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Search terms: Exterior decoration, Northamptonshire

1. St Mary, Bozeat, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Mary's has an aisled, three-bay clerestoreyed nave with 14thc. arcades, an aisleless chancel and a W tower with a broach spire having two rows of lucarnes. The N doorway is plain, and the elaborate 13thc. S doorway is covered by a porch. A vestry has been added to the N of the tower. The church is constructed of roughly shaped grey stone with remains of mortar render on the chancel. The spire collapsed in 1877, and the tower was rebuilt in 1880-83. Romanesque interest centres on the three-storey tower and its arch. A 12thc. S window survives on the first storey, and the third-storey bell-openings are also 12thc. in design, although not all are original. Traces of beading survive on a stone reused in the fabric of the chancel.
2. St Kyneburgha, Castor, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Kyneburgha's is described by Pevsner as the most important Norman parish church in the county (i.e. Huntingdonshire). An aisleless cruciform church was built in the early 12thc. and dedicated in 1124. In the 1220s a S aisle was added and the chancel replaced; in the 1260s the S transept was replaced by a large chapel with an E aisle; and early in the 14thc. a N aisle was added. A broach spire was added to the tower around 1350, and the nave clerestoreys were inserted in the mid-15thc. The tower is of ashlar, the rest of the church of stone rubble.
3. SS Peter and Paul, Cosgrove, Northamptonshire, England

Parish Church (benefice of Potterspury with Furtho and Yardley Gobion with Cosgrove and Wicken)
Cosgrove is a good-sized village in the SE of the county, less than half a mile from the river Great Ouse that forms the border with Buckinghamshire, and which forms a loop around the village. It is now on the edge of the great conurbation of Milton Keynes. The Grand Union canal runs through the village, and the church is centrally sited, with the hall site to the S of it. Cosgrove church comprises a square W tower, a nave, a N aisle and a square chancel which is off-set to the S side of the nave. The tower appears to be late medieval, but its E arch may comprise Anglo-Saxon masonry reworked in the 13thc. Only its tall, narrow proportions betray the possibility that the nave is Anglo-Saxon. The E and S walls of the rebuilt neo-Norman chancel incorporate traces of 12thc. arcading, probably representing blocked windows; two medieval corbels have been re-set in its internal walls. The early 13thc. N arcade comprises quatrefoil piers with moulded capitals carrying pointed, chamfered arches with a sawtooth label. The pointed, chamfered N doorway also has a label carved with sawtooth. The church was restored in 1864-5 and again in 1887.
4. All Saints, Earl's Barton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The well-known Anglo-Saxon W tower, which is profusely decorated with raised flat bands (lesenes), may originally have formed the nave of the church. The present nave is essentially Norman, but has added aisles with late-13thc. or early-14thc. arcades and Dec. windows. The chancel is also Norman, but was lengthened in the 13thc. Romanesque features described here are the blind arcading and sedilia within the chancel, with their associated stringcourses and some re-set chevron voussoirs or jamb-stones; the south nave doorway and the tower and chancel arches.
5. Holy Trinity, Hinton-in-the-Hedges, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The nave has areas of herringbone masonry in its W wall to either side of the tower, which suggests a date before c.1100. The tower itself is 12thc., unbuttressed and of rubble. Apart from the 12thc. features described here it has a plain round-headed window in the W wall, ground storey. A two-bay N aisle was added to the nave towards the end of the 12thc. The chancel is basically 13thc. but much restored. It has a N vestry. There was a major restoration by S. I. Neuman in 1976-90, but certainly a 19thc. one before that. Features included here are the tower bell-openings and corbels, the tower arch the N arcade, and a font that must be 13thc. but retains some 12thc. features.
6. St Peter and St Paul, King's Sutton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
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.
7. St Peter, Maxey, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Peter's has an early 12thc. nave and W tower. Aisles were added to the nave in the mid (N arcade) to late (S arcade) 12thc. The original clerestorey is still visible in the aisles, but the roof was raised and new windows installed in the 14thc. The top storey of the tower is 15thc. The chancel and its arch date from the 13thc., and there is a large N chapel, added in 1367. Attached to the S of the chancel is a 13thc. treasury. The church is faced with irregular ashlar blocks. Described here are the corbels, bell-openings and arcading of the tower, the tower arch and the nave arcades.
