Church Heritage Record 609063

5-bay nave, south aisle with west tower, 3-bay chancel and south chapel (now organ chamber and vestry), south porch.

Nave 15m (48 feet) x 6m (19 feet), chancel 12m (38 feet) x 6m, south aisle and chapel 4m (13 feet) wide.

The church building has a long and complex history.  The site is however even older, with a church mentioned here in Domesday Book, one of only thirteen such in Cheshire.  A fragment of an early 10th century cross shaft was found in a trench dug around the chancel in 1982.  This has crudely carved figures, possibly showing the arrest of Jesus, and animal carvings (stylistically Anglo-Danish), the words GOD HELPE, most unusually in Roman lettering, and Staffordshire knot decoration.  This is kept in the nave. The first recorded Rector was Randle de Thorneton, who took office in 1268.  The dedication of the church at this time was to St Helen.

The church as we see it today with its curious floor-plan dates mainly to the 14th century, apparently consisting at that time of nave, chancel, and south aisle, although the details of its early development are unclear.  In the early 16th century the south chapel (known as the Elton chapel) was added.  The tower may also have been inserted at the west end of the south aisle at this time, although again this dating is uncertain.  The 17th century saw the addition of the south porch and the renewal of many of the windows, while the church was re-fitted with pews and furniture in the early 18th century. The chancel and chapel arches were inserted as part of a general restoration in 1878.  The upper part of the tower was rebuilt after a fire in 1909. 

Externally the church is dominated by the slim, crenellated south-west tower.  This is of three stages defined by chamfered drip-courses.  The lower stage has angle buttresses with three steep weatherings.  The south face has a clock, below which is a two-light window with Decorated tracery, similar to those in the nave and aisle walls dating to the 14th century.  The middle stage is blank, and the third stage has 2-light belfry openings, with 4-centred stopped hood moulds. There are masons’ marks in the ringers’ chamber and belfry.

The date of the construction of the tower is a point of contention.  It is generally described as late 14th century, probably because of the similarity of the pointed window in the lower stage to those in the nave and aisle, and the pointed tower arches.  It has also been dated to the early 16th century, doubtless because of the Tudor feel of the belfry openings, and the observation that the tower is not structurally integral with the aisle and therefore must have been inserted later. 

The fact that the tower is partly detached inside the west end of the south aisle rather than being structurally integral with it seems to argue that the two are indeed of differing dates.  However, it is also possible that the tower is earlier than the aisle, which could have been constructed around it as the builders did not wish to be restricted by the dimensions of the older tower.  This hypothesis might be supported by the tall, slim proportions of the tower, very different from the towers of the nearby churches at Ince and Stoak, which date to the 15th century. 

The rest of the church proves on close inspection to be a similar amalgam of architectural styles, with major additions and alterations (at least) in the 14th, early 16th, late 17th, early 18th and late 19th centuries. Certainly an “organic” rather than “planned” development must be acknowledged for the plan of this church as it now stands, which is probably more complicated than previously thought, and at the moment not fully understood.  Only careful archaeological recording could answer these questions.

Most of the windows in the south aisle and nave are pointed, with Decorated tracery dating to the early 14th century.  The lack of regularity in plan is very noticeable, with the five-bay aisle arcade faced across the nave by three irregularly spaced windows in the north wall. The central window is a 17th century insertion, flanked by buttresses with two steep weatherings, again spaced at irregular intervals.  It is possible that these irregularities are due to an earlier origin for the nave than the south aisle.  The arcade dividing the aisle and nave clearly abutts the west wall of the nave at their intersection, while the north nave wall is of one build with the latter. 

The aisle arcade of five pointed arches continues along the north side of the tower, carried on stumpy octagonal piers with very plain moulded capitals, all consistent with the early 14th century.  There is a clear break at the interface with the pointed chancel arch, which was erected in 1878, blocking the doorway to the (long vanished) rood loft which is known to have existed here up to this point.  The arch between the south aisle and chapel was also erected at this time in the same style.  The detached arches supporting the tower are very similar in appearance to these, with very fresh looking masonry and pointing, giving rise to the suspicion that they too were renovated or rebuilt in the late 19th or early 20th century.

