Search results

Search terms: abacus

1. St Peter, Aldwincle, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Peter's has an aisled and clerestoreyed nave with three-bay N and south arcades. All the arches of both arcades are pointed with two deeply chamfered orders. These are probably 14thc., but the south arcade's cylindrical piers with moulded and nailhead capitals are 13thc. in date. The N arcade is entirely 14thc., except for one cylindrical pier with a green man capital, which is 12thc. This is the only Romanesque piece in the church. The nave has 14thc. N and S doorways, the S under a 14thc. porch. The chancel and its arch are 14thc., with some 14thc. glass in the south windows. The W tower is 14thc., with diagonal buttresses, reticulated bell-openings and a corbel table. The broach spire above has three rows of lucarnes.
2. St Botolph, Barton Seagrave, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Botolph's consisted originally of nave and chancel with a central tower, all of the early 12thc. Original nave windows, now blocked, are visible on the N and S walls inside. To this nave was added a 13thc. S aisle, two bays long, and this was rebuilt by Carpenter and Ingelow in 1878 as a second nave with a second, broad chancel to the E. The original nave received a clerestorey of trefoil lights in spherical triangles, probably c.1300. The central tower retains its narrow E and W arches, with important carved capitals, but the space beneath it has been converted into a vestry and organ loft, with the original chancel serving as a small chapel. Inside this is splendid wall arcading with naturalistic foliage capitals of c.1300. When visited, the second nave and chancel to the S had been arranged for a concert, with the stage in the chancel and auditorium occupying both the original nave and the new one. The plain font may be 12thc. On the exterior, some herringbone masonry is visible in the N walls of the tower and chancel. Early 12thc. sculpture survives on the N nave doorway, with its figural tympanum, and the elaborate windows on the N wall of the tower, nave and chancel. The 12thc. tower itself is of three storeys, undivided by string courses; the bell-openings are of the early 14thc., and the parapet still later.
3. Holy Trinity, Blatherwycke, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church (redundant)
The church is set in woodland, alongside the stables of Blatherwycke Hall (the house was demolished in 1948). The nave has an early 12thc. S doorway, and must date from that time. A two-bay N aisle has been added, the arcade of c.1200 but the aisle itself widened in the 19thc. There is no clerestorey, but the interior is bright owing to the large 14thc. windows in the S wall. The chancel has a three-bay N aisle, the arcade 13thc. The W tower is slender and unbuttressed, dating from early in the 12thc. The plain W doorway and plain windows in the N, Sand W walls (not described) attest to this, as does the E bell-opening (the rest are later). Construction is of grey stone blocks, roughly shaped and coursed.
4. St Mary, Bozeat, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Mary's has an aisled, three-bay clerestoreyed nave with 14thc. arcades, an aisleless chancel and a W tower with a broach spire having two rows of lucarnes. The N doorway is plain, and the elaborate 13thc. S doorway is covered by a porch. A vestry has been added to the N of the tower. The church is constructed of roughly shaped grey stone with remains of mortar render on the chancel. The spire collapsed in 1877, and the tower was rebuilt in 1880-83. Romanesque interest centres on the three-storey tower and its arch. A 12thc. S window survives on the first storey, and the third-storey bell-openings are also 12thc. in design, although not all are original. Traces of beading survive on a stone re-used in the fabric of the chancel.
5. St Laurence, Brafield-on-the-Green, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Laurence's has a three-bay aisled nave without clerestoreys. The N aisle and arcade date from 1850, the S has elaborately carved 12th-13thc. capitals, at the very least heavily restored in the 19thc., carried on piers of a variety of forms. The arches above are 13thc. The chancel was rebuilt by J. M. Derrick in 1848, with no chapels or vestries. The W tower is 12thc. in its lower stages, with a plain 12thc. doorway to the S, but heavy buttresses and a top storey were added, probably in the 15thc. In 1999 a kitchen and lavatory block was added to the N of the tower, communicating with the N aisle. The church also contains a font, stylistically 12thc. but suspiciously crisp and regularly carved.