8. Holy Sepulchre, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The core of the church is the original circular nave, now called the Round, with an annular aisle and an arcade supported on eight columns with early Romanesque capitals of various designs. The aisle wall retains one original respond with its capital. The columns now support chamfered pointed arches carrying an octagonal clerestorey wall pierced by square-headed double lights. This upper section belongs to a rebuilding of c.1375. To the E of the Round and reached by steps was originally the Romanesque unaisled chancel, terminating in an apse, and this remains as the nave and chancel of the present church. A two-bay N aisle was added to it c.1200. A second N aisle was added later, and in the 14thc. a S aisle was added. As it stands, therefore, the church has four parallel naves, terminating at their E ends with (from N to S) a vestry, the Chapel of St Thomas, the chancel with an apse, and the Chapel of St George, but it will be seen that much of the fabric is 19thc. At the W end, the original W doorway was demolished and a tower with a spire added in the 14thc. By the 17thc. only the Round was in regular use, and the rest of the church fell into disrepair. The choir and the outer N aisle were demolished. In 1851 the tower was struck by lightning, and in that year George Gilbert Scott was engaged to carry out a thorough restoration of the entire church. He rebuilt what had been lost, including the outer N aisle and the chancel with its flanking chapels, and the church was reopened in 1864. The vestry at the end of the N outer aisle was added in 1887. The Romanesque sculpture falls into two groups. The main arcade piers and their capitals belong to the original fabric of c.1110, as does the single remaining aisle wall vault respond. To these must be attached a small tympanum now set inside the aisle wall, and the corbels of the original chancel (now visible high on the inner walls of the S and inner N aisles). The N doorway of the Round is of c.1170-80.
9. St Peter, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Peter's is the finest 12thc. church in the county, and its capital sculpture is one of the highlights of the Romanesque in England. There is no structural division between nave and chancel, and the exterior treatment is uniform throughout the length of the building except for the low W tower. Nave and chancel are aisled and decorated externally at clerestorey level with blind arcading and a corbel table. Within there is no chancel arch; the division between nave and chancel being marked by a low step and the position of the choirstalls. The chancel arcades are of three bays, and both aisles are now used as vestries. In both nave and chancel the clerestorey windows are fairly regularly spaced, but their spacing is greater than a bay but less than two, so their positions vary in relation to the piers. The chancel has no provision for vaulting or roof support whereas in the nave every second pier has a respond on the nave side, running up the wall to a capital at the top, and a transverse arch respond on the aisle side. The nave aisle arches are gone now, but arch springings are sometimes visible. Intermediate piers are cylindrical. The nave arcades are five bays long (two and a half double bays), and the beginning of another bay at the W end of either arcade indicates that the nave was originally longer. It was shortened from six bays in the 17thc. when the W tower was rebuilt approximately 3m E of its original position. There are N and S nave doorways, the N under a porch.
10. St Pega, Peakirk, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Pega's has a clerestoreyed nave with N and S aisles and W bell-cote, and a chancel with N chapel and vestry which together extend the N aisle to the E wall as the chancel. The nave is tall and narrow, with long-and-short quoins at the SW angle which suggest an 11thc. date. The N arcade dates from the 12thc., and the S arcade from the 13thc. The N chapel arch and the chancel arch are later 12thc, the latter perhaps in its lower parts only. The exterior is faced with ashlar blocks; regular in the S aisle, irregular elsewhere. Romanesque features are the nave doorways, the S elaborate and protected by a 14thc. porch, the N plain and unprotected; the N nave arcade, chancel arch and N chapel arch; the W bell-cote, and a loose capital now in the N aisle.
11. All Saints, Polebrook, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
The church comprises an aisled nave, having a tower with a stone spire on its SW bay, N and S transepts and a square-ended chancel. Romanesque sculpture is found on the S doorway, the arches to the chancel and the N transept, the N nave arcade, and a length of string course and a corbel reused as a water spout on the N porch.
