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I Location

II General Description

The church has a tall W tower with a slender spire supported by delicate flying buttresses and decorated with pinnacles and crockets. This late 14thc. work, described by Pevsner as 'one of the finest, if not the finest, spire in this county of spires'. It was partly rebuilt in 1898 and repaired in 1968. To the W of the tower is a Perpendicular porch. The nave aisles extend W alongside the tower. The N nave arcade dates from around 1300, and the S arcade has the same tall, spacious proportions, but in this the piers and arches of a 12thc. arcade have been reused. The chancel arch is also c.1300, but the chancel itself is 12thc., with internal wall-arcading, much restored and with arches that are entirely 19thc., and an external corbel table, completely reset. The font is 12thc., simple and unusually wide.

III Exterior Features

3. Exterior Decoration

c. Corbel tables, corbels

(i) Chancel, S side

The top of the wall has been rebuilt, and the corbels reinstalled on a new table composed of lintel-like blocks, each spanning a pair of corbels. Corbels are numbered from left to right (W to E).

S1. Roughed-out block.

S2. Worn human head with pointed chin. Loss on L of chin.

S3. Badly eroded. Possibly as N9.

S4. Chamfered with a roll divided by a central groove on the chamfer and a row of decoration, probably nailhead, on the narrow face above.

S5. Eroded head, possibly human.

S6. Dog-like head with pointed ears and a large piece lost from the L of the muzzle.

S7. Worn cat-like head with pointed ears.

S8. Worn human head with tragic mouth.

S9. Chamfered with a double step and a central boss.

S10. A pair of worn human heads, both narrow with pointed chins, each three-quarter full face and turned away from one another.

S11. Composite human head with cat ears, small pointed nose and narrow down-turned mouth.

S12. Eroded human head, nose missing, with small mouth and short chin.

S13. Head with cat-like ears, lower part lost.

S14. Human head - modern.

S15. Dog-like head with tiny drilled eyes, small rounded ears and long snout.

S16. Damaged.

S17. Conical, horse-like head, possibly with bridle, eroded in striations.

S18. Beast head with duck-like keeled snout and drilled eyes and nostrils.

S19. Small beast head with long ridged nose, open mouth and hollow eyes.

S20. Composite human head with long snout, broken at bottom, mouth apparently open and sad eyes.

S21. Chamfer with a horizontal keeled roll.

S22. Badly eroded head with cat-like ears.

S23. Triangular beast head with very large bulging eyes.

S24. Beast head, badly worn in striations.

SE angle. Large human head, badly eroded and not 12thc..

(ii) Chancel N side.

The N corbel table is interrupted by the two-storey N vestry, with ten corbels to the E of it and six to the W, but it is here treated as a single table. The upper wall has been disturbed and the corbels reset as on the S wall. Corbels are numbered from E to W.

N1 (NE angle). Simple quadrant, eroded.

N2. Human head with bulging eyes, small nose, chubby cheeks and small mouth slightly open.

N3. Eroded lump.

N4. Badly eroded human head, all detail lost in upper part, tip of nose and mouth just about readable.

N5. Corbel with large losses at top and bottom - unreadable.

N6. Round head, all detail lost.

N7. Similar to S4 with a wider groove between the rolls and an extra row of nailhead at the top of the chamfer.

N8. Moulded corbel with four horizontal thin rolls, one near the top and three together at the bottom.

N9. Cf S3, which is not so well preserved. A beast or bird head, the upper part with almond eyes. From this descends a thin tongue or beak which passes over a horizontal roll.

N10. Damaged and worn hollow-chamfered corbel with four vertical reeds.

N11 (W of vestry). Eroded, slightly convex corbel with three horizontal rolls.

N12. Beast head, cat-shaped but all surface detail lost.

N13. Worn and damaged corbel, probably geometrical.

N14. Worn and damaged beast head with long pointed ears.

N15. Beast head with large rounded ears, heavy brow and duck-like snout, broken at the end. All surface detail is lost.

N16. Bird or beast beakhead corbel with cat-like ears and roll in mouth. Badly eroded.

IV Interior Features

2. Arcades

c. Nave

(i) S arcade

Three bays with single order, unmoulded pointed arches, with chamfered labels to N and S, decorated with a row of nailhead on the main vessel side, and left plain on the aisle side. The arcade is carried on cylindrical piers with half-column responds at either end. Bases are of double-roll profile but much cut away. Apart from the two westernmost capitals all features of the arcade appear 12thc., but it has been remade following the more spacious aesthetic of c.1300.

E respond capital: Waterleaf at the angles with a mirror pair of furled leaves in the centre of each face. The capital has a plain roll necking and square abacus with a quirked chamfered impost block.

Pier 1 capital: Multi-scallop, the shields recessed and conical wedges between the scallops. Necking and impost as E respond.

Pier 2 capital: Moulded with ballflower, c.1300.

W respond capital: Moulded, c.1300.

5. Interior Decoration

a. Blind arcades

(i) Chancel, N wall

Six-bay blind arcade over benches. Bay 5 contains a square-headed doorway and has no bench. The arches are round headed, chevron decorated and entirely 19thc. These are carried on en-delit shafts on attic bases, with plain bell capitals, slightly concave, with roll neckings and plain hollow-chamfered imposts, except at either end where the supports are square with no capitals and hollow-chamfered imposts.

(ii) Chancel, S wall

As chancel N wall. Again bay 5 has a doorway and no bench.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

At W end of S aisle, a large octagonal cushion-capital shaped bowl with a plain shield on each face, but the SE angle has been chamfered off later so that there are now nine faces. Later crosses have been incised on the NE and NW shields. The bowl is lined with lead. It stands on a later rough-hewn cylindrical shaft, tapering inwards towards the foot, and this on a step, which looks like a millstone.

Dimensions

VII History

This important manor was held by the king in 1086. Godwine the priest and Wulfwine also held land from the king here, and there was income from a market. The royal minster may have dated from the 7thc., but the earliest document that mentions it is a grant augmenting Ranulph Flambard's prebend at Lincoln (1110-22)

Benefice of King's Sutton and Newbottle and Charlton.

VIII Comments/Opinions

What remains points to a major 12thc. church, and unusual efforts to preserve many of its features were clearly made in the remodelling of 1300.

IX Bibliography