St Mary's Church, Tenby

St Mary's Church, Tenby is a church located in the centre of the town of Tenby in Pembrokeshire, western Wales. The church is in the Diocese of Saint David's within the Church in Wales, and a member of the Anglican Communion. It is the parish church for St Mary In Liberty (the borough and town) and St Mary Out Liberty (the rural area to the north).^[1]^[2]

Thumb — The spire of St Mary's Church, Tenby

The majority of the remaining building dates from the 15th century with some features retained from the 13th century.^[3] There is believed to have been a church on the site since Norman times, and Gerald of Wales is counted as the earliest Rector of Tenby.

The 13th Century chancel has a 'wagon' roof and the panelled ceiling has 75 bosses carved in a variety of designs including foliage, grotesques, fishes, a mermaid, and a green man, as well as the figure of Jesus surrounded by the four Apostles. St. Thomas' Chapel was added in the mid-15th Century, and the St. Nicholas Chapel was added c. 1485. The spire is also a 15th-century addition. Inside the church is a 15th-century font and a 15th-century bell, cast with the letters 'Sancta Anna'.

The tower is positioned to one side of the chancel and dates from the late 13th century. The first floor served as a chapel, and still has a stone altar and piscina in place.

The church has two fonts, one dating from the 15th century and another late Gothic example from the 19th century.^[3]

The church contains several memorials, including the tombs of Thomas and John White, both Mayors of Tenby in the fifteenth century. Thomas White was famous for hiding a young Henry Tudor from King Richard III.

There is also a wall tablet in memory of Robert Recorde, an Elizabethan scholar, who introduced the equals sign ( = ) to mathematical calculation.

The church was Grade I listed in 1951^[4] as being "an outstanding late medieval church with exceptional roofs and monuments".^[5]

In the churchyard, 20 metres west of the church, are the remains of what is believed to be a late 15th-century choir school or college. The wall includes a pointed arched doorway. These remains are Grade II* listed.^[6]