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- 1. St Andrew, Bebington (Lower), Cheshire, England
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Parish church St Andrew's is basically a Norman church that was extended in the 14thc. and 16thc. The church may have been cruciform, with an aisleless nave, and a three-bay S arcade was added in the 12thc. On the N the aisle windows are early 14thc., so an arcade of some form must have been present by then. In the 16thc. a fourth bay was added to both arcades at the E. The central vessel between the arcades is notably wider in the E bay, and the lines of the arcades have been modified to compensate, apparently in the 1870-72 restoration. On the N side the original arcade was entirely replaced with a copy of the 12thc. S arcade to effect a smooth transition, but on the S only the easternmost Romanesque bay was replaced, and this doglegs to meet the Perpendicular E pier. The S aisle windows have Y-tracery of c.1300, and at the W end of this aisle is the tower, of similar date and with a broach spire. The chancel and its arch are Perpendicular, as are the large chapels to either side of it, with three-bay arcades to the chancel and broad arches to the nave aisles. The restoration was by W.J. and G.A. Ashdown of Liverpool (1870-72). The church is of greyish pink sandstone ashlar.
- 2. St John the Baptist, Chester, Cheshire, England
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Originally collegiate church, now parish church The Romanesque church was a cruciform building with an aisled nave with triforium and clerestorey; N and S transepts and an aisled eastern arm with a gallery rather than a triforium. Of the nave, the four eastern bays and the beginning of a fifth survive. In the fifth bay was a 13thc. north doorway under a porch, and west of the sixth stood the façade. There is no evidence for the original form of this beyond the ruinous lower part of a NW tower. This tower collapsed partially in 1572 and more drastically in 1574, destroying the western bays of the nave, and was rebuilt on a magnificent scale. Until 1881 it was reportedly the glory of the exterior and a notable Chester landmark, but in that year, while long-overdue repairs were taking place, it collapsed again, destroying the Early English north porch, which was rebuilt by J. Douglas in 1881-82. The eastern arm of the church was originally aisled and of five straight bays, but now the entire north aisle has been removed (except for its eastern chapel; see below). Of the main vessel and south aisle only a single bay survives within the building, which terminates in a straight wall. The remainder of the eastern arm was abandoned in 1547, when the King's Commissioners decided that the nave alone was sufficient for the parish, and that the lead on the choir roof along with the metal of four of the church's five bells should be removed and sold. To the east, outside the building, parts of the S choir aisle wall still stand, along with what remains of the east chapels. Originally the main vessel terminated in a deep apsidal chapel, and the aisles in shallower ones. All three chapels were remodelled and enlarged in the later middle ages, but the 12thc. wall containing their entrance arches still stands. This is in a disastrously eroded condition, which should be borne in mind while reading the descriptions of its elements in this site report.
- 3. St Lawrence, Frodsham, Cheshire, England
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Parish church St Lawrence's has a W tower, an aisled and clerestoreyed nave with three-bay arcades of c.1180 and a shorter fourth bay on either side at the E end, dating from Bodley and Garner's restoration of 1880-83. The 14thc. chancel was extended eastward in the 15thc. It has a 16thc. N chapel with an organ loft and vestry and a large S chapel. The 1880s restoration is everywhere apparent, even in the arcades (see below) but the 18thc. porches were left alone. Construction is of reddish sandstone. 12thc. stones are reset in the interior S wall of the tower.
- 4. St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich, Cheshire, England
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Parish church St Michael's is a large church, mainly Perpendicular, with a W tower of c.1500 over the end of the N nave aisle, and an aisled, clerestoreyed nave of four Perpendicular bays with a fifth narrow bay of late 12thc. date at the E end of each arcade. The aisles continue alongside the chancel, providing an organ loft and vestry on the N side, and a spacious chapel on the S. The chancel aisles are divided from the main vessel by two-bay arcades, that on the N of the 13thc. The S aisle is canted at the E and W ends. The exterior is faced with red sandstone, but its appearance owes much to the intrusive restoration of 1857-60 by Joseph Clarke. 12thc. work is found in the narrow E bays of the nave arcades and a loose chevron voussoir.
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