Church Heritage Record 605160

West tower; nave with north and south aisles of three bays; south porch; chancel with north chapel.

The earliest work now visible in the church is the chancel arch which is Norman work of c.1140. The west tower is late thirteenth-century Early English work below and perpendicular of c.1400 above. The aisles appear to be thirteenth-century in origin but have been much rebuilt. The north chapel is of c.1450 now, although much earlier in origin, and the nave arcades date from later in the same century or the early sixteenth century. The chancel is fifteenth-century Perpendicular work, as are the stone lower walls and timber roof of the porch. The church was restored by Galpin of Oxford (a pupil of Pugin) in 1863 when some of the walls (for example the south chancel wall) were rebuilt anew, the church was reseated, the galleries were removed and a staircase outside the east end of the north aisle was taken down, allowing a lancet window in this wall to be restored. The lancet at the west end of this aisle is also probably Galpin's work. The builder was Smith of Highworth. The church was again restored in 1908 by C.E. Ponting, FSA, of Marlborough, Diocesen Architect, who replaced dormers in the nave roof and inserted a new east window; the contractors were G.B. Lansdown of Cricklade. The porch was glazed in 1933, and the church again restored in 1963-4.

The first view of the church, which is also the most picturesque, is from the south-east, yet from this point almost no feature earlier than the nineteenth century in date is visible. The south chancel wall has two windows consisting of trefoiled lights under quatrefoils without hoods and a plain arched priest's doorway between. All this belongs to Galpin's restoration. At the upper corner of the wall is a sundial dated 1822 set at on angle. The east wall of the chancel has a three-light east window with reticulated tracery set in a moulded surround and with a moulded hood. This dates from 1908, until which time there was a triplet of lancets inserted by Galpin, themselves replacing a small early lancet high in the apex of the gable.

The north wall of the chancel has a pair of cinquefoil headed lights and to the west of this is a small chapel set at an angle to the body of the church. In its present form this has a single lancet in the east wall (perhaps that from the chancel gable re-set), a diagonal buttress at the north-east angle and a plain shouldered buttress continuing the line of the west wall. In the north wall of the chapel is a three-light Perpendicular window with cinquefoil-headed lights (the middle one wider than the others) under a square head outlined by a moulded label but with the carve heads at the stops now mutilated. The low pitched roof has an old base for a cross on the east gable and the walls have a moulded plinth more refined than elsewhere in the church.

The east nave gable rises higher than the chancel and in the space thus provided there is a circular clock face within a moulded surround. The walls of the aisles have been much restored and are now difficult to decipher. They seem to be thirteenth-century in origin, although the lancet at the west end of the south aisle wall seems to have been both reset and reworked. In the south aisle there are two three-light windows of low proportions and with cinquefoiled heads which seem to date from the late fifteenth century, and these are separated from each other by buttresses of the same date. The north well has similar windows in similar positions and a further two-light window of the same type further west opposite the south doorway. The east window of the south aisle is a single small lancet restored in 1862 and the north aisle abuts the chapel. The west window of the south aisle is a three-light design with an ogee head to the centre light and panel tracery. The west window of the north aisle is of similar date with three ogee-headed trefoiled lights and intersecting tracery. In the south slope of the nave roof are two dormer windows, each of three lights under a tile-hung gablet, inserted by Ponting in 1908.

The tower is of three stages, very plain externally and undivided by stringcourses or mouldings. The lowest stage has prired buttresses at the western angles and a tall trefoiled lancet in the west wall. The middle stage is blind on all sides. The upper stage has no buttresses but finely worked quoins and two small lights in the west face, single lights in the north and south faces. The nave reaches too high on the east wall to allow any windows. Above these openings there is a horizontal timber on the east and west and then a very low-pitched saddleback roof parallel to the nave.

The south porch is built on Perpendicular stone walls which take the form of tall moulded plinths, and many of the timbers above are also of this date in spite of the insertion of windows in 1933 and repairs in 1963. The doorway has a four-centred arch and chamfered edges; above is a suitable text painted in gold on a blue background on tin.

There being no clerestory, the interior of the church is rather dark and obviously benefits from Ponting's dormer windows in the south nave roof. The floor is of stone flags, with pews set on timber platforms, and the walls are plastered up to the edges of arches and window openings. The nave arcades are dignified late fifteenth century insertions, replacing thirteenth-century arcades. The pillars are tall and octagonal on high moulded bases and with moulded octagonal capitals. The four-centred arches have a big hollow moulding and no outlining hood. The aisle windows stand within plain reveals and the only remarkable feature in the aisles is the decorated timber wall-plate with a row of blind trefoils in the north aisle but quatrefoils alternating with little arched panels in the south aisle. The nave roof is plain, with trussed rafters with tie-beams in three bays, while those of the aisles are divided into four bays end retain their plastered panels. The curved braces to each rafter of the nave clearly show the nail holes where battens for plaster were once attached.

The responds at the east end of the arcades are deep and have been pierced to allow squints from the north and south aisles giving views of the high altar. The chancel arch is Norman, a fine piece with two orders enriched on the west face only. The inner order has a plain flat soffit and on the face are a roll-moulding, a small rope moulding and a kind of stud ornament. The outer order has the usual chevron, parallel to the arch, with the pattern diminishing in size from the springing upwards. The edge of the plaster has been pinked into a parody of chevron with a most unfortunate effect. The two orders of nook-shafts both have scalloped capitals, the design continuing along the respond with a plainly lined impost above which continues the design of the abaci. The bases of the shafts are moulded and decorated with the stud ornament. The tower arch at the other end of the nave hes a single broad chamfer which dies into the responds. These are also chamfered up to a point just below the springing of the arch where there is a pretty traceried stop like the head of a tiny niche.

The chancel seems to have received more attention in 1862 then the rest of the church, to the extent of a new south wall, east window and roof, the latter with arch braces to each pair of rafters. The floor is still old, with stone flags and several ledger slabs, and the arch on the north side with fluted responds which communicates with the small north chapel (now used as an organ chamber) seems to be original work of about 1450, at which date the chapel seems to have been rebuilt on its older foundations. The arch between it and the aisle is semi-circular with a flat soffit and small chamfers on the edges and extends beyond the north wall of the aisle. The roof was renewed in 1893 at a steeper pitch than before to accommodate the organ pipes.