| St Mary's Church, Ware | |
| Pushpin Map: | United Kingdom Hertfordshire |
| Pushpin Mapsize: | 220 |
| Map Caption: | Shown within Hertfordshire |
| Coordinates: | 51.8121°N -0.0332°W |
| Country: | England |
| Denomination: | Church of England |
| Tower Quantity: | 1 |
| Spire Quantity: | 1 (Hertfordshire spike) |
| Diocese: | St Albans |
| Diocese Start: | 1877 |
| Province: | Canterbury |
St Mary's Church is a grade I listed parish church in Ware, Hertfordshire, England.
There has been a church on the site since the Norman Conquest. The Domesday Book mentions the presence of a priest at Ware,[1] and the existence of a church is confirmed by a reference in another document from the reign of William the Conqueror, a charter given to Hugh de Grandmesnil.[2] The chancel, the oldest part of the present building, dates from the thirteenth century, when the church served the town and the monks of the Benedictine priory.
The church was expanded in the 1390s with the addition of clerestories and aisles, which feature corbels of Joan of Kent, Dowager Princess of Wales, her badges and her husbands. The octagonal font with carvings of saints and the head of King Richard II in the south porch date from the same period.[3]
The church was restored in the nineteenth century by George Godwin.
The building is faced in flint.
The tower is surmounted by a short spire of the type known as a "Hertfordshire spike" (see note).
1.Flèche or short spire rising from a church-tower, its base concealed by a parapet, common in Herts., England. Pevsner, N., Cherry. "BoE, Hertfordshire". (1977)