6. St Andrew, Brigstock, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church (benefice of Brigstock with Stanion and Lowick and Sudborough)
Brigstock is toward the N of the county, 6 miles NE of Kettering. It is a substantial village lying in the valley of Harper's Brook, a tributary of the river Nene. The settlement is an ancient one, and a good deal of Roman material has been found around the village. It is within Rockingham forest; a royal hunting ground created by William I, but by no means entirely wooded even then. The church is in the centre of the village, alongside the brook. St Andrew's has a tall 11thc. nave with a blocked window remaining in the N wall. N and S aisles have been added, with three-bay arcades; the two western bays of the N arcade 12thc., the E bay and the entire S arcade are 14thc. The S doorway is of c.1200, under a Perpendicular porch. The chancel arch is tall and Perpendicular, but the chancel itself has a N chapel with a two-bay 13thc. arcade and a S chapel now housing the organ. The N chapel contains the tomb of Robert Vernon, first Baron Lyveden (d.1873) with a marble effigy. The nave aisles extend westward alongside the tower, and it is this for which the church is known. The tower arch is tall and round-headed; the tower originally short and of rubble with long-and-short quoins. There is a rough round-headed window high on the N face. A round stair turret is attached to the W wall, entered from within by a triangular-headed doorway. A completely plain round-headed arch, probably 12thc., links the tower and the N aisle extension. To the 11thc. tower has been added a 14thc. storey of ashlar and a broach spire with three rows of lucarnes. The church was restored by Carpenter (1876-77). The tower arch is described here, although it is probably pre-Conquest. Also recorded are the 12thc. parts of the N arcade and the S doorway.
7. All Saints, Brixworth, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
All Saints, Brixworth is essentially an Anglo-Saxon church, described by Clapham as 'perhaps the most imposing architectural memorial of the seventh century surviving north of the Alps'. The date is based on the 12thc. Peterborough chronicle of Hugh Candidus, who attributed its foundation to Cuthbald, abbot from 675. Fernie (1983) preferred a date between 800 and 860 on the basis of continental parallels, particularly for the exterior ring crypt, the square choir bay preceding the apse, and the probable original form of the wall between nave and choir. The church has a long, unaisled nave of four bays, these marked by wall arches of brick now containing windows. These arches originally led into flanking spaces divided into porticus. East of the nave is the square choir bay, now entered under a broad 15thc. arch, and east of this the apse with three windows. From the exterior the apse is polygonal, but this is a 10thc. modification; it was originally semicircular. Here too can be seen the remains of the ring crypt, original to the design and formerly barrel-vaulted. On the S side of the square choir bay is a chapel of c.1300. At the west end signs of a late 10thc. remodelling are also visible. The west porch was heightened into a tower and a window into the nave added, and on the west wall of the tower a stair turret was added. The tower was heightened again and a spire added in the 14thc. The church is included here on the grounds of a late-Romanesque doorway inserted into the west arch on the S side of the nave.
8. St Mary, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Mary's is a substantial church with an aisled and clerestoreyed nave, a late-13thc. chancel (restored in 1866-68) with a S vestry of 1882 and an octagonal parish room added to the S of this in 1984, and a 13thc. W tower with a 14thc. embattled parapet and spire. Pevsner's analysis suggests that the original church was cruciform, on the basis of the nook-shafted respond of N arcade, pier 3. The tower and spire were entirely rebuilt in 1866-68 by W. Slater, and the rest of the church restored. Romanesque interest centres on the nave arcades, each of six bays with part of a seventh at the W. The three E bays of both arcades are of c.1300, with tall pointed arches and quatrefoil piers. Then, on the S the three and a half western bays, with their round-headed arches, and the three western piers, cylindrical with scallop capitals, are all 12thc. The N arcade is more complex, since only bay 4 is round-headed, and the western bays are pointed with 13thc. stiff-leaf capitals. Pevsner described the exterior as 'much too restored'.
