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- 1. St James, Hemingford Grey, Huntingdonshire, England
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Parish church St James's has a nave with three-bay N and S aisles and a modern S porch, an aisleless chancel, lengthened in the 13thc., with a N vestry, and a W tower added c.1400. Its octagonal spire was blown down by a gale in 1741 (as was that of All Saints in St Ives, nearby), and what was left was levelled off and decorated with ball finials at the angles. The piers and the central bay of the N arcade are 12thc. and described below. The W bay arch is stylistically later, and could have been rebuilt when the tower was added. At this time the W bay of the nave was shortened, so that the W arches of both arcades die into the wall without responds or capitals. The N arcade, E bay also looks to have been rebuilt, but rather earlier, by fitting a new E respond capital and half of the pier 1 capital along with a new arch. Something similar happened on the S side, which has round arches in the two W bays, but a pointed arch in the E bay. Both piers and the E respond are original, and all capitals are moulded, suggesting an original construction date for the S arcade in the 13thc.
- 2. St Martin, Little Stukeley, Huntingdonshire, England
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Parish church St Martin's has a tall aisled and clerestoried nave, a lower chancel and a W tower. The N and S nave aisles extend to the E end of the chancel, forming N and S chapels, the N now in use as a vestry. Of the present building, the tower dates from the end of the 13thc., and the chancel and N chapel to the early 14thc. There is evidence for a 13thc. N aisle, but around 1500 it was completely rebuilt, and a S aisle, S chapel and porch were added. The porch was rebuilt in 1652 and the N aisle in 1673 and again in 1887, and at this time the N chapel was converted into a vestry. R. Hutchinson, the architect responsible, collected such earlier remains as he found and displayed them in the walls. The E wall of the chancel was rebuilt in 1910. Currently (2004) the pinnacles of the tower, damaged in recent storms, are under repair. The nave is constructed of stone rubble, and the chancel of stone and pebble rubble except for the ashlar W wall of 1910. The S aisle and its porch are of ashlar, but the N aisle is of brick except for the W bay, of rubble. The tall lower storey of the tower is of pebble rubble, and the upper storey of ashlar.
- 3. St Thomas a Becket, Ramsey, Huntingdonshire, England
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Originally hospitium of Ramsey Abbey, now parish church 12thc. nave with aisles of seven bays, the W bay curtailed. The clerestorey dates from the 15thc. The one-bay square vaulted chancel originally had aisles, and remains of the S aisle are visible on the exterior. On the N there is a later vestry that continues the line of the nave aisle. The tower is set at the S of the nave's W end, and its erection dates from 1672. The building history is complex and is sketched in section VII, but here it must be noted that the building was originally the hospitium of Ramsey Abbey, and had no W tower. The nave arcades were shortened by just over one bay when the tower was added, and the tower arch appears to have been constructed of parts of the removed arcade including the W respond capitals. Meanwhile the original W doorway, of much the same date as the nave but stylistically unrelated, was presumably moved to its present position as W tower doorway. This is only one of several hypotheses that could be advanced to account for the present appearance of the W end. The tower and the lower parts of the aisle walls and the E façade are of ashlar, while what can be seen of the rest of the chancel is of cobbles. There was an extensive restoration in 1843-44. 12thc work described here comprises the chancel vault and arch, its E windows and the remains of the S chapel; the nave arcades, the W tower arch and the W tower doorway.
- 4. St Botolph, Stow Longa, Huntingdonshire, England
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Parish church The existence of a reset 12thc. doorway confirms that there was a stone church of that date, but there appears to have been a complete rebuilding in the 13thc. The nave with its four-bay aisles belongs to that period, as does the chancel with its broad arch. The E end of the S aisle was widened to form a chapel c. 1330, and in the 15thc. the clerestorey was added. The W tower dates from c. 1500. The main doorway now is in the S aisle, facing the village, and is 13thc. work of some pretension to grandeur. The 12thc. doorway now serving as a priest's door is much too imposing to have fulfilled that function originally, and although it is small for a nave doorway this is what it must have been. The chancel and chancel arch were largely rebuilt in 1880, and the rest of the church was restored from 1888-93, when the south chapel and the east wall of the north aisle were largely rebuilt. In 1901, the upper part of the clerestorey was rebuilt and re-roofed, the aisles repaired and re-roofed, and the south door reset. The north-west corner of the north aisle was partly rebuilt in 1906.The chancel is of ashlar except for the N wall, rebuilt in pebble and reddish ashlar above; the nave clerestorey is of ashlar and the aisles of stone and pebble rubble; the three lower storeys of the tower are of ashlar, and the 4th of stone rubble. The church contains a store of fragments in the nave, including 15th-16thc. window heads, two reliefs with snaking tendrils, a late-medieval base and a section of keeled shaft, but nothing of obviously Romanesque manufacture.
- 5. St Michael, Toseland, Huntingdonshire, England
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Chapel St Michael's has a rectangular nave with a W bellcote and a rectangular chancel with a N vestry. It is constructed of brown cobbles except for the N nave wall, which is brick. The church fell into disrepair and by the middle of the 19thc. it had lost its chancel and consisted simply of a nave with a hipped roof surmounted by a central bell-turret. The N wall of the nave appears to have been replaced in the 18thc. In 1873, the church was thoroughly rebuilt by Arthur Blomfield of London at a cost of £933, raised by subscription. The N wall and the part of the S wall, including the 12thc. doorway and window, were retained, and the remainder rebuilt on the old foundations using cobbles and Bath stone facings. The chancel, of course, was entirely rebuilt. The vestry was added in 1897. Despite having the general appearance of a neo-Norman building, much of the fabric of the nave is genuinely Romanesque. The chancel arch includes important early-12thc. capitals, while the later S doorway is very elaborate. A 12thc. S nave window survives, and the head of a similar window is reset in the N nave wall.
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