12. St Mary, Roade, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Mary's has a chancel with a S vestry, a central tower and a nave with a 19thc. N aisle and no clerestorey and a S doorway under a porch. The N nave doorway now communicates with a church hall, added in 1972 to replace the old church institute, dating from 1886, which had fallen into disrepair. The original aisleless nave and chancel are mid-12thc. work, to judge from the small round-headed lancets in the chancel and the S nave doorway, with beakhead decoration. The tower, a substantial structure of stone rubble, is presumably contemporary, but the pointed lancets and the spacious triple arcading on the N and S walls suggest a remodelling around 1200, while the transomed, trefoil-headed double bell-openings of the upper storey must date from the 15thc. The nave roof collapsed in 1660, and in 1669 it was re-roofed and new windows put in the S wall. At the same time one of the tower arches was bricked up, and only a small door provided to give access between nave and chancel. In 1822 the chancel was still walled off from the nave, and was in use as a Sunday School. The partition was eventually taken down in 1840. Meanwhile the nave was repaired in 1822, when the floor level was raised and a gallery was added at the W end. The N aisle was added in 1850. The tower was restored in 1856, and the chancel in 1857 by E. F. Law, including re-roofing with the present high-pitched roof. The nave roof was raised to match the chancel roof in 1864. The S vestry was added in 1879. A major restoration of the tower took place in 1949-50, and in 1950 the interior of the church was restored. A further restoration of the exterior took place in 1981. Features described here are the S nave doorway and the tower arcading.
13. Holy Trinity, Rothwell, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church (benefice of Rothwell with Orton and Rushton with Glendon and Pipewell)
Rothwell is a small town towards the N of the county, 3 miles W of Kettering on the A14, where it crosses the A6 to Market Harborough and Leicester. The church is in the centre of town, and is the longest in the county at 173 feet. Its building history is a complex one and can only be sketched here. The Norman church was cruciform, and the size of the crossing piers indicates that there was once a central tower. The nave is now of four bays, with early 13thc. arcades which have been heightened, possibly when the aisles were widened. The W tower arch, of c.1280-1300, suggests that this was done before that date. The W tower itself is earlier, c.1170-80 in its lower parts, and this includes the arch of the W doorway, re-set on early 13thc. embrasures. The tower was raised by a storey, and a spire added but this fell in 1660, taking with it (according to Bridges) six bays of the church. The tower is now capped by a low pyramid roof with a spike. The Norman chancel wall survives on the S, with a corbel table marking the original height and three round-headed windows below it. Four-bay chapels were added on either side, perhaps in the 13thc., but the two easternmost S chapels have been removed. Further chapels have been removed from the S walls of the S transept, and of the remaining S chapels. The church was lengthened eastwards in the 15thc., and at the same time a clerestorey added to the nave and transept. Construction is of ironstone. The church was extensively restored at the expense of the parish between 1900 and 1906.
14. St Andrew, Spratton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Andrew's has an aisled and clerestoreyed nave with four-bay arcades; the N of the late 12thc., the S 13thc. with pointed arches and moulded capitals. The N and S doorways are 12thc., the N doorway under a porch. The aisle windows are renewed in an early 14thc. style. At the E end of the nave, above the chancel arch, is a large blocked window, apparently 14thc. The chancel has 14thc. sedilia. On the N side of the chancel, and separated from it by a two-bay arcade, is a chapel added by John Chambre between 1495 and 1505, now housing the organ and a vestry. This extends the N nave aisle as far as the E end of the chancel, but is screened from it. There is a 12thc. W tower with a contemporary tower arch. It is of three storeys; the lowest containing an elaborate W doorway and a blind arcade on the W face only, the next decorated with blind arcading, and the topmost with double bell-openings flanked by blind arches and a corbel table at the top. The belfry-stage lancets are Scott's replacements of Decorated windows (see Parker). It has a later recessed spire behind a battlemented parapet. The church was restored by Scott before 1849.
15. St Michael and All Angels, Sutton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Michael's has an early 12thc. nave with a 13thc. bell-cote on the W gable. A S aisle with a two-bay arcade was added at the end of the 12thc., and the nave was heightened and a clerestorey added in the 15thc. The chancel arch is a fine piece by the Castor workshop. To the S of the chancel is a large 13thc. chapel converted to house the organ, and vestry. Construction is of coursed irregular blocks of Barnack limestone. The chancel and S aisle were restored in 1865-68. In addition to the chancel arch the church has a set of 12thc. corbels set high in the S wall of the nave, a small doorway reset in the S aisle wall, and inside a recumbent lion, perhaps from an elaborate doorway.
16. St Nicholas, Twywell, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Nicholas' was an early 12thc. cruciform church without aisles. The N transept has been removed, but its arch is visible inside and out. The S transept was overbuilt by a S aisle, but the arch remains as bay 1 of the S arcade, including its E respond and capital. The remainder of the S arcade is 13thc. A 14thc. clerestorey was added on both sides of the nave. The N nave doorway remains from the early 12thc. campaign; the more elaborate reset S doorway could be slightly later. Plain 12thc. windows survive in the chancel N wall, the nave N wall, the W tower W wall, and reset in the S aisle W wall. The chancel can thus be dated to the 12thc. too, although its S windows indicate a remodelling c.1300. It has a S chapel now housing the organ and vestry. Finally the 12thc. W tower is of three storeys with much-altered bell-openings and a corbel table. A parapet with quatrefoil frieze and battlements was added in the 15-16thc. there was a spire which collapsed in 1699.