9. St Mary Magdalene, Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The church of St Mary Magdalene stands in the Castle Ashby estate, with access through the S entrance for the parish, and through the N entrance for the house. It has a three-bay aisled nave with Perpendicular arcades; the N aisle extended eastwards to form a chapel with an arch from the chancel. This has a N vestry, and there is a Perpendicular W tower with a lead ogee roof. There are nave doorways to N and S, both under porches, and the N porch entrance is treated as a 12thc. doorway using some Romanesque stones but incorporating a good deal of 19thc. material too. The exterior is faced in small grey stone blocks, roughly shaped and coursed.
10. St Kyneburgha, Castor, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Kyneburgha's is described by Pevsner as the most important Norman parish church in the county (i.e. Huntingdonshire). An aisleless cruciform church was built in the early 12thc. and dedicated in 1124. In the 1220s a S aisle was added and the chancel replaced; in the 1260s the S transept was replaced by a large chapel with an E aisle; and early in the 14thc. a N aisle was added. A broach spire was added to the tower around 1350, and the nave clerestoreys were inserted in the mid-15thc. The tower is of ashlar, the rest of the church of stone rubble.
11. St Andrew, Cranford, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Andrew's has a nave with a N aisle, the plain three-bay arcade dating from c.1200. A N transept was added in 1847 to house a Robinson family pew. The chancel has chapels to N and south; the N now housing the organ, and the S monuments of the Robinsons. The W tower is late-13thc. in its lower parts, including an elaborate W doorway and the bell-openings. It was heightened and battlements added in the 14thc. Only the N arcade is described below. The two Cranford churches were united under a single rector in 1841, and in 1954 St Andrew's became a chapel-of-ease to St John's. It passed into the care of the Churches Conservation Trust in 1996.
12. All Saints, Croughton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
All Saints' is a stone rubble church with an aisled and clerestoreyed nave, chancel and W tower. The N nave arcade has three late-12thc. bays and a half-bay added at the E end in the 13thc. The 13thc. S arcade covers the same distance in three slightly wider bays. In both arcades the arches are inaccurately positioned on their piers; this is especially marked on pier 2 south and pier 3 north. The clerestorey is a 14thc. addition, and there are N and S doorways under porches. There is no chancel arch, but the chancel may date from c.1300 and has a N chapel (now housing the organ) and vestry. The three-storey west tower is short and unbuttressed. Its arch is late 12thc. but all its windows and its doorway were replaced in the early 14thc. The font is a 13thc. piece, apparently recarved in the 15thc. and again in the 19thc. (Pevsner). A photograph is included but no description. Features described here are the N arcade and the tower arch.
13. St Mary the Virgin, Culworth, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Mary's stands to the south of a motte ringed by a ditch. It has a clerestoreyed, aisled nave with three-bay arcades. The aisles have been extended westwards alongside the west tower. The chancel was rebuilt in 1840 with a north chapel now housing the organ, and a north vestry to the east of that. The nave arcades are late 12thc., although the pointed, chamfered arches appear later than the piers and their capitals. Both arcades have 19thc. labels with figural label stops. The lower part of the tower and its arch, and the extensions to the aisles are c.1300, and the upper storeys of the tower and the nave clerestorey are Perpendicular. The S nave doorway is under a porch. Construction is of ashlar and roughly shaped, coursed stone. There was a general restoration in c.1880 by E. B. Law. The only Romanesque work is in the nave arcades.
14. St Michael and All Angels, Great Creaton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Michaels has a nave with a S aisle, added in 1857, and no clerestorey, chancel with a N organ niche, and a short 14thc. W tower. The S arcade is of three bays and there is no nave doorway on this side. The N doorway, under a porch, is of c.1200 and is the only Romanesque feature of the church.
