Church Heritage Record 607269

W tower with polygonal baptistery to S and vestry and WC to N (with former boiler house beneath), linked to aisleless nave with S porch, chancel with N organ chamber (former vestry).

Arlecdon is supposed to be the site of a deserted medieval settlement (Monument no. 8784). It is thought an C11 church may have existed on the site, though it is generally recited that the earliest record for a church was during the reign of King Henry III (1216-1272), and the site may well have been nearby. Archaeological records identify a medieval quarry and blocks of post medieval ridge and furrow visible as earthworks to the S, around Arlecdon.

The origins of a much earlier church on the site give rise to significant archaeological potential. The churchyard is also heavily buried with gravestones dating to the C18 and an ancient C13 slab set within the wall, S of the chancel arch. The chancel arch also contains fragments of older fabric. There is a blocked S chancel door. A memorial plaque suggests the presence of burials beneath the floor of the church.

The main occupation in Arlecdon was farming until the C19 when coal and iron ore mining and limestone and freestone quarrying took place and the railway arrived.

Arlecdon was a rectory until 1241 when it was given, with St John’s Beckermet, to Calder Abbey and in 1262 was transferred to the Archdeaconry of Richmond. Fragments of C12 fabric in evidence. Repairs were undertaken in 1630, to which date the pointed chancel arch is attributed. The church was restored in 1776 (ceiled, seated, repaired and ornamented) and the nave rebuilt in 1829. The church was refaced and refitted, and the W tower, vestry and baptistery added in 1903-5. A C17 S chancel door seems to have been blocked during these works. A date stone in the base of the tower records this work and its execution in memory of Isaac and Elizabeth Fletcher by their daughter Elizabeth Higgins. A service to dedicate the tower and restoration was held in 1905. The architect was J H Martindale of Carlisle (1855-1931), the builder Joseph Green of Pardshaw Lee-Gate, Cockermouth and the oak woodwork was by George Black of Carlisle.

There are no known designations relating to the ecology of the plot though it contains mature trees.

The stone church sits below the level of the road. The stone walls have a plinth and a continuous hoodmould encircles the building above the lancet windows. Other than at the E and W ends (3 and 5 lights respectively), the lancets are all of single lights. The elevations are completed by a crenellated parapet. The gables have stone copings and a stone cross is placed above the E apex.

The 3-stage W tower has a castellated parapet and pyramidal roof and weather vane. It displays perpendicular detailing, and a broad 5-light perpendicular traceried W window. Above are paired louvred belfry openings. A square turret rises in the NE corner and stepped buttresses clasp the angles. A baptistery projects to the S from the base and a gabled vestry to the N has paired lancets in the N wall.

A S porch enters through a square-headed door into an area forming a link between the base of the tower and the nave lit by an electrified Puginesque iron chandelier. Above the door is a 3-light window with decorative leading (Macintosh-esque) and clear glass, repeated in style on the N side. The floor at this level is tiled in decorative encaustic tiles in a geometric pattern. A pointed arch opens E into the nave which is down 3 steps, and another pointed arch opens to the W, beneath the tower.

The W window is of clear glass. To the S of the tower base is the octagonal baptistery, raised by 2 steps, with a marble floor. A wood board set within a carved niche in the N wall records the incumbents since 1715. To the N of the linkage area is a carved gallery with pierced quatrefoils and carved paterae, beneath it is access to the vestry and WC, and before it is a door to the spiral stone tower stair. The doors and ironwork are all of high quality and in an Arts and Crafts style. The whole western section, a narthex-type area, is a fine space in its own right designed in an Edwardian free-style Gothic manner.

The 3-bay nave is 3 steps lower than the entranceway and is separated by a low stone wall with metal uprights. The roof is an ornate oak structure with traceried panelled sections with trusses resting on carved stone corbels. The nave has a tiled aisle and fixed oak pews on level woodblock pew floors either side. Each lancet window contains stained glass (see below). Oak panelling rises to sill height around the nave, and ornate wood fretwork screens old heating systems beneath each window. A continued floriated frieze (Morris-esque) extends around the upper area of the walls, whilst a simpler stencil is above the panelling. Additional light from spot-lights.

A chamfered pointed stone chancel arch contains a fragment of Norman arch to the S side as well as a carved Norman head. In the wall above it on the nave side are paintings of St Michael and St Kentigern painted in 1930, and set in the wall to the S is a fragment of an ancient floriated cross-slab. A marble step rises into the chancel and the floor continues to be paved in marble though it is obscured by carpet laid along the centre. Choir stalls are located either side. An organ is positioned to the north extending into the former vestry, whilst oak panelling backs the choir stalls to the S.

The sanctuary is raised by 2 steps. To the S is a sedilia located beneath a lancet window. The E window is formed of 3 lancets, the central light being tallest. The wood-panelled roof over the chancel and sanctuary is lower, but similar in form, to the nave. Over the altar table it is enhanced with carved decoration.