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I Location

II General Description

The earliest fabric suggests the existence of a late-12thc., six-bay aisled nave with a W tower and a chancel of unknown form. Towards the end of the 13thc. the church was almost doubled in width by widening the N aisle and replacing the S aisle with a second nave, as wide as the first, and equipped with its own chancel and S aisle. At the same time or slightly later the original chancel was enlarged in both length and width, so that it was now wider than the original nave, to which it was linked by a diagonal bay. An open arcade separated the two chancels. Around 1500 the W tower collapsed, taking the 12thc. S arcade with it. The arcade was replaced and a new tower built, detached from the church at the NW and bearing the arms of Bishop Goodrick (1534–54). Remains of the original tower survive in the form of its N and S arches and the E arch bases. The church therefore consists of a double nave with aisles to N and S, and arcades of (from N to S) c.1200, c.1500, and c.1300; a two-storey 14thc. S porch; a double chancel; W tower arches but no W tower, and a detached NW tower of the 1530s. Construction is of ashlar, that on the S of roughly coursed stones. The tower is of regular large blocks. Romanesque sculpture is found on the capitals of the tower arches and the N nave arcade.

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

b. Tower/Transept arches

(i) Tower arches

N and S arches of similar design. Each is of two orders to N and S, the first order on half columns with multi-scallop capitals with concave shields, roll neckings and chamfered imposts; the second on coursed shafts with capitals and imposts continuous from the first order. Arches are pointed and of two chamfered orders. The bases of the E arch survive below floor level. All bases are of double-roll profile.

2. Arcades

c. Nave

(i) N arcade

The arcade is of six bays, but bay 1 is a canted 13thc. bay inserted to marry the old arcade to the new chancel.

Pier 1: Circular pier with four attached (coursed) shafts. Stiff-leaf capitals echoing form of shaft, roll necking and square abacus and chamfered impost. The arch to bay (ii) is of two orders, the first plain and square, the second with frontal chevron at the inner angle, lateral to the soffit, in the form of a single quirked roll with the quirks resting on a plain roll. Chamfered label. This is the only bay to have this elaborate treatment.

Pier 2: Circular pier with a stiff-leaf capital with roll necking, square abacus and chamfered impost. The arch to bay (iii) and all other bays is of two square orders with a chamfered label.

Pier 3: Pier form as pier 1. Multi-scallop capital with roll necking and chamfered impost.

Pier 4: As pier 3.

Pier 5: Circular pier with a bell-shaped capital carved with flat leaves in low relief. There are five-lobed leaves at the angles, the central lobe broader and of ogee profile, and these are linked by waterleaf-like notches to bilobed leaves in the centre of each face. The capital has a roll necking, square abacus and chamfered impost.

W respond: An attached pier of the same form as pier 1. Capital decorated with stiff-leaf with roll necking, square abacus and chamfered impost.

VII History

VIII Comments/Opinions

The nave pier system has a complex rhythm, with extra arch decoration at the E end. The form of the original arch to bay (i) and the original E respond are unfortunately not known, but it must be remembered that the nave to which this arcade originally belonged had a narrower, and presumably a shorter chancel, and liturgically the E bays might well have formed part of the choir.

IX Bibliography