Church Heritage Record id18564

Nave with north and south aisles, chancel, west tower and south porch.

Fragments of an earlier Norman building are incorporated in the north wall of the nave but the church was entirely re-built at some time between 1380 and, 1400, and almost all of the visible structure is of this date. The fabric was restored 1855/6 and again in a piecemeal fashion between 1883 and 1893; at which date the new tower buttresses were built, and the lower part of the south and west tower walls rebuilt. An extensive programme of repairs was begun in 1955 under the direction of Mr. Lawrence Bond, the Inspecting Architect.

The original building material was the local greenstone, which ranges in colour from green to rust, and the fabric has since been patched in both brick and Weldon stone, producing a pleasing diversity of surface colour and texture. 

The substantial west tower is of four stages divided by narrow string-courses; the uppermost string below the windows of the bell chamber has now almost entirely disappeared. The two western angles of the tower are supported by large angle buttresses added at the end of the 19th century, while the eastern angles have single stepped buttresses of brick. The lowest stage of the tower, which is shorter than the rest, has been refaced with Weldon stone, and has a moulded door-opening in the centre of the west side. Above the door is a four light Perpendicular window with an embattled transom incorporated in the tracery and above this again a small single-light window, otherwise the three lower stages of the tower are plain apart from small staircase windows. The bell stage has a large three-light Perpendicular window in each face and on the east wall of this stage the window is set between alternating bands of stone and brick. The tower parapet is embattled, and there is a tall crocketed central pinnacle. The corresponding corner pinnacles have been removed.

The nave is five bays in length, and the two-light clerestory, windows with their late Decorated tracery reflect the division, as do the threelight Perpendicular windows of the north aisle; the Wall of the south aisle is divided by squat buttresses into four bays, one of which is filled by a four-light, Perpendicular window and one by the porch. The structure of the porch is very simple and much of the original stonework has clearly been replaced, but the south doorway itself has an ogee head, further evidence of the survival of the Decorated style of architecture. The parapets of the nave and aisles are embattled in the same fashion as those of the tower with the notable exception of the fine pierced quatrefoil frieze which caps the eastern gable of the nave roof.

The chancel is tall, with one set-off about four feet above ground-level. The north wall is blind, although there is a bricked-up window opening at the west end; on the south side is a small moulded doorway, a two-light window with a pierced quatrefoil in the head, and.a much larger three light Perpendicular window. A similar window is set in the centre of the east wall of the chancel. The battlemented parapet is much larger in scale than those of nave and aisles, and may date from 1885, when the roof structure was renewed.

Inside the building the double-chamfered arches ride on slender octagonalpiers with simple capitals. The responds are attached piers of similar pattern. Incorporated into the north arcade are a large number of stones of Norman date, many with chevron mouldings. At the western end of the nave a tall and wide.arch gives access to the space beneath the tower. The walls of both nave and-chancel have been left unplastered, and above the western arch it is possible to see evidence of an earlier roof-level. The present nave roof was almost entirely renewed (c.1890), though retaining some old oak timbers. The construction is of the queen-post type, with heavy tie-beams. The aisle roofs retain much more of their original timber, as well as the fine carved bosses at the intersectionof the purlins and principals. The aisle walls have been plastered and whitened.

The chancel arch has a single chamfer, and rests on semi-octagonal responds with concave sides. On the north side of the arch the Rood stair remains. The chancel roof, like that of the nave, was almost entirely renewed c.1885 and is of king-post type. Set into the south wall is a triple sedilia with one round and one octagonal column; both columns have late Norman carved capitals. Beyond the sedilia, under a plain niche, is a double piscina drain. The Sanctuary is floored with patterned encaustic tiles, the remainder of the chancel with plain red and black Mintons, and the nave and aisles with cement.