Church Heritage Record 619077

West tower, 3-bay aisled nave, chancel, south porch.

Nave 12m (40ft) long, 5m (16ft) wide.

There is scattered evidence for a possible Roman villa site in the area, and a 6th- and 7th-century cremation and inhumation cemetery was discovered in 1827 at Stapleford Park, Saxby.  In 1890-91 construction on the Saxby-Bourne loop railway line located another part of the cemetery. All graves had associated grave goods. There is also ridge-and-furrow and other Medieval settlement remains around the village. The site has considerable archaeological potential and the Historic Environment Record and County Archaeologist should be consulted if any change or development of the site is contemplated.

Freeby is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but not a church. The earliest fabric appears to belong to the early 14th century, but the font suggests a late 12th- or early 13th-century origin at the latest.  Most of the window tracery, the clearstorey and the tower is of the 15th or early 16th century. There was a rigorous restoration when the aisles were rebuilt in 1893-4.

The church is now in a united benefice with several other parishes including the neighbouring village of Saxby, where the church of St Peter closed in 2008 (PM report 1978). No use has yet been found for the latter. The tower of another church at Brentingby west of Freeby is looked after by the CCT, the rest of the building having been turned into a house in 1977, and three other nearby churches have also been vested.

The church is typical of north-east Leicestershire, where a particular hallmark is a Perpendicular tower with a lozenge frieze around the parapet. The tower is of three stages, with moulded stringcourses and clasping buttresses receding to the parapet. Moulded plinth of ogee profile. 2-light pointed window to the first stage with quatrefoil head, moulded slit to the second with label and belfry with paired trefoil-headed lights, again with quatrefoils in the heads. Angle gargoyles and embattled parapet with corner pinnacles.

The nave and chancel have chamfered sill bands and eaves and coped east gables with kneelers and finial crosses. The clearstorey has three cusped double lancets with Tudor arched heads and hood moulds, some browner stone used in the upper south side.  The west walls of the aisles have paired ogee lancet windows under labels with headstops, heavily restored.

The north aisle has diagonal buttresses and an almost central pair flanking a restored, moulded 14th-century door, east of this a restored ogee double lancet with flat head. All the openings have hoodmolds, mostly with mask stops. West end has an ogeed double lancet square window with a chamfered reveal and flat head, now boarded up. The east end has a similar window with a coved reveal. This window is broken and boarded up with an RSJ to support the wall, and generally there is much subsidence and cracking visible in the aisle walls, particularly around the doorway.

The south aisle has two restored ogee double lancets, but the east end has a 14th-century 3-light pointed window with intersecting tracery. All these lancets have hood moulds, mostly with mask stops. The south porch has flanking buttresses and coped gable with cross. Chamfered 14th-century doorway with octagonal responds and hoodmould. In each side wall is a single unglazed ogee lancet.

The chancel has diagonal buttresses at the east end. The north wall has a cusped transomed single lancet with hoodmould in the west bay. The east end has a 19th-century ogee 5-light pointed window with 4-centred head, panel tracery, hoodmould and mask stops.  The south wall has a 14th-century ogee double lancet with flat head and an early 14th-century ogee double lancet in the east bay, both with hoodmoulds.

The porch interior has stone benches and a 19th-century arch braced roof. Tiled floor.  Early 14th-century doorway, shafts with fillet moulding and hoodmould with mask stops. 19th-century door.  We had to evict a hen to gain entry.  Moving inside and looking west, double chamfered and rebated tower arch with hood mould and round responds, pointed doorway to stone steps to ringing stage. The floors are of decorative tiles throughout, with many fine ledger slabs. As noted above, all furnishings and fittings are covered in plastic sheets, liberally covered in bat droppings. The glass from the north aisle east window lies on the floor in the nave.

The early 14th-century north arcade has restored octagonal piers and responds with moulded bases and capitals. Similar south arcade has piers with four filleted main shafts and four subsidiary shafts, and octagonal responds. Moulded bases and capitals. Double chamfered and rebated arches with hoodmoulds. Both aisles have a plain aumbry at the east end. There are fragments of wall paintings, floral designs, in the window reveals to the eastern windows of the south aisle.

The chancel has a double chamfered and rebated arch with octagonal responds, with cracks running the height of the wall down to it. 19th-century panelled roof with arch braces and moulded wall shafts. The north wall has an aumbry with a heavily moulded surround, the south an early 14th-century roll-moulded piscina. Four 16th-century benches with poppyheads, carved Gothic Bishop’s chair with pinnacles to back, good. Black and white marble squares and marble steps.