15. St Mary Magdalene, Geddington, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
Geddington is famous above all for the Eleanor Cross in the centre of the village. St Mary Magdalene lies just to the NE. Its nave is Anglo-Saxon, with arcaded decoration surviving on what was originally an exterior wall in the N aisle. Both faces of a splayed window pierced in this wall in the 12thc. can still be seen. The wall was pierced again for an arcade when an aisle was added in the late 12thc. The arcade is of 2½ bays, and Pevsner suggests that the original intention was to extend the nave to the E, pulling down the Anglo-Saxon E wall, but this was not done. By the time the S aisle was added in the 13thc., any such intention had been abandoned, since its arcade is of three complete pointed bays. The chancel was rebuilt later in the 13thc. and remodelled in the 14thc. This remodelling included the addition of the S chapel, and appears to be dated 1369 by inscription. Stylistically this seems 50 years too late - Pevsner goes into detail on this issue. There is also a N chapel - now housing the organ. The W tower is Perpendicular, with a spire with two rows of lucarnes. The only Romanesque sculpture is in the N arcade, and in loose stones clearly replaced from that arcade during a restoration.
16. St James, Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St James's has a nave with three-bay N and S aisles, the N arcade late 12thc., the S c.1200. The chancel and its arch are 13thc. and there is a N chapel. The E end of the chancel is all 14thc., so it may have been extended. At the W end is a 13thc. tower with a recessed Perpendicular spire with two rows of lucarnes. A stained glass window at the E end of the S aisle was dedicated in 1983 to the 384th(H) Bombardment Group of the 8th US Airforce, which was stationed at Grafton Airfield during World War II. The nave arcades are the only Romanesque features.
17. St Andrew, Great Billing, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Andrew's has a clerestoreyed nave with four-bay N and S aisles. Of these, only pier 2 of the N arcade is 12thc., so the original nave was probably only two bays long. This was extended W and E in the later 13thc. or early 14thc., and the lower parts of the tower and the chancel date from this period. A chapel was added to the N of the chancel in 1687. The rest of the chancel was largely rebuilt by E. F. Law in 1867. The tower had a spire that fell in 1759, and the upper parts were rebuilt shortly afterwards, along with parts of the nave damaged by the collapse. The only Romanesque feature is in the N nave arcade.
18. St John the Baptist, Harringworth, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St John's has a clerestoreyed nave with four-bay aisles. The arcades are early 14thc., and some of the S aisle windows date from the same time. Those in the N aisle are 19thc. replacements. The nave doorways are both of c.1300, but the S doorway has had a Tudor four-centred arch inserted and is under a 13thc. porch, while the N is unprotected. The chancel arch is of c.1300, but the chancel itself is Perpendicular with an east window of five lights. The W tower dates from the end of the 12thc., and the broach spire from the early 14thc. Romanesque features here described are the late 12thc. tower arch and bell-openings, and a fragment of an arcaded font bowl.
19. St Botolph, Helpston, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Botolph's has an aisled, clerestoreyed nave with N and S doorways, the S under a porch; aisleless chancel with a N boiler-room, and a W tower with a spire. The tower, 12thc. in its lower parts, was rebuilt in 1864-65 under the direction of Edward Browning, and at that time Anglo-Saxon foundations were discovered. The S aisle, with its two-bay arcade, was added in the early 13thc., and the N in the mid 13thc. The S doorway, under a 14thc. porch (rebuilt in 1901), belongs stylistically to c.1200, but might be contemporary with the S arcade. The N doorway has been blocked, probably in 1864-65. Around 1300 short bays on corbels were added at the E end of each arcade, and the chancel rebuilt. The chancel windows are dated 1609. At the W end, the aisles flank the tower, but the tower arches to N and S are 19thc. copies of 12thc. work. The tower's lowest storey is square; a chamfer in the 2nd storey produces an octagonal plan, which is maintained for two further storeys. On top is a short stone spire with a single row of lucarnes. Construction is of ashlar except for the chancel, of roughly coursed stone. Romanesque features are the tower arch responds and capitals (the arch is later) and the S doorway.
