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I Location

II General Description

St Mary's has a chancel with a S vestry, a central tower and a nave with a 19thc. N aisle and no clerestorey and a S doorway under a porch. The N nave doorway now communicates with a church hall, added in 1972 to replace the old church institute, dating from 1886, which had fallen into disrepair. The original aisleless nave and chancel are mid-12thc. work, to judge from the small round-headed lancets in the chancel and the S nave doorway, with beakhead decoration. The tower, a substantial structure of stone rubble, is presumably contemporary, but the pointed lancets and the spacious triple arcading on the N and S walls suggest a remodelling around 1200, while the transomed, trefoil-headed double bell-openings of the upper storey must date from the 15thc. The nave roof collapsed in 1660, and in 1669 it was re-roofed and new windows put in the S wall. At the same time one of the tower arches was bricked up, and only a small door provided to give access between nave and chancel. In 1822 the chancel was still walled off from the nave, and was in use as a Sunday School. The partition was eventually taken down in 1840. Meanwhile the nave was repaired in 1822, when the floor level was raised and a gallery was added at the W end. The N aisle was added in 1850. The tower was restored in 1856, and the chancel in 1857 by E. F. Law, including re-roofing with the present high-pitched roof. The nave roof was raised to match the chancel roof in 1864. The S vestry was added in 1879. A major restoration of the tower took place in 1949-50, and in 1950 the interior of the church was restored. A further restoration of the exterior took place in 1981. Features described here are the S nave doorway and the tower arcading.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) Sdoorway, nave

Of three orders. The first order is apparently an insertion; the outer orders are heavily restored as described below.

Dimensions

First order

Pointed, plain continuous with a chamfer with pyramid stops at the foot of each jamb.

Second order

En-delit nook-shafts on low bases with a slender roll below a convex chamfer. The W shaft is cylindrical, the E octagonal, and both are apparently replacements, as are the capitals - to the W a cushion with angle tucks containing wedges, and to the E a similar capital with recessed shields. Both have chamfered neckings. The imposts are hollow-chamfered, probably original but cleaned. The arch is of 19 voussoirs with beakhead on an angle roll as follows:

1. Large cat mask with triangular ears and nose and lozenge decoration on brow. The lower jaw and projecting tongue lie across the roll.

2. Slender bird beakhead, the surface decorated with small drill holes.

3. Similar to 1, but the brow decorated with concentric reeding.

4. As 2.

5. Comic doglike mask with very large bulging eyes and extended nose, the latter and the lower lip and broad tongue lying across the roll. Ears are long and pointed. 6. Bird beakhead without surface decoration but a row of fluting on the brow.

7. Cat mask with projecting tongue across the

8. As 6.

9. Bird beakhead with nested vee grooves on the brow.

10. As 2.

11. As 2.

12. Cat mask with long nose and chin bent over the angle roll.

13. As 6.

14. Cat mask with double inverted nested vee eyebrows.

15. As 2.

16. Similar to 5, but with three additional tufts rising between the ears.

17. Bird beakhead, the crown of the head decorated with a semi-daisy with fluted petals.

18. As 2.

19. Cat mask, the tongue, in the form of four fluted lobes, lying across the roll.

Jambs as the second order, but the W shaft is octagonal and the E cylindrical. Both capitals are original but cleaned. The W capital is double-scalloped with an angle tuck and recessed shields. The E is a cushion with an angle tuck carved with a wedge. Neckings are chamfered and imposts are as the second order. The arch has an angle roll with a bud growing out from the roll on each voussoir. Each bud has a pair of short, pointed leaves with the tip visible between them. There is a plain, double chamfered label.

3. Exterior Decoration

b. Arcading

(i) Tower S face

A wall arcade of three bays with slightly pointed, square-section arches carried on four cylindrical en-delit shafts with carved capitals. The central arch has been rebuilt round headed, and encloses a pointed lancet. Shaft bases are attic. Shaft 1 capital (W). Stiff-leaf crocket, badly worn and with losses to the crockets, and a roll necking, mostly lost. The abacus is a separate thin chamfered block. Shaft 2 capital. Replacement volute capital with integral chamfered abacus. Probably 17thc. Shaft 3 capital. Volute capital, the volutes in the form of flat leaves with, blow each, a double leaf with a drilled notch between the lobes. Integral chamfered abacus and roll necking, mostly lost. Shaft 4 capital. Replacement volute capital with curious raised pellets on the volutes and damaged integral chamfered abacus and roll necking. Probably 17thc.

(ii) Tower S face

A wall arcade of three bays as on the S face. The capitals all have integral chamfered abaci and roll neckings and are in a much worse condition than those of the S face. Shaft 1 capital (E). Volute with ball volutes. Shaft 2 capital. Stiff-leaf. Shaft 3 capital. Too worn to describe. Shaft 4 capital. Volute.

VII History

Roade apparently belonged to Gunfrid de Chocques in 1086, and Dodin held it from him, but Dodin's holding of four parts of half a hide is very small, and may not have represented all of Roade. No church or priest was recorded. A church was established around 1100 by the Hartwells of Hartwell and the Lupus family of Ashton, and by 1167 Simon Hartwell had given his portion to the abbey of St James, Northampton as a chantry for the souls of his father, Geoffrey, and his brothers William and Henry. A dispute over the tithes between the abbey and Sir John Hardreshall, the Lupus heir, is recorded between 1342 and 1346, which was resolved in favour of the abbey.

Benefice of Roade and Ashton with Hartwell.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The beakhead on the S doorway is a mixture of conventional bird beakhead, cats' heads, some with their tongues lying across the angle roll, and doglike heads carved as exaggerated caricatures. There is no indication that any of these heads is not original. Elsewhere in the county, the beakhead ornament is also found at Pitsford and Earl's Barton but all three appear to be by different workshops.

IX Bibliography