17. St Michael, Upton, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Michael's stands in the grounds of Quinton House school. It has a simple nave, chancel and W tower. The chancel is very slightly wider than the nave and there is no chancel arch, so that the interior forms a single hall-like space with unrendered stone walls, the side walls pierced by an unusually large number of windows of all periods from the 12thc. to the 15thc. There is a 12thc. window in the S nave wall, another in the N nave wall and a third in the N chancel wall. The church has plain 12thc. doorways to N and S of the nave and to the S of the chancel. The S nave doorway is under a porch dated 1594. The slender tower is built within the nave and has a polygonal W stair turret. The pointed, chamfered lancets in the lower storey suggest that the tower was originally 13thc., but its bell-openings and embattled parapet are 15thc. The plain doorways are described below, along with a chevron voussoir reset high in the tower S wall.
18. St Michael and All Angels, Wadenhoe, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Michael's has a 12thc. W tower of three storeys and a gable, with blind arcading on the N side and much-remodelled bell-openings. The N bell-opening is a 14thc. replacement. The tower also has small plain 12thc. windows in the second storey (W and S faces) and the third (S face), not described in detail. The nave has three-bay N and S aisles with 13thc. arcades, the S later than the N, and 16thc. clerestoreys. The chancel is 13thc., with a S vestry. The exterior is faced with stone rubble. Of interest is the font, certainly 13thc. since it is carved with dogtooth and floral motifs and thus not described in detail here (though illustrated). The sparse disposition of motifs on the bowl and their depth of relief indicate a prodigious volume in wasted stone. Romanesque features are confined to the bell-openings and arcading of the tower.
19. St John the Baptist, Wakerley, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St John's has a clerestoreyed nave with N and S aisles or chapels, just two bays long and situated at the E end, in what Pevsner calls a transeptal position. The arcades are 14thc.-15thc., and they have been pierced through 12thc. walls; on the S side a 12thc. window can be seen above the arcade pier. The chancel arch is now pointed, its arch decorated with chevron, but presumably it was originally round. The figural and foliage capitals are important sculptures by the Castor workshop. There are 12thc. blind arches to either side of the chancel arch, probably, according to Pevsner, originally reredoses for side altars. The chancel has been rebuilt, perhaps in the 15thc. At the west, the tower is 14thc. in its lower parts and 15thc. above, with a crocketed spire rising behind a battlemented parapet. Romanesque sculpture is found on the chancel arch; in the corbels now in the S aisle and more re-set outside in the E wall of the S aisle; and in sections of string course set in the interior of the S aisle and the exterior E walls of both aisles.
20. St John the Baptist, Werrington, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
Nave and aisles with three-bay, 13thc. arcades and no clerestorey. There is no W tower, but a double bell-cote between nave and chancel. The chancel is aisleless with a 13thc. N chapel, now in use as a vestry. The nave has N and S doorways, the N giving access to a 2001 lavatory block at the W end of the N aisle; the S a reset 12thc. doorway under a medieval porch bearing the dates 1668 and 1892, which refer to restorations. There was a collapse at the NW corner of the nave, and this area, including the W bay of the N arcade, is a copy of the original dating from 1680 (date stone in W wall). A further restoration of the chancel was carried out in 1901-02. Construction is of thickly-mortared rough ashlar blocks with bands of more regular ashlar. Romanesque features described here are the chancel arch, S doorway and bell-cote.
21. St Andrew, Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire, England

Parish church
St Andrew's has a four-bay aisled and clerestoreyed nave with arcades ofc.1300, the N stylistically later than the S. At the W end the tower is entered by a small 13thc. doorway rather than an arch. The chancel and its arch are 14thc. Construction is of irregular grey stone blocks. The W tower is of three storeys, containing features of the 12thc. but rebuilt. Signs of the rebuilding are most obvious on the W face, which has a central flat buttress extending halfway up the first storey. The wall to the S of this is built in three steps divided by string courses above a plinth course; to the N the wall is not articulated. The tower has 12thc. windows and bell-openings, described below, a string course, and a row of corbels well below the present upper parapet.