20. St Peter, Isham, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Peter's has a nave with N and S aisles of three bays. In each arcade the arches of the two W bays, and the westernmost pier and respond are 12thc. (the N stylistically earlier than the S); the eastern arch, pier 1 and the east respond belong to the later 13thc. The remodelling is visible on the outside too, with big ashlar blocks at clerestorey level at the west end and smaller, roughly-shaped blocks to the east. The clerestorey itself is 14thc. The chancel also belongs to the 13thc., and the nave aisles have been extended eastwards alongside it forming chapels; the S screened off as a vestry and the N walled off from the nave aisle. The N and S doorways are both protected by porches. The west tower has one 13thc. lancet, but is otherwise apparently of the early 14thc., with a Perpendicular parapet. 12thc. sculpture is found in the west bays of the arcades.
21. St Peter and St Paul, King's Sutton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The church has a tall W tower with a slender spire supported by delicate flying buttresses and decorated with pinnacles and crockets. This late 14thc. work, described by Pevsner as 'one of the finest, if not the finest, spire in this county of spires'. It was partly rebuilt in 1898 and repaired in 1968. To the W of the tower is a Perpendicular porch. The nave aisles extend W alongside the tower. The N nave arcade dates from around 1300, and the S arcade has the same tall, spacious proportions, but in this the piers and arches of a 12thc. arcade have been reused. The chancel arch is also c.1300, but the chancel itself is 12thc., with internal wall-arcading, much restored and with arches that are entirely 19thc., and an external corbel table, completely reset. The font is 12thc., simple and unusually wide.
22. St Mary the Virgin, Moreton Pinkney, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Mary's is a church of nave, chancel and W tower. The nave is aisled with three-bay arcades, the N late 12thc., the S 13thc. The roof has been heightened and there is a late medieval clerestorey. The chancel arch is 13thc. as is the chancel stylistically, but it was entirely rebuilt by Sir Henry Dryden in 1846. The tower is of three storeys, 13thc. except for the battlement. The N and S nave doorways are both under porches; the N doorway being contemporary with the N arcade and the N porch dated 1649. Construction is of stone rubble except for the clerestorey and the rebuilt chancel, both of ashlar. Romanesque features are the N doorway, N arcade and font.
23. St Mary the Virgin and All Saints, Nassington, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
It is evident that the nave is Anglo-Saxon, since it has a blocked triangular-headed window high in its W wall. A tower was added by the late 12thc. (to which the tower arch belongs), and the reset N doorway dates from the same period. Aisles were added to the nave with four-bay arcades dating from the late 13thc. The aisles have been extended W alongside the tower, incorporating fragments of 13thc. dogtooth, and these spaces are now used as vestries.
24. St Giles, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The church of St Giles is a large cruciform building with a crossing tower. The tower is 12thc. in its lower parts and has crossing arches to E and W only. To the N and S are plain walls now; the arches were blocked after the upper part of the tower collapsed in 1613. Rebuilding was from 1616, and included the E bays of the N nave arcade and the clerestorey as well as the tower. The aisled and clerestoreyed nave has arcades of five bays, the three E bays originally 14thc. (and still 14thc. on the S), the two western ones added in 1853-55, when the 12thc. W doorway was reset. The nave aisles extend E alongside the tower, replacing the 12thc. transepts. On the N side of the nave an extra aisle, a bay shorter than the main aisles, was added in the 19thc. The present chapel contains 13thc. lancets in the N and S walls, and is offset slightly to the N from the line of the nave and crossing. It has N and S chapels, both 14thc. The 1853-55 work is by E. F. Law, following a report of 1840 by G. G. Scott. The N transept now contains lavatories and a crèche. Romanesque work is found in the two arches of the crossing and the reset W doorway. The crossing arches were unblocked in 1853-55 and rebuilt on the basis of the remains of the E arch, but the present author has identified no 12thc. work in either arch. They are described below on the assumption that they are a fair copy of at least part of what was there before.
