The History of St Mary's Church

Welcome to St Mary’s, Fairford. There has been a Church on this site for 1,000 years, the present one dating from about 1497. The Church, as well as being the largest place of worship in the town, is chiefly known for its stained glass windows – the only complete set of late medieval glass in a parish church in the country.

In the Domesday Book account of Fairford a priest is mentioned so it is quite likely there was a late Saxon church. For all we know there may be traces of a simple structure beneath the present building. The oldest visible features today are the small surviving sections of arches on the west sides of the central tower partly hidden behind the later buttressing. The ball flower decoration suggests a date in the 14th century. The tower itself was rebuilt early in the 15th century and this tower remained after John Tame got permission from the Diocese of Worcester to demolish the rest of the church. The additional buttressing was added to support an increase in the height of the tower.

The new building is thought to have been carried out in the 1490’s and completed in 1497. It was in the Perpendicular style, a style that showed the mastery the craftsmen had over their materials. The slender elegant columns were strong enough to support the load on them and the walls allowed for large areas of glass. You only have to think of a typical Norman church with its chunky columns and tiny splayed windows to see how architecture had evolved over 400 years.

We don’t know whether the rebuild was carried out with a commission already prepared for the windows. It is likely to be the case given that they appear to have started work on glazing soon after the building was ready. John Tame died in 1500 so his son Edmund would have been in charge for the majority of the time the glass was being installed. By 1515 it was complete. Edmund also had the screens put in.