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I Location

II General Description

Built of lias rubble with dressings of Broadway stone ashlar. 15thc. W tower, ashlar-faced, with pinnacles. Nave, N and S aisles, N and S transepts. It stands on a low mound in the centre of the old part of the village. Sculpture ofc.1200 is found in the nave arcade capitals, and there is a plain font and a chip-carved stone set into a windowsill in the S transept.

IV Interior Features

2. Arcades

c. Nave

(i) N and S arcades

Both N and S arcades are either very late 12thc. or early 13thc., but the S arcade was probably built 'ten or twenty years earlier than the N arcade' (Pevsner).

S arcade

Of two and a part bays, the pointed arches are single-stepped, the third part-bay having no respond as it is lost into the W wall before reaching its apex.

E respond: Square plinth, double moulded bases, half-round pier. Capital: This has very long multi-trumpet scallops with long fillets between them. Plain necking, hollow chamfered impost.

Pier 1: Square plinth with one worn spur ornament, double moulded base, plain circular shaft. Capital: this has very long multi-trumpet scallops with equally long fillets between. Plain necking, and hollow chamfered impost from which springs, as well as the nave arcade, a transverse arch marking off the S transept.

Pier 2: As Pier 1, but base hidden.

N arcade

Of three bays of late 12thc., pointed arches of two orders, the first chamfered, the second square.

E respond: Round plinth, double-moulded round base with half-round engaged shaft. Capital: round, moulded with a cavetto and a line of nail-head ornament above.

Pier 1: Base hidden by flooring, round. Capital: round, scalloped on the aisle side with short spreading trumpets, the bells of which are decorated with foliage forms. On the side toward the nave it has a carving of the legend of St Margaret. This early version of the legend tells that she was swallowed by a dragon, but clung fast to her staff which bore a cross. The dragon split and the saint emerged unharmed. The sculpture shows her head, with a head-band, emerging from the belly of the beast; her staff is also visible and behind her is a cuff from a sleeve with a hand making the gesture of blessing. The saint's skirt and feet seem to be disappearing into the beast's maw. The creature has long ears or horns and the right foreleg is lizard-like as is the long, curving tail decorated with sprouting foliation, terminating in a human head. Plain necking and a roll above, no impost.

Pier 2: Scalloped as Pier 1, the design interrupted at the cardinal points by four human heads. That on the W is of a bishop, wearing a mitre, while the other three appear to be knights wearing chain mail. The face on the N has been mutilated, that on the S is crudely carved, but the knight on the E is clearly carved, grinding his teeth. Plain necking and a roll above, no impost.

W Respond: Moulded with plain necking, then a cavetto, a grooved vertical face and a roll at the top.

5. Interior Decoration

c. Miscellaneous

(i) Reset fragment

There is a stone set into the W end of the sill of the S transept S window, chip-carved with sunk triangles.

Dimensions

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

The bowl is round and straight sided, tapering to the stem, with a thin roll-moulding at the rim and on the top surface of the bowl. Plain round stem and plain, round base with a torus above. The stem is possibly later, but the bowl and base are, perhaps, 12thc.

VII History

Bretforton formed one of the largest of the gifts supposed to have been made by Kenred and Offa to the abbey of Evesham. At the time of Domesday it consisted of 12 hides. Abbot Walter gave three hides and one virgate to his brother Ranulf and two-and-a-half hides to Hugh of Bretforton. Ranulf was probably one of the first of the abbey's knights 'who did the service of a knight in horses and arms', the abbot finding the knights' expenses while on the king's service. The chancel is recorded as being consecrated on the day of St Thomas the Martyr in 1295. The advowson belonged to the abbey of Evesham until the Dissolution in 1539. It remained with the Crown until 14 November, 1558, three days before the death of Mary, when it was granted, with the rectory and church, to Richard, Bishop of Worcester. It was restored to the Crown by one of the first acts of Elizabeth's reign, and on 4 October 1586 it was granted to Sir Christopher Hatton in exchange for lands in Herefordshire.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Pevsner dates the arcades late 12thc. to very early 13thc. and Stratford mentions links with the nave of Wells Cathedral which is work ofc.1210-15. The style of the carving of Pier 1 of the N arcade, with its sinuous beast carved around the capital is very similar in feeling to the base of the font at Elmley Castle 14km to the W of Bretforton. They are quite likely to be by the same hand. The chancel was consecrated on St Thomas' day and it is, therefore, possible that the four heads on Pier 2 represent the saint and the knights who murdered him.

IX Bibliography