25. St Peter, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Peter's is the finest 12thc. church in the county, and its capital sculpture is one of the highlights of the Romanesque in England. There is no structural division between nave and chancel, and the exterior treatment is uniform throughout the length of the building except for the low W tower. Nave and chancel are aisled and decorated externally at clerestorey level with blind arcading and a corbel table. Within there is no chancel arch; the division between nave and chancel being marked by a low step and the position of the choirstalls. The chancel arcades are of three bays, and both aisles are now used as vestries. In both nave and chancel the clerestorey windows are fairly regularly spaced, but their spacing is greater than a bay but less than two, so their positions vary in relation to the piers. The chancel has no provision for vaulting or roof support whereas in the nave every second pier has a respond on the nave side, running up the wall to a capital at the top, and a transverse arch respond on the aisle side. The nave aisle arches are gone now, but arch springings are sometimes visible. Intermediate piers are cylindrical. The nave arcades are five bays long (two and a half double bays), and the beginning of another bay at the W end of either arcade indicates that the nave was originally longer. It was shortened from six bays in the 17thc. when the W tower was rebuilt approximately 3m E of its original position. There are N and S nave doorways, the N under a porch.
26. All Saints, Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The church comprises an aisled nave, having a tower with a stone spire on its SW bay, N and S transepts and a square-ended chancel. Romanesque sculpture is found on the S doorway, the arches to the chancel and the N transept, the N nave arcade, and a length of string course and a corbel reused as a water spout on the N porch.
27. All Saints, Pytchley, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church (benefice of Isham with Pytchley)
Pytchley is a village in central Northamptonshire, 2 miles S of Kettering in undulating farmland. The village clusters round a crossing of minor roads with the church in the centre. All Saints' has a four-bay aisled nave with clerestoreys. The S arcade is all of the late 13thc., with pointed arches, quatrefoil piers and foliage capitals. The first two bays of the N arcade are similar in date, but bays 3 and 4 are 12thc. The N aisle has been widened, and has a small chapel or deep niche in its N wall. The 13thc. S doorway is under a porch. The chancel is broad and appears mostly 19thc., but the date 1755 inscribed on a buttress at the SE corner suggests that the E end is an earlier rebuild. There is a blocked 13thc. door in the N wall and 14thc. sedilia. The W tower was originally of three storeys, and of the late-12thc.-13thc. It was unbuttressed and of rubble with ironstone quoins. A clasping buttress was added at the SW angle, and iron clamps have been installed around the lower parts. The top storey had triple bell-openings, but these were blocked and a Perpendicular ashlar storey was added, with double bell-openings and a parapet with finials. The church was extensively restored in 1843 (chancel arch and E wall of the N aisle rebuilt) and 1861 (chancel renewed). The only Romanesque sculpture is in the N nave arcade.
28. St Mary, Roade, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
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.
29. St Andrew, Spratton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Andrew's has an aisled and clerestoreyed nave with four-bay arcades; the N of the late 12thc., the S 13thc. with pointed arches and moulded capitals. The N and S doorways are 12thc., the N doorway under a porch. The aisle windows are renewed in an early 14thc. style. At the E end of the nave, above the chancel arch, is a large blocked window, apparently 14thc. The chancel has 14thc. sedilia. On the N side of the chancel, and separated from it by a two-bay arcade, is a chapel added by John Chambre between 1495 and 1505, now housing the organ and a vestry. This extends the N nave aisle as far as the E end of the chancel, but is screened from it. There is a 12thc. W tower with a contemporary tower arch. It is of three storeys; the lowest containing an elaborate W doorway and a blind arcade on the W face only, the next decorated with blind arcading, and the topmost with double bell-openings flanked by blind arches and a corbel table at the top. The belfry-stage lancets are Scott's replacements of Decorated windows (see Parker). It has a later recessed spire behind a battlemented parapet. The church was restored by Scott before 1849.
30. St Michael and All Angels, Sutton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Michael's has an early 12thc. nave with a 13thc. bell-cote on the W gable. A S aisle with a two-bay arcade was added at the end of the 12thc., and the nave was heightened and a clerestorey added in the 15thc. The chancel arch is a fine piece by the Castor workshop. To the S of the chancel is a large 13thc. chapel converted to house the organ, and vestry. Construction is of coursed irregular blocks of Barnack limestone. The chancel and S aisle were restored in 1865-68. In addition to the chancel arch the church has a set of 12thc. corbels set high in the S wall of the nave, a small doorway reset in the S aisle wall, and inside a recumbent lion, perhaps from an elaborate doorway.
