 1944 the chancel was repaired. Continued subsidence beneath the north wall of the chancel led to limited investigation in 2003-4, revealing that in the late 19th or mid 20th century a brick foundation and concrete pad had been built around the chancel (and probably the south transept as well) to try to stabilise it. The foundation of the north transept, which did survive, consisted of clunch blocks over cobbles <2>.
The stonework of the walls includes some hewn ashlar blocks of Bedfordshire Greensand (Woburn Sands Formation), an unusual material in Herts <3>. It is also notable for the amount of Totternhoe stone in the walls; much of this was quarried locally, from a source at (the significantly named) Glebe Pit which includes giant ammonites and other fossils <3>.
See [9677] for a Saxo-Norman and earlier cemetery and possible church nearby.

HCC (General/Archaeology), 1998, St Mary's church & Toot Hill castle, Pirton, PNO 20279 (Photograph). SHT16499.

HCC (General/Archaeology), 1998, St Mary's church & Toot Hill castle, Pirton, PNO 20280 (Photograph). SHT16500.

HCC (General/Archaeology), 1998, St Mary's church & Toot Hill castle, Pirton, PNO 20281 (Photograph). SHT16501.

Hounsell, Dan, 2006, St Mary's church, Pirton, Herts: programme of archaeological test pitting, RNO 2224 (Report). SHT4271.

<1> Listed Buildings description (Digital archive). SHT6690.

<2> Hounsell, Dan, 2006, St Mary's church, Pirton, Herts: programme of archaeological test pitting, RNO 2224 (Report). SHT4271.

<3> Catt, John (ed.), 2010, Hertfordshire geology and landscape, Pl.89, p310-11; Pl.99, p317 (Bibliographic reference). SHT2670.

Sources and further reading

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