Church Heritage Record id18983

Round tower at the west, nave, with south aisle, chancel, and a porch at the west end of the south aisle.

The lower part of the tower and some parts of the surviving walls of the nave and chancel are Norman and probably this is the oldest parish church in 'The Saints'; the south arcade is 14th century, and no doubt that is when the south aisle was built. There was a major restoration in 1870, largely at the expense of the Revd. Samuel Blois Turner, Rector for 21 years, and the late 19th century Evangelical flavour of the furnishings is of interest for its completeness.

The church is approached from the north. The chancel is of almost the same length as the nave and is only fractionally lower in height. What is immediately striking is the disposition of the windows. First of all two identical later insertions: towards the west end of the chancel and towards the east end of the nave are two large windows of 14th century pattern with two principal lancet lights, and a quatrefoil in the head; the stonework was entirely renewed, it would appear, in the 1870 restoration. The remaining windows are of an earlier form and are in two tiers, an arrangement which is not uncommon in a Norman church. The chancel has an upper and lower light, the upper one with a cinquefoiled head; while the nave has two upper lights, both with cinquefoiled heads, and one lower light between them. The lower lights in both nave and chancel appear to have retained some at least of their Norman masonry. Towards the west can be seen the surviving portion of what is clearly a Norman nook-shaft. There are diagonal buttresses at the corners of the chancel and south aisle, each with two set-offs, and there is a single tall 19th century buttress at the north-east corner of the nave. The walls are faced with flints, and the roof coverings are of a modern synthetic material which replaced the lead covering on account of the risk of theft.

The south aisle is of four bays, extending the whole length of the building. The western bay is entirely taken up by the porch (which incorporates flint chequer work, probably 15th century), the remaining three bays, divided by buttresses, each have a window of plain 14th century type with simple Y tracery. These windows have been entirely renewed. In the clerestorey are five tiny lights with cinquefoiled heads and rather too prominent hood-moulds. The east window of the south aisle is of two lights with Y-tracery and the chancel window is only a larger version of the same kind of thing i.e. it is of three lights with two interlocking Y's for tracery. Above it is a shallow cinquefoiled niche, and on both the chancel gable and the porch gable are pleasant 19th century floriated crosses. It is possible to see on the east wall a perceptible change in the flintwork where the wall was heightened to clerestorey level, no doubt when the aisle was added.

The tower is of two stages, the first rising to the level of the nave roof-ridge. Above this level, delineated by a thin string-course, the character of the masonry changes markedly and it would appear that either the Norman tower was only the height of the present first stage or that the top part of the tower has boon rebuilt. The character of the round-headed belfry openings, all four of them, and the castellated parapet, is 19th century. The narrow openings in the lower stage, however, with their irregularly shaped stones appear to be largely the original Norman work. There is one such opening fairly low down on the west side, and there are five more in an interesting arrangement towards the top of this stage; three fairly tall lights on the north, west, and south faces and then between them two much smaller lights. This arrangement must presumably have been for deliberate decorative effect. At the north-east corner is a circular stair-turret.

The interior has some intriguing architectural features. One of the more important is the west end of the nave. Here there is a central tower arch of quite noble proportions. The arch, which is supported on plain imposts and abaci, is clearly Norman. Also Norman is the round-headed opening, of the right size and proportions for a doorway, at upper level above a slight indentation in the wall which could well have been the footing for the gallery. A still more uncertain feature, however, is the pair of shallow pointed niches either side of the central arch. By their shape these ought to be 13th or 14th century. They are too shallow and too wide probably to have contained statues (but not necessarily relief carvings) and the one on the north side has the tower door squashed up into it. The windows in the north wall all have very deep reveals and the pointed shapes of the small upper lights (these are the ones which from the outside have been noted as having cinquefoiled heads) suggest that they may be later than the lower Norman windows, perhaps 13th or even 14th century. Yet they may also be Norman windows which were modified in form later.

The chancel and nave are of more or less equal length, and the four-bay 14th century south arcade with octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches extends two bays into the nave and two bays into the chancel. Those in the chancel seem to be of brick, plastered. The break between nave and chancel is partly delineated by the change in roof structure. That of the chancel being 19th century arch-braced construction and that of the nave being a 17th century barn-like construction with curved collars and braces. Just west of the chancel there is a thicker pier before the nave arcade begins and through this has been cut a 'processional way'. Ostensibly this is 19th century, but there seems to be some evidence that it follows a mediaeval precedent; certainly it is odd to think of the evangelical Mr. Blois Turner constructing a processional way, unless there was some architecturl reason for it. On the north side, facing this feature there is a clear indication, internally at least, of a square-headed doorway or other opening or recess having been blocked up, which is a puzzle.

The east window of the south side is under a much wider arched reveal. There are two piscinae in the south wall of the sanctuary. Next to the east wall is, set low down, a round-arched niche with a drain; then, at a higher level and along a single shelf, there is a piscina of 14th century form and west of it an unexplained round-arched niche. This latter feature is rather small and perhaps housed a small statue or some other object of devotion.