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I Location

II General Description

Primarily a 13thc. church consisting of W tower, nave with side aisles, chancel, and S chapel off the chancel. Restoration in 1858 was under the direction of Charles Kirk. Blocked W tower door and chancel arch are Romanesque.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) W doorway, W tower

Two orders (now blocked).

First order: the door jambs are chamfered with chamfer carrying on into the arch.

Second order: Arris jambs and imposts with roll, hollow chamfer, and larger roll above. In the arch two roll moulds and roll in hollow chamfer on the soffit. Angle roll in hollow chamfer and dogtooth in hollow chamfer on face. Label consists of roll, hollow chamfer and cable mould on top. Label is very weathered and portions of it to the N are inserts. Label stops probably faces but now too worn to be legible. Door opening now blocked with stone coursing and two light opening with round heads.

Dimensions

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

a. Chancel arch/Apse arches

(i) Chancel arch

Round headed, three orders.

E face no orders, just chamfered impost with two quirks and a plain arch. W face jambs of three orders are primarily plain except for first and second orders on R which have arris partially chamfered and poorly executed chamfer stops. No bases on any of the jambs.

Capitals: flat, fillet necking with multi-scallop, sheathed capitals on the first order and single scallop, sheathed capitals on the second and third orders. Only the N and S faces of the capitals are carved.

Imposts: carved from pieces of stone separate from the capitals; chamfered with two quirks on face.

Dimensions

In the arch:

First order: plain.

Second order: lateral chevron on soffit; on face a row of frontal chevron and a row of lateral chevron.

Third order: same as second order.

Label: chamfered top and bottom sides with fillet on face; roll billet moulding on top and bottom chamfer.

VII History

Foston is mentioned in Domesday Book but no church is recorded.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Very tight saw blade lines are prevalent through the chancel arch. The upper left side of the third order jamb on the L side and lower left part of the impost above this jamb have been cut back to form the niche in which a statue of the Virgin is placed. Red pigment traces on the L side jamb of the third order. In the label, the top, centre fragment and the L side fragment, approximately 0.83 m up from springing, are very worn and appear to be good 12thc. stone; the rest of the label has very clean, sharp edges and the roll billet sizes are grossly inconsistent in size, but precisely shaped. This, along with the fact that the imposts for each order are carved of separate pieces of stone and the capitals are carved on only one face, suggests later intervention on the imposts, capitals and label, perhaps during the mid-19thc. restoration.

IX Bibliography