The south aisle is narrower than the nave, and slightly wider than the tower at its west end.  A piscina is situated at the east end of the south wall, indicating the presence of an altar here before the construction of the Elton chapel.  The piscina is a fine example of 14th century carving, with trefoil niche and ogee finial.

Moving on to the chancel, another conundrum is provided by the broad, round-headed chancel east window, a five-light with very odd tracery, having a pair of enormous mouchettes over the heads of the slender uprights, which have ovolo mouldings.  This is clearly neither reticulated tracery nor classic Perpendicular as has been variously stated, but may date to around 1700, and thus be contemporary with the general reordering of the chancel at this time, with new fittings and furniture.  The stained glass in the window is much later (see below).

The other three windows in the north wall of the chancel (no windows in the south wall) are post-Reformation (early 17th century?).  They are deeply recessed rectangular two-lights, quite domestic in appearance.  The east window of the south wall of the chapel is a three-light with a transom, and the western window beyond the priests’ door (see above) a two-light, all round-headed lights within square headed frames.  The west window of the nave is a three-light in the same style, as is the middle window of the nave north wall (see below). 

The south chapel is known as the Elton chapel after the prominent local family, and was erected in the early 16th century.  The piers of the three-bay arcade between the chancel and chapel are octagonal with bell-moulded bases and late Perpendicular moulded capitals, carrying very broad four-centred arches in keeping with the Tudor/Jacobean feel of the chapel windows (see above).  The arcade is now closed by an oak screen erected in 1935.  The chapel has been re-ordered, the organ being now at the west end (the pews which formerly occupied this part have been removed) and the eastern part used as a clergy vestry.

There is a small “priest’s doorway” with four-centred arched head in the south wall of the south chapel.  This and the two-light window adjacent were supposedly moved here from the south wall of the chancel when the chapel was added.  However, the doorway would seem to fit much better stylistically with the 16th century construction of the chapel, and the window could easily have been commissioned and replaced at the same time as the stained glass it contains, in the mid-19th century.  It is fitted into a square-headed frame of similar dimensions to the windows flanking it. 

The late 17th/ early 18th century south porch has a round-arched moulded doorway.  This rather hides the fine 14th century pointed doorway, which is unusually large and has continuous mouldings.  The oak door itself has the date 1725 carved into the top panel, with six raised and fielded panels below, and is simple and fine. 

In the 1878 restoration most of the roofs were replaced, clear signs of which can be seen in the wall structure below the wall-plates.  The roofs are now arch-braced with a collar in pitch pine, with the exception of the chancel where the simple medieval oak hammer-beam roof was spared.  It is very similar to the roof at Plemstall St Peter (dated to the 15th century), the hammer posts being set far back.  It is of four and a half bays with wind-braces, the rafters set flatwise as in medieval practice, not upon edge.  There are traces of floral painted decoration.  The bays bear no relation in terms of their spacing to the arches of the 16th century arcade separating chancel and chapel, and indeed the roof sits very awkwardly on the latter, which makes one wonder if the roof might be earlier, perhaps brought from elsewhere or contemporary with the construction of the chancel.

There was a gallery in the church which was removed in 1878.  In the same spirit of “restoring” the medieval ambience of the church the mid-18th century box pews (inscription 1745) were sawn up, and converted into oak panelling around the chancel walls; between 1878-1931 they were used for panelling at Thornton School, before being returned to the church.  This has raised and fielded panels and a moulded cornice. 

The nave, aisle, sanctuary and chapel floors have Victorian encaustic tiles set in Geometric patterns, probably dating from the 1878 restoration.  There are remnants of an older stone flagged floor in the chancel, with worn 18th century gravestones and a white marble tablet set into it.