31. St Peter and St Paul, Sywell, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The church has a nave with a three-bay S aisle extending W a further bay alongside the tower and a clerestorey on the S only, a N transept, and a S doorway under a porch. The ashlar chancel, taller than the nave and with a steeply pitched roof, was rebuilt in 1862. The W tower, dated to the late 13thc. by Pevsner, appears earlier to the present author, and its windows are included in this report. The tower has been certainly rebuilt, as it has a tall plinth course, W-facing buttresses and a 19thc. W stair-turret. The aisle and porch and the N transept chapel too are 19thc. work, largely faced in brick-sized blocks of red ashlar. Inside, it is apparent that the tower arches were dramatically modified when the S aisle was rebuilt by J. Manden in 1870. 12thc. material is present, but the arrangement is extremely quirky. The tower now has arches to the nave and the extended S aisle. The S wall of the tower is pierced by a 19thc. arch, supported by a half-column respond at the W and a cylindrical pier at the E. All of this is 19thc. work, but the E pier has a reused foliage capital of c.1200. Immediately to the E of this pier is another similar, which forms the last pier of the 19thc. S arcade. The E tower arch is also unusual. Its N respond is a semi-quatrefoil with a moulded capital, both 13thc., and on the S it is supported by a quatrefoil pier with a similar capital, the pier positioned alongside the double-pier at the E of the S arch. The SE angle of the tower is thus supported by three piers. A further complication is introduced by the wave profile of the E arch soffit; a motif which belongs neither to the 13thc. nor the 19thc. Described here are the S tower arch and the tower windows.
32. St Lawrence, Towcester, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Lawrence's is a large ironstone church with a tall W tower, a clerestoreyed and aisled nave with four-bay arcades, and a chancel with N and S chapels and a N vestry. The S chapel contains the tomb of William Sponne (d.1448); the N now houses the organ. None of this is earlier than the 13thc. (the chapel arcades); the tower is Perpendicular and the windows 14thc.-15thc. Earlier material has been re-used, however. Two elaborately-carved 12thc. shafts have been incorporated into the (largely 19thc.) chancel arch; three of the capitals of the nave arcades are recycled 12thc. pieces; and several chevron voussoirs have been incorporated into the masonry above the arcade in the S aisle.
33. St John the Baptist, Wakerley, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St John's has a clerestoreyed nave with N and S aisles or chapels, just two bays long and situated at the E end, in what Pevsner calls a transeptal position. The arcades are 14thc.-15thc., and they have been pierced through 12thc. walls; on the S side a 12thc. window can be seen above the arcade pier. The chancel arch is now pointed, its arch decorated with chevron, but presumably it was originally round. The figural and foliage capitals are important sculptures by the Castor workshop. There are 12thc. blind arches to either side of the chancel arch, probably, according to Pevsner, originally reredoses for side altars. The chancel has been rebuilt, perhaps in the 15thc. At the west, the tower is 14thc. in its lower parts and 15thc. above, with a crocketed spire rising behind a battlemented parapet. Romanesque sculpture is found on the chancel arch; in the corbels now in the S aisle and more re-set outside in the E wall of the S aisle; and in sections of string course set in the interior of the S aisle and the exterior E walls of both aisles.
