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I Location

II General Description

Brigstock is toward the N of the county, 6 miles NE of Kettering. It is a substantial village lying in the valley of Harper's Brook, a tributary of the river Nene. The settlement is an ancient one, and a good deal of Roman material has been found around the village. It is within Rockingham forest; a royal hunting ground created by William I, but by no means entirely wooded even then. The church is in the centre of the village, alongside the brook. St Andrew's has a tall 11thc. nave with a blocked window remaining in the N wall. N and S aisles have been added, with three-bay arcades; the two western bays of the N arcade 12thc., the E bay and the entire S arcade are 14thc. The S doorway is of c.1200, under a Perpendicular porch. The chancel arch is tall and Perpendicular, but the chancel itself has a N chapel with a two-bay 13thc. arcade and a S chapel now housing the organ. The N chapel contains the tomb of Robert Vernon, first Baron Lyveden (d.1873) with a marble effigy. The nave aisles extend westward alongside the tower, and it is this for which the church is known. The tower arch is tall and round-headed; the tower originally short and of rubble with long-and-short quoins. There is a rough round-headed window high on the N face. A round stair turret is attached to the W wall, entered from within by a triangular-headed doorway. A completely plain round-headed arch, probably 12thc., links the tower and the N aisle extension. To the 11thc. tower has been added a 14thc. storey of ashlar and a broach spire with three rows of lucarnes. The church was restored by Carpenter (1876-77). The tower arch is described here, although it is probably pre-Conquest. Also recorded are the 12thc. parts of the N arcade and the S doorway.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) S nave doorway

Round-headed, of three orders

First order

Continuous with an angle roll.

Second order

On en-delit nook-shafts of which only the lower sections survive, below shaft-rings which are shared with the third order. The capitals are moulded, with tall bells which are practically cylindrical below overhanging abaci with a lower angle roll. The neckings are projecting rolls, and the imposts have a roll with a hollow and a heavy roll above. The abaci and imposts are cut from the same stones as their neighbours in the third order. The arch has an angle roll and further rolls on face and soffit, separated from the angle roll by deep hollows.

Third order

On coursed angle rolls with shaft-rings shared with the second order. the capitals are like those of the second order, and thinner but no shorter. The imposts and abaci are shared with the second order. The arch has an angle roll and face and soffit hollows.

Dimensions

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

b. Tower/ Transept arches

(i) W tower arch, round headed

The jambs are square and of large blocks laid in long-and-short work. They carry heavy impost blocks, roughly cuboid, which project into the arch space. The arch itself is of large, well-cut regular voussoirs. The arch is surrounded by a heavy, square-section label that rests on the impost blocks, and below them the line of the label is continued vertically by pilasters, again of large blocks.

2. Arcades

c. Nave

(i) N arcade

Of three bays. Bay 1 is not considered, being of 14thc. date. Bays 2-3 have round arches with two square orders to the nave and one to the aisle. The octagonal pier 1 belongs with the 14thc. work, pier 2 is cylindrical and the W respond a half-column. The 12thc. bases are chamfered and stand on square plinths.Pier 2 capital: apparently a replacement of the 19thc. It has large leaves with broad flutes; one at each angle and one in the centre of each face. They curl over at the tips to terminate in ball volutes. The impost is chamfered and particularly crisp and new-looking. W respond: flat leaves, pointed at the tips, one at each angle and one in the centre of the main face. The last has a volute tip. The impost is thin and hollow chamfered with a groove on the face.

VII History

Brigstock was a royal estate in 1086, with a priest. The church was owned by Regenbald the priest, a member of the household of Edward the Confessor and subsequently William I. In 1133 Henry I granted the entire holding of Regenbald, including Brigstock and its chapel of ease at Stanion to Cirencester as its foundation endowment. Brigstock remained a possession of Cirencester until the Dissolution. Administratively Brigstock was important throughout the Middle Ages; Geddington, Islip, Stanion, Slipton, Little Oakley and possibly Benefield were all dependencies at various times.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Fernie finds conflicting dating evidence for the early work here, and his suggestion that it belongs to the first half of the 11thc. may be a compromise solution. Pevsner compares the tower arch to Wittering (Hunts), which is not too far away, and dates it late 10thc. or 11thc. The Taylors have suggested an early Saxon date (c. 600-950) for the oldest work, including the lower parts of the tower and what survives of the nave walls, and that the upper part of the Anglo-Saxon tower and the W turret are later (c. 950-1100). RCHME disagrees, preferring to see the Anglo-Saxon work as a single campaign of the late 10thc. or early 11thc. The N arcade is late 12thc. and the S doorway c.1200, an opinion shared by Pevsner, RCHME and the present author.

IX Bibliography