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I Location

II General Description

St Mary's has an aisled and clerestoreyed nave with four-bay arcades. In each arcade the two western bays are 12thc., and the two eastern bays 14thc. The short 12thc. nave seems to have been lengthened eastwards in the 14thc., and the clerestorey was added at that time. There are two doorways: the 12thc. S doorway is elaborate and protected by a porch; the 13thc. N doorway very plain and unprotected. The chancel and its arch are also 14thc. The W tower is 15thc. (money was left for the fabric of the 'campanile' in 1453) and of five storeys, the two lowest with ashlar bocks in alternately brown ironstone and grey limestone courses. Above this the ashlar is newer and appears 19thc. The clock is dated 1862. The nave, aisles and chancel are faced in stone rubble. Romanesque sculpture is found in the W bays of both arcades and the S doorway.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) S nave doorway

Round headed, two orders. The doorway is of two periods, the arch 12thc. and stylistically early in the century; the jambs up to the impost blocks 13thc. Furthermore the lower jambs show considerable evidence of disturbance, suggesting that the bases, and possibly the entire doorway, have been raised by approximately 0.20 m.

First order: Plain chamfered jambs, worn and rounded, support imposts of different designs. The W has a fat roll below a slender double-chamfered projection with a central groove; its S face has been shaved flat below the projection. The E has three stepped rolls, the topmost fatter than the two below. All this is mid-13thc. The 12thc. arch is square in profile, with carving in low relief on voussoirs 2-5 and 8-9 counting from the W springing. On each of these voussoirs is a beaded saltire cross with half a square daisy in each of the four triangular fields around it. The daisies have a central boss and fluted petals.

Second order: En-delit detached nook-shafts with bases and their plinths worn or missing, but on the E jamb the plinth survives and it is set some 0.20 m above the present floor level, suggesting that the jambs have been raised. Curiously the relatively modern door has also been heightened by the addition of a board at the bottom and extensions to the panel framing. Capitals are moulded with concave bells below a quirked roll with a fillet and roll neckings. The impost follows the form of the grooved projection on the W. The W capital is also moulded, but most of it is lost along with the impost. Again the jambs are 13thc. The 12thc. arch has a fat angle roll with a quirk on the arch face. The label is chamfered with short returns at the ends.

Dimensions

IV Interior Features

2. Arcades

c. Nave

(i) N arcade

Four bays; bays 1-2 pointed (14thc.), bays 3-4 round-headed (12thc.). The E respond and pier 1 with its capital belong to the 14thc. campaign. Piers 2 and 3 are cylindrical with round scallop capitals supporting plain arches. Pier bases are tall with a roll and hollow chamfer on a cylindrical plinth course. The W respond has a plain square section without a base.

Pier 2 capital: multi-scallop with sheathed scallops and grooves outlining the shields, all carved as a vertical frieze in low relief. The necking is square and the impost, also circular in plan, has a hollow chamfer below a flat roll and a tall vertical face.

Pier 3 capital: multi-scallop with necking and imposts as pier 2. The scalloping itself has its shields outlined in nailhead, and four rows of nailhead arranged fanwise between each pair of scallops. At the upper apex of each of these fans is a small shields outlined in nailhead, between each of the main shields of the capital.

W respond capital: the capital is a simple, flat multi-scallop frieze on the E face only and of the same design as on pier 1. Necking and impost profiles are the same as pier 2.

(ii) S arcade

As N arcade except in small details. The arches of bays 3 and 4 have double chamfered labels with a row of nailhead between the chamfers on the N face of the arch.

Pier 2 capital: multi-scallop. The impost as on the N arcade, the necking a roll with a central band of nailhead. The capitals with double-sheathed scallops with a row of nailhead running up from the necking between each pair of scallops, and the shields carved with half-daisies with central boss and fluted petals.

Pier 3 capital: the impost is a replacement, hollow chamfered with a band of sawtooth on the face. The capital, with grooved roll necking, might also be a replacement. It has a triple wedge between each pair of scallops, and the shields are dished and carved with a crude half-wheel on each, the spokes flat and awkward. The crispness of the carving and its lack of vitality leaves much doubt about whether it is original.

W respond capital: as on the N side, this is a flat frieze capital carved only on the E face. The necking is square with a central groove. The scallops have double wedges between them, and a groove outlining each shield. The impost is richly carved, with a hollow chamfer, a row of double strand cable above, then a face decorated with sawtooth. A chip has been lost at the NE angle. Unlike the pier 3 capital this is obviously 12thc. work.

VII History

Grendon was held by Countess Judith in 1086. Three mills were recorded but no church. The countess granted the manor to King David of Scotland as part of a knight's fee, and his successor Malcolm IV granted the church to the Abbot of Jedburgh (along with Brandon, Northants). A dispute between the abbot and the Earl of Huntingdon over the right of presentation to the benefice was resolved in 1231 in favour of the earl.

Benefice of Yardley Hastings, Denton and Grendon with Castle Ashby and Whiston.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The use of circular imposts in the arcades is unusual, but also found in the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton. Pevsner (1973) calls the arcades Late Norman, and the doorway (which he implies is later) late 12thc. He does not suggest, with the present author, that the doorway is of two periods, but this seems beyond dispute. The use of nailhead and half-daisies in both the arch of the doorway and the capitals of the arcades suggest that they belong to the same campaign, which the present author would place in the middle of the 12thc. rather than the end.

IX Bibliography