34. St Edmund, Warkton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Edmund's has an aisled and clerestoreyed nave with two-bay arcades. The tall 15thc. W tower has clasping buttresses and a battlemented parapet. Both nave aisles were extended to the W alongside the tower in 1996-97, to provide offices and a kitchen, and the S aisle was also extended at the E end around the same time, for a vestry. The N aisle had already been extended to the E before 1709 for a Montagu family vault. The nave arcades are 12thc. and very plain, but the pier capitals may be 13thc. Bridges (1791) described a church with a 13thc. chancel and chancel arch, but by the time his work was published it had been overtaken by events. In 1748, John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, replaced the chancel with the present broad Palladian structure, dominated on the exterior by the great E window and on the interior by four enormous Montagu tombs, two of them by L. F. Roubiliac. The chancel was almost separated from the nave by a wall blocking the 13thc. chancel arch, leaving only a small entrance arch. At the same time, most of the windows in the church were replaced, and box pews were added together with a W gallery. The church was restored from 1867-74 when a vestry was added at the E end of the S aisle, and the pews and the old gallery removed (the present gallery dates from 1978). The chancel arch was opened up, and the 13thc. arch rediscovered. It was in such a poor state of repair, however, that it was decided to replace it with the present copy. Duke John's Palladian windows were replaced in a late Perpendicular style, except for the great E window. The chancel was restored in 1981. The 13thc. font was discovered at that time in a field nearby. The only elements considered here are the nave arcades.
35. St Martin, Welton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church (benefice of Daventry, Ashby St Ledgers, Braunston, Catesby, Hellidon, Staverton and Welton)
Welton is an extensive village in the W of the county, a mile N of Daventry. It stands on rising ground in the angle between two branches of the Grand Union canal, in hilly pasture land. The village is locally known as the maze, from the labyrinthine street-plan based on a figure-of-eight. The church stands in the centre of this, and the manor site at the southern edge. The nave is Perpendicular, with tall, four-bay arcades, no clerestorey and nave and aisles sharing a single roof. A clerestorey would not anyway be needed, as the big panelled aisle windows provide plenty of light. The line of an earlier nave roof is visible on the tower. The S doorway has a porch, the N does not. The chancel is also perpendicular, with a N vestry in the angle between nave and chancel. The W tower is earlier, dating from the beginning of the 14thc. Inside the nave is a re-set human head corbel which may be 12thc.
36. All Saints, Wilbarston, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church (benefice of Stoke Albany with Wilbarston and Ashley with Weston-by-Welland and Sutton Bassett)
Wilbarston is in the NW of the county, within the ancient forest of Rockingham, and 2 miles from the river Welland that forms the border with Leicestershire. The village stands on a hill, separated from its neighbour, Stoke Albany, only by a stream. The Jurassic Way; a long-distance walkway along the limestone ridge between Stamford and Banbury, passes through the village, and the church is on the N edge of the village. All Saints' has an aisled and clerestoreyed nave with arcades of three bays. The N arcade is carried on cylindrical piers with 12thc. half-column responds at the E and W ends, but the pier capitals are 13thc. moulded work, and the arches must date from c.1300. The S arcade is also much modified. Bay 1, perhaps a transept arch originally, is round-headed and substantially 12thc., while the arches of bays 2 and 3 are 13thc. and pointed. All the capitals are moulded, and the piers cylindrical, except that shafts have been added on the E side of pier 1 to match the arch profile (see below). The S nave doorway is 13thc., under a 19thc. porch, and the N doorway is blocked. The chancel contains a 12thc. priest's doorway. The W tower is late 13thc., short and unbuttressed with a broach spire with two tiers of lucarnes. The church is built of yellow stone throughout. The nave was restored in 1884. Romanesque sculpture is found in the two nave arcades and the S chancel doorway.
37. St Andrew, Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Andrew's has a four-bay aisled and clerestoreyed nave with arcades ofc.1300, the N stylistically later than the S. At the W end the tower is entered by a small 13thc. doorway rather than an arch. The chancel and its arch are 14thc. Construction is of irregular grey stone blocks. The W tower is of three storeys, containing features of the 12thc. but rebuilt. Signs of the rebuilding are most obvious on the W face, which has a central flat buttress extending halfway up the first storey. The wall to the S of this is built in three steps divided by string courses above a plinth course; to the N the wall is not articulated. The tower has 12thc. windows and bell-openings, described below, a string course, and a row of corbels well below the present upper parapet.