The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
All sites
Parish church
The small town of Portishead occupies a strategic position on the S side of the mouth of the river Avon, and once enjoyed a trading importance subsidiary to Bristol, 8 mi away to the East. Now in North Somerset, Portishead was part of the County of Avon between 1974 and 1996. The town church of St Peter is in a surprisingly quiet area, surrounded by an airy rural atmosphere: no wonder local people refer to it as the ‘village’. The church has Romanesque origins but was rebuilt in the 14thc and 15thc in Perpendicular style. It was altered and extended to the east in 1878-9 using old materials and features. The font is Romanesque; there is also a possible early altar slab.
Parish church
The manorial hamlet of Laverton lies in rich farmland 8.5 miles S of Bath, about halfway between Frome and Norton St Philip. It is in a dip: the N-facing side is a valley of the Hennambridge Brook, a tributary of the river Frome. The manor house (now belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall) and church of St Mary are adjacent. The church, which is built of rubble, consists of an unusual W end, which Pevsner finds to be reminiscent of a westwerk (described as a tower in the HE listing), nave, N porch, chancel and vestry. It is mostly of the 11thc, with 15thc alterations. There was a restoration in 1859. The Romanesque elements consist of N (and possibly S) nave doorways and two windows in the western section.
Parish church
Thornton-le-Moor is a small village in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire 16 miles N of Lincoln and 12 miles SE of Scunthorpe, on the western edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. The church is a small ironstone rubble building at the western end of the village. It is primarily 13thc. and consists of a nave with clerestory, chancel and S porch. There was also a N aisle as demonstrated by the 13thc. columns and arches in the N wall of the nave. The chancel was rebuilt and the S porch added in 1871 restoration. But there are earlier traces of an 11thc. blocked doorway to the E of the S doorway and Romanesque elements consist of an exterior corbel-table at the SW end of the nave wall, a S doorway, and some reset corbels in the nave walls inside.
Parish church
Rothwell is a small village in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, 9 miles N of Market Rasen and 2.5 miles SE of Caistor. The church is reached by a narrow path leading off School Lane, which runs S from the village centre. It has a late-11thc W tower of coursed rubble, a nave with 3-bay aisles added in the mid-12thc, and a chancel, which was restored in 1892 by J. D. Sedding.
Parish church
Walmer is a coastal town 6 miles SE of Sandwich and just over 7 miles NE of Dover. The church of St Mary has a twin-cell form with a tall nave and chancel, and a later porch. A N aisle was added in the 17thc and demolished in 1898, returning the building - the 'unsightly object' seen by Glynne in the mid-19thc - back to its original size. A new church dedicated to St Mary was built nearby in the late 19thc, after which the original church became known a 'Old St Mary's' or St Mary the Blessed Virgin. Features of interest include the chancel arch and the S doorway.
Parish church
The small settlement of Staple Fitzpaine is sited near where a road (unclassified but well-used) running roughly NNW/SSE between Taunton to Chard crosses a stream running WSW/ENE down from the Blackdown Hills. The former mill using that watercourse is sited a very short distance NW of the crossroads at the village centre. Crossing the Taunton-Chard road at that crossroads, a lane runs roughly SW-NE, parallel to the stream, along the S side of the shallow valley from Staple Hill towards lower ground to the NE and major communication lines of road and rail.
Emphasising the political standing of the Count of Mortain, the parish still includes (at its SE corner) his castle, Castle Neroche. By area, the parish is the second largest in the county, but by demography it is diminutive, probably having changed very little over time. Staple Fitzpaine has its own manor-house, adjacent on the N side of St Peter’s church. Resting on the large block of Blue Lias which stretches from here NE far into the central area of the county, the village has a good source of favoured building-stone. Inevitably, the area is almost entirely agricultural in character.
The church, which consists of a W tower, a nave with N and S aisles, a S porch, avestry and a chancel is Norman in origin but has been largely rebuilt. The Romanesque S doorway has been reset in the S aisle.
Parish church
The compact village of Edington lies on the N side of the Polden Hills on a lower slope in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, about 8 miles W of Glastonbury. Edington was a chapelry of Moorlinch until it became a separate parish in 1863. The church was completely rebuilt in 1878-79 by Edwin Down in a fabric of coursed and squared rubble with freestone dressings. The present building consists of a nave with a small N transept, chancel with N vestry, a S porch, and a W bellcote. The only Romanesque feature is a font.
Parish church, redundant
On the southern slope of the Wolds stands this small, abandoned church of nave and chancel, isolated even from the tiny hamlet in East Lindsey with which it is associated. It consists of a nave and chancel with a S porch to the nave. A wooden screeen divides the nave from the chancel. Pevsner (1964, 384) reports a 'wonky brick bellcote' but this is no longer there. Construction is of greenstone. Since 1981 the church has been in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches. The blocked N doorway of the nave is Romanesque.
Parish church
Mersham is a large village about 3 miles E of Willesborough near Ashford, Kent. The church of St John the Baptist was described by Stephen Glynne in 1877 as 'rather a handsome church, with some singularities, and portions of various styles'. It has nave with S aisle, chancel with S chapel, tower and porch. There is a Romanesque S doorway.
Parish church
Lympne is a village situated about 0.5 mile N of West Hythe, less than 2 miles distant from the Channel coast. The church of St Stephen is a substantial building perched at the edge of a long downwards escarpment looking towards the coast. It comprises a nave, a central tower, a N aisle and a porch. There are two known 19thc restorations. Romanesque work includes the tower arches, tower windows, and font, together with some reset chip carving in the early Gothic N aisle window.