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I Location

II General Description

A church, which has seen some unusual changes over the years. Originally nave, chancel and W tower, and the chancel arch implies that nave and chancel may have been 11thc., although the chancel was rebuilt, except for its S wall, in 1847. There is a S aisle of the early 14thc. and a 19thc. N aisle, both of these extending for only three bays of a five-bay nave. The S wall has a clerestorey, the N wall does not. The bay to the W of the aisle on the S side has a 17thc. S porch, and projecting from that porch is a 19thc. porch. The outer opening of the 17thc. porch is thus the inner doorway of the 19thc. one, and Pevsner suspects that it may have been recut from a 12thc. doorway. The church is mortar rendered apart from the W tower, which is of stone rubble. There was a restoration in 1847, and more recently (c.1990) a church hall and office complex has been erected on the N side, extending from the chancel to midway along the nave aisle, with access to the church through the N nave doorway. Liturgically, the S aisle floor level has been raised with staging and an altar set up at the E end of it, facing diagonally across the nave with seating arranged in a quarter-circle around it. The chancel is redundant in this arrangement, and indeed it has been partially obscured by an impressive public address system. Fortunately all of this can easily be reversed. The S doorway is briefly described below, although it is substantially a post-medieval piece. Of more interest is the chancel arch.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) S nave doorway

Round headed, one order. Plain jambs, no capitals but imposts with a 17–18thc. profile. The arch profile, with a series of steps, is also 17–18thc.

The doorway is certainly of 17thc. date, and there is nothing to suggest that it has been remade from an earlier one as Pevsner suggested, although it is now entirely covered with whitewash and may not have been when he saw it.

Dimensions

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

a. Chancel arch/Apse arches

(i) Chancel arch

Of two orders to the W, one to the E, round-headed and entirely coated with whitewash.

First order: plain square jambs and arch with chamfered impost.

Second order (W side only): detached nook shafts on tall attic bases. Simple bulbous capitals with plain neckings and no imposts, situated below the level of the first order imposts. In the arch is a fat angle roll.

VII History

VIII Comments/Opinions

The chancel arch is of two dates. The imposts of the inner order must be 12thc., by which date capitals like those of the outer order would be unthinkable. The treatment of the outer order suggests a date of c.1050, and the irregularity of the inner arch implies that this belongs with it. The likeliest explanation is that the inner order jambs were rebuilt in the 12thc. and imposts added at that time.

IX Bibliography