The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
St Andrew (medieval)
Parish church
Cranwell is a village in the North Kesteven district of the county, 3 mile NW of Sleaford and 11 miles NE of Grantham. The church stands on the main road through the village and is a small, odd-looking church having a low nave with a flat roof , a N aisle and a S porch, and a tall chancel with a pitched roof. There is no tower but a 17thc bellcote topped by an obelisk finial on the W gable. There is evidence of an 11thc nave to which a 3-bay N arcade was added, and this was later extended to the W by one bay in the 13thc. The chancel arch is 13thc, but the chancel itself is Perpendicular. The N aisle wall was rebuilt in 1812 and whole church was largely rebuilt in a 1903-4 restoration by C. H. Fowler.
Construction is of coarse limestone rubble and ashlar, with ashlar dressings.
Parish church
Donington on Bain is a village in the Lincolnshire Wolds in the East Lindsey district of the county, 6 miles SW of Louth and a similar distance N of Horncastle. Donington is on the River Bain, a tributary of the Witham, and the church faces the main road through the village. The unbuttressed W tower of this church is Romanesque, but the bulk of the rest of the structure, consisting of nave and chancel, has been restored. The N nave aisle was removed c. 1779 and the chancel was restored in 1868. The baptismal font is Romanesque and bears a rudimentary carved design.
Parish church
The village of Puckington, Somerset is situated 10 miles SE of Taunton and 10 miles W of Yeovil. The church, which is built of rubble, is mostly of the 13thc and 15th with later work. It consists of a W tower, nave, large mid-19thc transept, chancel, S porch and vestry. The font is Romanesque.
Parish church
The W tower at St Andrew's was underway in 1431. Judging from the round-arched doorway preserved inside its E wall, the tower was attached to a nave that was Norman, at the latest, to which a N aisle had been added in the 13thc
Parish church
Irby-upon-Humber is a small village in the North East Lincolnshire district, 6 miles SW of Grimsby on the A46 to Caistor. It is a small church in the village centre, and is built of ironstone rubble and ashlar with limestone dressings. It consists of a W tower, nave, with N and S aisles, and a short chancel. It was extensively rebuilt by James Fowler during his 1883 restoration. Both nave arcades are 12thc but iof different dates, as is a remnant of a chancel arch impost.
Parish church
The place-name of Loxton, Somerset signifies ‘tun on the Lox [Yeo river]’ . The small settlement occupies quite a dramatic situation on the W side of the gap formed in the Mendip Hills by the Lox Yeo, just 800m N of that river’s confluence with the major Axe: to the N lie the forbidding hills; to the S lie the Somerset Levels (between 1974 and 1996 Loxton was part of the County of Avon). The geology is Mercia Mudstone/Dolomitic Conglomerate, above the Alluvium of the Levels, beneath the Burrington Oolite and Dolomite/Black Rock Limestone of the hills. The church lies alone except for its neighbour farm to the E side of the hamlet. The church has 11thc origins, but mainly dates from the 13thc to 15thc; there was a restoration and extension in the early 20thc. The S doorway is Romanesque and there is a consecration cross of perhaps similar date.
Chapel, former
Lilstock is a hamlet in the civil parish of Stringston. It is 12 miles (19 km) NW of Bridgwater. The chapel of St Andrew, with only two rows of pews, features a 14thc. chancel arch. This arch is the only remaining portion of the earlier church which was demolished in 1881 when the present building was erected. The church was declared redundant in 1980, and the Norman font removed to Stogursey church in 1981. The entry for Stogursey includes a description of the font.
Ruined church
Calceby is a small village, now largely deserted, in the East Lidsey district of the county, 8 Miles S of Louth and 9 miles SW of Mablethorpe on the coast. The population was just 32 in 1961 and the parish was abolished in 1987 and incorporated into South Thoresby parish. The church, prominently situated on the crest of a hill, is a proud ruin consisting of the remains of the W tower and a portion of the N wall of the nave. It was abandoned in the 17thc, the last service taking place in 1692. The tower arch is partlly intact and is Romanesque and built of greenstone.
Parish church
Mells is four miles W of Frome. Named after its pre-industrial mills, the village straddles the wooded valley of the E-flowing Mells Stream at about 100m OD, where the Mendip Hills decline eastwards. The view from the S, across the wooded valley, shows the church and adjacent manor house very much to their advantage. As usual in this area, limestone quarries dominate, with the Whatley Quarry to the S. There are no main roads in the vicinity. The Grade 1 listed church of St Andrew is largely built of Doulting ashlar and is predominantly late 15thc, with a famous Perp tower. There is a nave with N and S aisles which continue as chapels alongside the chapel; also a S porch. There was a mid-19thc restoration. There is a Romanesque tub font.
Ruined parish church
The surviving stonework shows that the 12th-c church consisted of an aisleless nave and chancel, but it is unknown whether the chancel was square ended or had an apse. A drawing in 1817 shows the plan of the chancel at that date as square ended. The Romanesque chancel arch and S nave doorway (filled in) survive, with chevroned arches. There are also large sections of Romanesque string coursing on the exterior of both the nave and chancel. During or shortly after the Reformation, the so-called ‘Congleton Aisle’ was added onto the N side of the nave. But, in 1612, the church at Gullane, by Act of Parliament, was translated to Dirleton, as its site in Gullane was deemed too remote from the centre of the parish, and because church and churchyard were continually being overblown with sand. After this, the church became effectively abandoned, with the nave and chancel converted to use as private burial spaces. A late 18th-c etching shows the chancel arch as still open at this date. By 1817, the eastern and western burial extensions had still not been built, but a small burial area (the Cochrane Aisle) had been created on the exterior corner where the Congelton Aisle and chancel meet. By 1896, the chancel arch and Congelton arch had been filled in and E (Yule Aisle) and W (Forrest Aisle) burial extensions created. Various grave stones, a few of which show early decoration, are to be found in the churchyard on the S side of the church ruins.