Church Heritage Record 634566

. A church is recorded at Fyfield in the twelfth century, but the present nave and chancel probably date originally from the earlier thirteenth century. A broad, handsome west tower was added in the later fifteenth century and the nave may have been re-roofed at the same time. The appearance of the church at the beginning of the nineteenth century is shown in a drawing by John Buckler in the collection of the Wiltshire Archaeological Society (figure 1). In 1849 the building was heavily restored under the supervision of the architect Charles Henry Gabriel (variously described as ‘of Bath’ or ‘of London’). Gabriel re-fenestrated the nave, rebuilt the south porch, added a north aisle, re-roofed the chancel and rebuilt the chancel east wall with three lancet windows instead of one (figure 2). As well as restoring the fabric, Gabriel oversaw the complete refitting and refurnishing of the interior. The work was done while the Revd. W. J. B. Angell was vicar, and a contemporary print of the interior dedicated to him survives in the church showing the new arrangement of the east end of the building (figure 3). The plan of the church comprises a west tower, nave with south porch and north aisle, and chancel. The walls of the nave, aisle and chancel are of flint and stone with stone dressings; the tower is built of ashlar masonry. The shallow-pitched nave roof is covered with lead, while the aisle and chancel roofs are tiled. The tower is of two stages with corner buttresses, a crenellated parapet and corner pinnacles. On the south side is a projection for the tower stair. The west front has a four-centred doorway under a hoodmould with a three-light traceried window over. The upper storey has small twolight traceried windows on each face with an additional two-light window on the west face. One unusual feature of the tower is the large amount of graffiti at low level, particularly on the north side. The porch is placed centrally on the south side of the nave and may incorporate some earlier timberwork, but has a Victorian scissor-beam roof. It is flanked by two-light traceried windows in fourteenth century style which were inserted in 1849-50. On the north side of the nave is a broad lean-to aisle with lancet windows which also dates from 1849-50. The chancel has two lancet windows on each side, with a priest’s door at the west end of the south side and a decorated corbel table. Some of the corbels are clearly medieval but most are nineteenth century replacements.

Internally, the tower opens into the nave by means of a tall arch with panelled tracery sides. Most of the wall monuments in the church are mounted high on the tower walls; presumably this was done in the 1849-50 restoration. The tower space is separated from the nave by a Victorian timber screen incorporating carved panels, which the statutory list ascribes to the seventeenth century and are said to have come from an earlier pulpit. All the interior walls are plastered. The nave has a two-bay north arcade of pointed chamfered arches carried on a single octagonal pier with a moulded capital and matching responds. The low-pitched nave roof has chamfered tie beams, moulded purlins and ridge-piece and open tracery decoration to the main trusses. A carved timber frieze covers the feet of the rafters. The present roof is clearly later than the tower because it cuts across the head of the tower arch. Surviving flashing on the east face of the tower may indicate that the roof pitch has been lowered. The easternmost tie beam carries the date 1634, which may refer to a restoration and some elements of the roof could also be of this date. The chancel arch dates from the mid-nineteenth century and has jamb-shafts with simple moulded capitals. The stepped triple east window is mid-nineteenth century and has thin columns to the rere-arches. At the head of the east wall is a small quatrefoil window opening. Although the east wall of the chancel is rebuilt, the eastern corners have stone shafts with simply carved capitals which may have been kept from the earlier church, together with a more elaborate capital now serving as a shelf beside the altar. The chancel has a two-bay timber rafter roof with wall posts and cusped braces to the principal rafters which are brought down onto carved corbels. With the exception of the stone drum font in the centre of the nave, which has carved interlace decoration and may date from the twelfth century, there are no surviving medieval fittings. Post-medieval fittings of note include:  Four carved wooden panels incorporated in the Victorian tower screen, possibly seventeenth century and possibly Flemish  On the tower south wall, a marble wall monument with a coat of arms to Edmund and Anne Fitzjames (d. 1716)  On the tower north wall, two marble wall monuments, one to Nicholas Dymore (d. 1804)  On the southeast wall of the nave, a marble wall monument to James Shipton (d. 1793), his wife and daughter added later. All the other furnishings are Victorian. Most of them date from the mid-nineteenth century refurbishment by Charles Gabriel and many are shown in a contemporary view of the interior (figure 3). They include:  The patterned tile wall-covering behind the altar  Elaborate patterned red and yellow encaustic tiled floor to the chancel with a blue and gold inscription on the altar step ‘have mercy upon us miserable sinners’ etc.  Timber altar table  Timber communion rails with trefoil decoration  Oak choir and clergy stalls with misericord seats and arcaded fronts  Two-sided timber reading desk with open arched fronts and carved ornament  Three-sided timber pulpit on a tapering base with carved figures of the Evangelists  The nave and aisle seating consists of pine benches with chamfered ends and moulded tops  The nave aisle floors have red and black encaustic tiles.  At the east end of the north aisle is a chamber organ. The BIOS Register gives the maker as W.F. Stoneham of Westbourne Park, London, which makes it probably late nineteenth century. It is not currently operational.  Most of the windows are clear glazed but the three east windows of the chancel have coloured patterned glass of c1850 with central medallions showing the Crucifixion and saints, by William Wailes (Stained Glass Records website).