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I Location

II General Description

Aisled nave with N and S porches, chancel and W tower. The nave (except for its aisles) and the chancel are 12thc. The shafted SE angle of the 12thc. nave is still visible outside, while the chancel has 12thc. windows to N and S. The S aisle dates from the 14thc. and was extended W c.1400 at the same time as the tower was built. The N aisle and the porches are late 15thc. The tower is of three storeys with an octagonal stone spire. Construction is of pebble rubble except for the chancel, which is of ashlar. The upper storey of the tower is rendered. The chancel was restored in 1878 by Charles Hodgson Fowler. The S wall was completely rebuilt using ashlar from the E wall, and the Norman window reset. The E wall and an organ recess in the N wall were built entirely new, and the floor was raised. 12thc. features are the font and the chancel windows

III Exterior Features

2. Windows

(i) Chancel, N side

Exterior: two orders, round-headed. First order plain and continuous. Second order has detached nook shafts on convex bases with necking rolls at top and bottom. The capitals are simple cushions with plain roll neckings and the imposts are chamfered, the chamfers dying to leave simple bocks at the outer ends. In the arch is a fat angle roll.

Interior: the window narrows towards the inside, but all details of the design are identical to the exterior.

(ii) Chancel, S side

Window reset in rebuilt wall. Identical to (i) inside and out.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

Under W tower (moved there from the S aisle). The bowl is square and supported on five shafts, the four at the corners slender and modern, the central shaft thicker with a cushion base. The inner bowl is circular and lead lined. The faces of the bowl are carved with four different designs as follows:

E face: sixbay arcade with block capitals and bases supporting semicircular intersecting arches.

S face: five bay arcade with block capitals and no bases supporting semicircular arches. The arcade appears to lean alarmingly, but this is mainly due to inaccurate fitting of the bowl on its base.

W face: Arcade of three bays without capitals or bases. Under each arch is a bundle of four-five vertical reeds.

N face: three rows of lateral face chevron at the top meeting another three rows at the bottom point-to-point to form a horizontal row of lozenges at the centre of the face. That, at any rate, seems to have been the intention, but the whole thing is inaccurately carved and the second lozenge from the R is one unit of chevron higher than it should be.

Dimensions

VII History

In the 12thc. Coton was a hamlet in the parish of Grantchester, and the church was a chapel at that time but slowly gained separate status during the 13thc. and 14thc. Much of the land in Coton was held by Eustace of Boulogne in the Domesday Survey. His descendants granted the land to the Engaine family who, by 1200, were in dispute with the de Fercles, tenants of the Boulogne land in Grantchester, over the patronage of the chapel. By 1223 the Engaines had won by default.

VIII Comments/Opinions

IX Bibliography