Church Heritage Record 619082

Nave and chancel, west tower.

Nave 38.3ft by 20.3ft (c.12m by 6m) Chancel 14.2ft by 13.2ft (c.4.3m by 4m)

The Revd Robert Sherard, the 4th Earl of Harborough was responsible for three new churches in the 1780’s: Teigh Holy Trinity was built first in 1782, then Stapleford St Mary in 1783 and finally Saxby in 1789. George Richardson (c.1736 – c.1813) was the architect for all; a draughtsman in the Adam office who accompanied James Adam on his grand tour in 1760-3 and subsequently failed to establish his own practice in face of the Adam brothers’ opposition. Richardson was more successful in his publications on architectural design including, most notably, the New Vitruvius Britannicus which he edited and published in 1808-8. His works in architecture are few, but he designed ceilings for Kedleston and Drapers’ Hall, London and exhibited an elevation of Stapleford church at the Royal Academy in 1783.

There was an earlier medieval church in Saxby (SMR LE3720) but it is not clear where this was situated. The archaeological significance of the present site is likely to be high and this should be borne in mind if any developments were to be considered.

St Peter’s was restored and altered (Pevsner suggests ‘ravaged’) by J Goddard in 1874 when the church was reseated (see plan below), refloored at a lower level, the plaster ceiling removed and a gallery demolished.

The tower of this small church is undoubtedly its most striking feature; it is of three stages with shallow clasping buttresses, two moulded string courses and a dentilated cornice. The only entrance to the church is through a tall round headed doorway with a 19th-century shouldered door and overlight. The Earl of Harborough’s crest is displayed proudly above the door bearing the inscription Hostis Honori Invidia (Envy is an enemy to honour) and on the next stage above is clearly incised 1789.

The north and south faces of the first stage have small round headed windows, the former of which is blocked. At the second stage there is an oculus on each face, all are blocked apart from the west, and the top half of the south.  Moving up to the octagonal bell stage there are louvred bell openings and large steep angle volutes carrying Grecian vases at each corner. The octagonal spire has two tiers of lucarnes, the lower louvred and a ball finial and cross at the tip. The design of this tower has drawn suggestions that Richardson was attempting to echo London churches of the day but clearly on a scale more suited to its rural setting.

The nave and chancel roofs are flat and each concealed by a high coped parapet and gable. The nave has three bays each with a large round headed window, above which there is a moulded eaves cornice with gargoyles and below a string course and plinth; the same features are found on the chancel.

The chancel has a large east window in the same style as the nave and on the north face a smaller version. The south face of the chancel has a similar window to the north and also a blocked doorway slightly to the west with a blocked small window overhead.

Moving inside, the tower is a small circular space with a winder stair to the north east. The doors to the tower and the nave are both 19th-century shouldered doors and have panels of stained glass above; looking west into the tower, the door is set into a taller pointed arch.

Sadly much of the original design for the interior of this church was lost during Goddard’s restoration in 1874 and there is nothing extraordinary about what remains. The plaster ceiling was removed and replaced with a lower wooden pitched roof which does not relate to the external structure. The font is on the south side at the west end and a small area to the north has been curtained off to create a vestry.

The glass in the windows (see below) is late 19th-century; the east and central nave windows have bright stained glass and elsewhere there is patterned glass. The walls are plastered in the nave apart from the lower section of the north wall which has been stripped to dry the stonework. The floors are of stone except for the pewed areas, which have timber, and in the chancel where the floor has decorative tiles.

The chancel arch is chamfered and round headed. There are two steps up into the chancel and a further one to the sanctuary. The tiled floor, panelled walls and dark furniture accentuate the narrowness of this space but the rich colours of the focal east window do lift the eye. It may be that the panelling is original and this may warrant further investigation.