Church Heritage Record 618460

West tower, nave and chancel.

Nave 13m (40ft) x 5m (16ft).

The church is said to have been consecrated in 1138 by Robert Bethune, Bishop of Hereford, a date roughly consistent with the architectural details.  The church was under the Priors of nearby Wenlock until the Reformation.  It was sensitively restored by Sir Arthur Blomfield in 1858, one of his first projects.

This is a simple but very atmospheric and aesthetically pleasing building, with relatively sparse architectural detail and ornament, but what there is being all the more effective for this.  The church steps down from the short west tower with its pyramidal roof to the lower, steeply pitched nave and slightly lower and narrower chancel of similar pitch.

Starting at the west end, the tower rests on a chamfered ashlar plinth with a roll-moulded cornice.   It is of two stages, weakly defined by a chamfered drip-course.  The lower stage is blind with the exception of a narrow lancet in each external face. There are broad flat angle buttresses with one weathering, stopping short of the drip-course, and pronounced quoining.

The belfry stage is lit by pairs of round-headed openings separated by a central pillar with cushion capitals, with a blank tympanum above (apart from the east opening, which has a square head and may be original, see below).  The other windows are set within rectangular recesses, and there is a corbel table above with carved animal heads.  The carving is so fresh that these features seem likely to have been restored.

The nave appears to be of one build with the tower, the roughly coursed hammer-dressed blocks continuing across the interface.  There has been some unfortunate hard cement pointing.  There are two features of note in the north wall, a blocked doorway and a two-light window.  The doorway has roughly-dressed jambs supporting cushion capitals, on which rest a tympanum under a double roll-moulding. 

The tympanum is of some interest, with a grotesque rendering of the Green Man swathed in foliage and tendrils and an outer order of chip-carved stars.  The window is mounted high in the wall to the east of the doorway. It is stylistically of the 14th century with cusped heads within a square surround, but clearly much restored.  The only other features are a chimney and cast iron flue serving a now defunct tortoise stove, and a modern drain pipe, all at the east end.

The south wall has a similar arrangement, although the doorway is set hard up against the tower buttress.  The jambs have clearly been restored, and the doorway therefore probably re-set.  The capitals and tympanum are identical in style to the north doorway, but the tympanum has simple chevron decoration and a blank outer frame. 

There are two windows identical to that in the north wall, but the western of these is set into a blocked section of wall that may well have been the original doorway, opposite the blocked north door.  This may have been done to make space for the second (eastern) window, probably during the restoration of 1858.

The chancel has two small narrow (probably original) round-headed lancets in the north and south walls, and three separate larger lancets linked by a continuous hood-mould with incised chevron decoration in the east wall, these clearly a product of the Victorian restoration and with stained glass of this period.

the interior is quite plain and whitewashed, but with several features of interest.  Turning first to the west, the tower arch is large and impressive, and one wonders if the church was originally entered from the west.  The arch is carried by responds with two orders of engaged shafts and heavy carved capitals under plain imposts.  The carving is crude with volutes and beaded bands executed in a bold hand, the effect being primitive, energetic and quite striking.  The arch itself is of two plain stepped orders.  The space behind is dimly lit by the three lancets despite their broadly splayed reveals, which indicate the thickness of the walls.  It is occupied by cupboards and the richly carved tub font.

Looking east into the nave, the main object of note is a late 18th-century headstone set into the blocked north doorway. The nave windows have slightly pointed rere-arches above the deeply splayed reveals. The furnishings are quite standard and not of particular interest, with the exception of a hatchment on the north wall and rectangular oak commandment boards flanking the chancel arch. The latter is quite plain with simple imposts and radial voussoirs and a double roll-moulded outer order like the doorway tympani.  

Beyond the arch, the chancel is determinedly Victorian despite the Romanesque motifs. There is a piscina with an arched head decorated with chevron carving which bites into the reveal of the south-east lancet, which might indicate that this is a restored original feature. It is also set into oak panelling, clearly the remains of sawn-up Jacobean pews. The triple lancet east window has rere-shafts with cushion capitals, lighting the High altar with its gilded reredos and corona lucis above. The other fittings are all of oak, but otherwise unremarkable.