Church Heritage Record 616297

Cruciform. 3-bay nave with tower to east of transepts, 2-bay chancel.  Boiler house on north side of chancel.

[Approximate] Nave 12m (40ft) x 5m (16ft).

Sapperton village (but not a church) is referenced in the Domesday Book, where it is called Saperton. Until the Dissolution, the rectory was rented from the Priory of Belvoir, the advowson then passing to the Lord of the Manor, then the Poole dynasty.

The church seems  to have been built in the 12th century (a priest is first mentioned in the 1190s, names are known since 1292) of which little can be seen now, apart from perhaps some of the nave fabric, and most notably a lancet and some relocated decoration to the tower stair doorway, both in the north transept.  The chancel was lengthened in the late 13th or 14th century and the north and south transepts and the tower added in the 14th century.  As noted above the church and estate belonged to the Poole dynasty in the 16th and 17th centuries, many of whom are buried in the church. The north transept was remodelled by them as their mortuary chapel.  The house was then owned by Sir Robert Atkyns, the Gloucestershire historian, who is also buried in the church. A print in the church shows the house as the “seat of Sir Robert Atkyns”, and shows the church as effectively within the grounds of the house; unfortunately little detail of the church is shown.

The western half of the south transept was rebuilt as the squire’s pew over an internal porch in the mid-18th century as part of a general remodelling by the Bathhurst dynasty, so that the church now appears externally as a church of this period, although the plan form betrays its antiquity. The nave and south transept furnishings come from Sapperton Manor, demolished c1730 by the first Earl Bathhurst. This dynasty still owns much of the village and land, and supported the Arts-and-Crafts artists who settled in the village in the early 20th century, designing or converting some of the houses as noted above.  The church was lightly restored in 1874 and again in 1930 by Norman Jewson, one of the Arts-and-Crafts artists living in the village.

The vault in the south transept floor to the floor next to the Atkyns monument was opened and investigated by Dr Julian Litten for the Atkyns Society as part of conservation on the monuments in the 1980s, when archaeological investigations also discovered footings outside the south chancel. The churchyard monuments were conserved in 2002-3, the churchyard contains mature trees including ancient yews, lichen and grasses.

The church is exceptional even seen within the corpus of historic Cotswold village churches, and if there was such a designation as Grade I*, this would surely be a candidate.

The building appears simple at first sight in its Georgian mantle. The roofs have coped gables surmounted with cross saddlestones, and a cross finial to the chancel gable. Tower of two stages with off-sets, double belfry openings with trefoil heads, short broach spire and weathercock. The south transept has twin gables with an animal head gargoyle between, with one round-headed window to each gable. 

The nave and chancel windows are 18th-century, round-headed with some of the original clear greenish glass of early 18th century within leading. The exception is the 3-light east window to the chancel with Decorated tracery, and the north transept north elevation which has small lancets lighting the tower stair protrusion, and a 2-light square-headed window to the east, 17th-century, which lights the Poole monument.  The north wall has two square lights high in the wall either side of the latter. Indeed, this interesting elevation seems to have survived the Georgian face-lift.

One enters through the porch, part of the south transept, through a 14th-century doorway with 18th-century moulded head with keystone, with much 17th-century graffiti to the jambs. The font is located within this on the right, a very fine 15th-century example with tracery and quatrefoils, all very fresh.  Contemporary linen-fold benches adjacent, above this the Bathhurst pew with panelling and figures.

The nave has close packed benches either side of a narrow central aisle, with a fine and fascinating collection of individually carved 17th-century pew ends with “exotic” human figures. Also 2 ornately carved chairs of perhaps the same period. This furniture and the linenfold panelling in the south transept, the gallery front and oak cornice with strapwork all came from Sapperton Manor after it was demolished c1730.  There is a Post-Reformation text panel painted on the north wall of the nave. 1980s tiled nave floor, arch-braced timber roof incorporating Medieval timbers.  

The tower is supported on four tall 14th-century double-chamfered arches, there is an ogee-arched tomb recess under the north arch.  The north transept has the large Poole monument against the north wall with a chamber above the ceiling lit by the 17th-century window described above, and a recumbent knight effigy against the west wall, see below for detail. A square-headed doorway in the east wall leads to the tower stair, the jamb has Norman bead carving, re-located here. Tight newel stair-case to the ringing stage, then a ladder to the bells.  The south transept is dominated by the huge Atkyns monument against its east wall.  Stone floors throughout, with several vault entrances.

The chancel has a number of fine ledgers in the floor, but is otherwise quite plain, with some good stained glass, and a chandelier in 17th century style by Oliver Hill, another of the Arts-and-Crafts artists of Sapperton. The organ also stands here. There is Victorian oak panelling around the walls, and simple choir stalls with fielded panels, which may retain earlier material. Bench with trefoiled open back, Victorian. The arch-braced roof may contain Medieval timbers, restored.