The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
St Luke (medieval)
Parish church
Gaddesby is a village in the Melton district of the county, 8 miles NE of Leicester and 5 miles SW of Melton Mowbray. The church is ooutside the village centre to the E. Pevsner describes the church as 'one of the largest and most beautiful in the county', but the only reminderthat there was onece a Norman church here is a single reset chevron voussoir. St Luke's consists of a 13thc. W tower with a spire, a nave with a 14thc aisles: the slightly earlier S aisle a lavish showpiece with sumptuous details, while the N aile is smaller and humbler though still rich work of the 1330s or '40s. The chancel , of rubble, is earlier than either, Pvesner dated it 1310-15. The church was restored in 1859, when a priests' doorway was added to the chancel.
Parish church
Priston is a village 4mi SW of Bath in NE Somerset. Much of the parish has a certain remoteness which is due to the hilly, sparsely populated terrain and access being only by lanes. It will be seen from the distant view of the village that it nestles in a shallow combe: this valley is watered by Newton Brook which flows into the Avon near Twerton, just downstream from Bath. Geologically, like so many settlements in this area, Priston village lies on Lower Jurassic rock — specifically, a narrow exposure of Blue and White Lias (limestone) surrounded by the clay of Lower Lias. Much of the parish is above 100m above OD but rises to over 150m. The church itself, slightly above the village and about 200m from the very centre of it, is at an altitude of about 90m. The Grade 1 listed church of St Luke and St Andrew is made of rubble with freestone dressings, and some ashlar. It has a nave, north vestry, central tower, and chancel. The church has 12thc origins, with probably a 14thc phase, and the tower was rebuilt in the 1750s. There was a major restoration in largely neo-Norman style in 1861, which included the arches under the tower (see Comments). There is a Romanesque corbel table, south doorway and a piece of loose sculpture.
Parish church
Thurnby is a village in the Harborough district of the county, on the eastern border of Leicester itself. St Luke's is in the village centre and is a large cruciform building with a 3-bay aisled nave with a S porch. The chancel is 19thc, the N transept contains the organ and vestry, and the S transept forms the termination of the nave aisle. At the W end of the N nave aisle is a modern parish hall. The lower stage of the tower is 12thc, but the heavy crossing piers have been refaced and their multi-scallop capitals look 19thc. The tower's upper stages are successively 13thc and 14thc. The nave arcades are of the late-13thc., but Slater and Carpenter's restoration of 1870-73 was effectively a complete rebuilding. In the S porch is a rebuilt chevron arch, and this is the only feature recorded here.