Church Heritage Record 606157

4-bay nave, slightly lower 2-bay chancel, north tower with attached vestry, organ chamber opposite, south porch.

Nave 12.40m (40 feet) x 6m (19 feet), chancel 4m (13 feet) x 4.60m (15 feet).

The church itself has a much longer history than one might assume at first sight, having been substantially rebuilt in 1853-4.  An inscription on a plaque inside the church sums up the later history of the church:

                                                                                      THIS CHURCH

                                                       WAS REBUILT IN THE YEARS 1853 AND 1854

                                                              AND REOPENED FOR DIVINE SERVICE

                                                          ON ST JAMES'S DAY IN THE LATTER YEAR

                                                               THE CARVED DOORWAY WHICH IS A

                                                                   MODIFIED COPY FROM THAT OF

                                                                     BARFRESTON IN THIS COUNTY

                                                               WAS EXECUTED AT THE EXPENSE OF

                                                                  HENRY 1ST VISCOUNT HARDINGE[i]

                                                                          THE FONT WAS GIVEN BY

                                                                   EMILY VISCOUNTESS HARDINGE

                                                                        THE CLOCK WAS GIVEN BY

                                                                         CUTHBERT ELLISON, ESQRE

                                                                       OF HEBBURN HALL AD 1859.

                                                     "OH GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD FOR HE IS

                                                GRACIOUS AND HIS MERCY ENDURETH FOR EVER."

                                                                    ARCHITECT, A SALVIN LONDON

                                                                     W C JAMES CHURCHWARDEN

The original church on the site was of Norman date, probably 12th century, of which the only remnants seem to be the zig-zag decorated arch over the square-headed north door of the nave, and a small mandorla under this with a carved Christ Blessing.  These were relocated from the position of the present south doorway.  A plan of the church from 1835 (ICBS) shows the building as having a similar ground plan and dimensions, except that the nave was apparently one bay shorter.  It was a simple two-cell building with a specially built brick annex for the Morrice monuments (see Monuments 40-45 below) where the tower now stands, and no organ chamber or porch.   It had box pews in the east half of the nave, Laudian communion rails right around the communion table and a large box for “Mr Morrice, patron” adjacent to the annex. 

Only archaeological recording and excavation could determine how much of the fabric of the original building survives.  There may also be the underground remains of a deserted medieval village in the grounds of the church and/or the school, though the whereabouts and existence of such is uncertain.  Certainly medieval burials could be expected in the churchyard.  Again, only archaeological recording could provide a definite answer.

The plan is basically a two-cell church with a north tower and a matching stubby transept on the south, and a south porch. The style is neo-Norman, probably chosen in deference to the original building.

There is a squat south tower of three stages at the east end of the nave.  This has two round-headed lancets within tall round-headed recesses in the north and west faces of the first stage, while the east face has one blind recess. There is a clock face on the west face of the second stage.  The third stage has double round-headed openings with louvres.  The roof is pyramidal, surmounted by a lead dressed finial with a weathervane.

The nave windows and chancel side windows are round-headed lancets with stained glass (see below).  The nave walls have dados formed with quarry tiles fixed diagonally and with a decorative ceramic band along the top.  The walls are now whitewashed above the dados, but in the north-west corner of the nave a strip of this has been removed, revealing garish polychrome floral designs, probably dating to the 1853 rebuild.

The chancel arch has cable moulding on Early English capitals, painted with blue and gold giving the interior a rather exotic Byzantine appearance reflected elsewhere in the church.  There is a beaded and roll-moulded arch to the tower.  The style is matched by the triple shuttered openings in the chancel wall above the arch, and in the triple lancet east window.  The wheel window above is based on that at St Nicholas, Barfrestone, Diocese of Canterbury. 

Within the chancel, there is a trecusped piscina on the north wall, which looks to be of 13th century date; on the south wall is a sedile with tiling around and within the arch, the lamb of God in the spandrels and the sacred monogram within the arch.  The sanctuary walls have terracotta panels decorated with stiff floral motifs and painted in imitation of stone.  The centrepiece is the ornate reredos (see below). 

The nave roof is arch-braced with a collar and king-posts, while the chancel has a waggon roof.  The chancel roof rafters and trusses are painted in green and decorated with starfish and arabesques. The boards are richly decorated with the sacred monograms ihs and M.  The wall plate is painted with white cinquefoils. The floor of the sanctuary is paved with patterned ceramic tiles, the chancel has tiles in a black and white chequerboard pattern and the nave has plain quarry tiles, with iron gratings over the old disused heating pipes.

As noted above, the north doorway has genuine Norman sculpture, with zig-zag around the arch and the tiny figure of Christ blessing in a mandorla in the tympanum beneath this.  “It must have originated in just such a composition as that of the south tympanum, but the figure with its overgrown head was not the work of a master hand.  It is much re-cut”  (Newman). As noted above, it was probably situated over the south doorway of the original building.

The south doorway tympanum is carved in imitation of the famous tympanum at St Nicholas, Barfreston, and “yields nothing to its model in elaboration” (Newman).  It is set within a gabled porch (latin inscription on the gable records its completion in 1868) carried by granite columns of different colours, with capitals of heavy Byzantine inspiration. The tympanum retains the same basic layout as at Barfreston and shows Christ in a mandorla flanked by two censing angels and, in roundels, demi-effigies of St Peter and St Paul and the symbols of the Four Evangelists, all within an arabesque foliage pattern. The capitals have, on their south faces, Cain slaying Abel and The Expulsion. The doorway has six orders of voussoirs, from the inside as follows;

a.Roll mould with beaded bands.

b.A band of circles.

c.Dog-tooth.

d.A band of angels playing musical instruments.

e.Scenes from the Life of Christ, reading from west to east: The Annunciation; Jesus in the Carpenter's shop; Baptism by John the Baptist; Suffer the Little Children; Betrayal by Judas - "The Kiss"; Pilate washing his hands; Crucifixion; the Deposition; The Entombment; Doubting Thomas; The Ascension; Christ presents himself to Mary Magdalene; The Feast at Emmaus; Christ the Shepherd with his flock.

f.Arabesque foliage.

The door has "Romanesque" style decorated C hinges.

In the nave, on the north wall, is a fine carved royal arms of William III.