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I Location

II General Description

The church, of sandstone ashlar, consists of an aisled nave, a chancel with a NE chapel, and an 18thc. W tower, which incorporates the entrance. Restorations were carried out in 1863-64 by Butterfield; the work included resetting the N nave doorway in the rebuilt N aisle wall (Roper 1969). Romanesque sculpture is found in this doorway, which is now blocked, in the three E bays of the N nave arcade, in the S arcade, on a fragment inset into the W wall of the tower, and on the font.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) N doorway, nave (reset, now blocked)

Round-headed, two orders.

Dimensions

First order

Chamfered jambs and arch, now continuous but with traces of cut-back imposts on L and R.

Second order

Plain nook shafts standing directly on square plinths; plain neckings, scallop capitals (triple on L, double on R, the latter with rolls in the tucks) with angle tucks, and hollow-chamfered impost blocks with a narrow roll on the face, flanked by grooves. The capitals, the L impost and some stones in the nook shafts are renewals, in a yellow oolitic limestone. (The nook shafts appear to be engaged, their joints aligning with those of the wall, but the stone types do not always match up.) In the arch, two rows of lateral chevrons on both face and soffit, meeting point-to-point and with a cogwheel edge. The chevrons are outlined by reeding. Original, of pale red sandstone. Plain chamfered label.

IV Interior Features

2. Arcades

c. Nave

The S arcade consists of three bays, the N of four (see para. VIII below).

Dimensions

(i) S arcade

Three bays. Plain pointed arches of two orders, with a plain label on the N side. Cylindrical piers with plain neckings, shallow square trumpet scallop capitals and plain chamfered impost blocks. Except for the W respond capital, which has slightly flatter trumpet scallops, there are tapered rolls in some of the tucks; the capital and impost block of the E respond appear to have been recut or replaced.

(ii) N arcade

Four bays; the three E bays, with round-headed arches of two orders, are Romanesque; the W bay is of much greater span, with a pointed arch.

E respond: engaged half-column on shallow double bulbous base. Shallow square trumpet scallop capital, plain necking and plain chamfered impost block, all replacements.

Bay 1: plain, round-headed arch of two orders; no label. The lower nine voussoirs of the first order and the lower ten of the Second order are replacements.

Pier 1: cylindrical pier on base as E respond. Square scallop capital, four scallops on each face, the cones separated by tapered cable mouldings and the lower edges of the shields defined by a groove. Plain necking and chamfered impost block with a groove on the face, broken at one corner.

Bay 2: as bay 1.

Pier 2: as bay 1, pier 1, but with plain square multi-scallop capital.

Bay 3: as bays 1 and 2. Pier 3: formed of two addorsed half-columns separated by a strip of masonry, its coursing partly continuous with the E respond and partly with the W. The capital facing E is square and multi-scalloped, with angle tucks and a groove outlining the lower edges of the shields; that facing W is similar, but more trumpet-like in character. Both have plain neckings and continuous chamfered impost blocks with a groove on the face.

Bay 4: plain pointed arch of two orders, no label. Its span is wider than the bays further E in this arcade.

W respond: similar to Bay 1, E respond.

5. Interior Decoration

c. Miscellaneous

(i) Carved fragment

An irregular-shaped fragment is inset into the masonry blocking the doorway in the W wall of the tower. It shows the lower part of a forward-facing figure with bare feet, enclosed to R by a border carved with double zigzag, and with the lower part of another, inward-facing figure outside this, the whole enclosed by a section of beaded mandorla. The draperies are carved with nested V-folds, and the fringe of a stole is visible at the top. There is a diagonal crack across the lower part of the main figure, and the carving of the two sections does not precisely match. The relief may portray Christ in Majesty.

Dimensions

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

At the W end of the nave, made of red sandstone. Chalice-shaped and boldly carved. Modern plinth. The base is encircled by a two-stranded Stafford knot, the stem by a plain four-stranded plait. At the rim of the bowl is a band of regular interlace, composed of four double strands. Below, and facing anti-clockwise around the bowl, are five bipeds, each with a raised left leg and bared teeth, biting the tail of the beast in front. The split tails form a reversed S-curve; they are entwined by double-stranded interlace, either by a figure-of-eight and a circle or by a triquetra, except on the N side of the font, where a section has been repaired, or more probably replaced; there is also a repair at the rim.

Dimensions

VII History

William I or William II granted the overlordship of the manor to Robert FitzHamon, and it was later held by William, Earl of Gloucester (d. 1183). Two priests are mentioned here in the Domesday Survey. The advowson belonged to the lords of the manor. (VCH 3: 42)

VIII Comments/Opinions

The nave arcades were built in two phases. The first phase, represented by the three E bays of the N arcade, probably dates from the mid-12thc. The three-bay S arcade and the W bay of the N arcade belong to a second phase, of uncertain date. Although their capitals resemble those of the first phase, the spans of the arches they carry are too wide to be of 12thc. date. Pevsner proposed that they were constructed when the original W tower was built, the entrance arch of which is visible beneath that of the present 18thc. tower; its thin, double-chamfered profile could date from any time between the 14thc. and the 17th. The capitals of the second phase must be imitations of 12thc. work or re-used or both; Pevsner suggested that those of the W bay of the N arcade may have come from the original chancel arch, later replaced, and that the S arcade piers may have been respaced when the tower was built. The fragment reset in the W tower wall is probably from a tympanum. Pevsner noted close similarities between the drapery and ornamental detail with the tympanum at Pedmore, and Stratford (in Pevsner 1968, p.45) dated both to the 1150s. The font, dated by Pevsner to c.1160-70, is an outlier of the Herefordshire school, but it also relates to work at Gnosall, Staffordshire. The bipeds resemble those on a 12thc. fragment built into a wall of the Bell Inn at Alveley, Salop, described by Zarnecki (IRSA, no.22 (XI) Vienna 1990).

IX Bibliography