St Peter and St Paul (medieval)

Broadwell

St Peter and St Paul, Broadwell, Oxfordshire

Parish church

Broadwell is a village about nine miles W of Witney. The church lies to the N of the village and was built around 1190 of coursed rubble limestone (Sherwood and Pevsner (1974), 488-9). The church originally consisted of a chancel, a presbytery bay, a nave and a W tower. In the 13thc the whole building was remodelled: the chancel and the presbytery were united to form an enlarged chancel, new windows and buttresses were added to the chancel and tower, and the N and S chapels were built. The church was extensively restored in 1873 by Edward George Bruton. The surviving Romanesque features are the nave N and S doorways, the E tower arch and the Transitional, or possibly later, font located at the W end of the nave.

Mottistone

St Peter and St Paul, Mottistone, Isle of Wight

Parish church

St Peter and Paul’s church adjoins the green at the centre of the small village of Mottistone and is on the opposite side of the road from Mottistone Manor. The village is a short distance inland from the island’s SW coast and is situated to the south of the lateral chalk ridge. The church consists of a W tower, a short nave with N and S aisles, a S porch and a double-gabled east end comprising the chancel and N chapel. There is now no fabric which is dateable to the 12thc or earlier. Much of the church dates from the 15thc or later, and was restored in 1863 by Willoughby Mullins. He is reputed to have replaced a round headed Romanesque archway between the tower and the nave with the present Gothic arch (Lloyd and Pevsner 2006, 163-4).

Hodnet

St Luke, Hodnet, Shropshire

Parish church

Hodnet is a village about five miles SW of Market Drayton. The church lies to the W of the village and consists of a 14thc nave added to the original 12thc S aisle: the S aisle originally functioned as the nave, with N aisle being added in 14thc. Remains of round-headed 12thc windows are found in the S wall of the current S aisle. An octagonal W tower was added to the end of the nave in the 14thc. The building was restored in 1846-7. The only Romanesque surviving sculpture is the octagonal font located at W end of the S aisle.

Shernbourne

St Peter and St Paul, Shernbourne, Norfolk

Parish church

Of the previous building on the site, the nave alone had survived by 1848, at which time it was considered very ancient (Lewis, 1848). The present church was built in 1898 at the expense of King Edward VII. Substantially a late-19thc structure incorporating 13thc elements, it has a single S nave aisle and contains no Romanesque carving apart from the font, one of four in north-west Norfolk long seen as forming a stylistically related group. Arguably among the finest in the country as a whole, and certainly in the county, the Shernborne font is, in Pevsner's memorable phrase, 'a barbaric but mighty Norman piece.'

Eye

St Peter and St Paul, Eye, Herefordshire

Parish church

Eye is a small village in the N of the county; 2½ miles N of Leominster and within 5 miles of the Shropshire border to the N and the Worcestershire border to the E. The village consists of the church, the 17thc Eye Manor alongside, and a few other dwellings. The core of the church is a building of the late 12thc and early 13thc in local sandstone. It has a 13thc chancel with a 2-bay N chapel of the same date and a 19thc S vestry. The nave is 12thc with S aisle added at the end of that century and a N aisle at the beginning of the 13thc. The N porch dates from the 14thc, but the S doorway, facing away from the village, has no porch and is now blocked. The W tower was rebuilt in 1874, when the church was restored and the S vestry addded. Features described here are the S nave arcade, the N and S nave doorways, and the N chancel doorway.

Ewhurst

St Peter and St Paul, Ewhurst, Surrey

Parish church

A cruciform building of Wealden sandstone with aisleless nave, transepts, square central tower with belfry, and chancel. This church is complex to date, as although it is early Romanesque in origin with 13c.work and 15c./ 16c. additions, extensive repairs and drastic rebuilding in 1838-39 altered many of its parts, and covered up original features. The building styles fall into six periods, including modern times. (1). There are remains of 12c. masonry within the nave walls, but they are inaccessible behind a heavy plaster layer of c.1838 (V.C.H.III, 100). The exterior S nave doorway with twin columns and cushion capitals, is a fine example of early Romanesque style. (2).The tower arches were apparently altered during the rebuilding (Short Church Guide), but the rough and heavy stonework with double chamfered edges is basically 13c., also some fabric in the S.transept with its 3 single lancet windows (3). The nave has late-15c. alterations and additions: timber porch, the W. doorway made of chalk, W. 3-light window and a 2-light Perp. window in the S. wall. Perp. window in S. transept. (4). Late 16c. work includes the nave roof with king-posts and moulded tie-beams. (5). The tower fell in 1838, and together with most of the chancel and the N. transept, was rebuilt by Robert Ebbels in Romanesque style. (6). Spire, chancel roof and part of the N. transept roof are modern. There was a restoration programme carried out in 1954. The Romanesque features described here are the S doorway and the font.

Finchingfield

St John the Baptist, Finchingfield, Essex

Parish church

Finchingfield is a village in the Braintree district of NW Essex, 10 miles SE of Saffron Walden and 7 miles NW of Braintree. The village is clustered around a crossing of the B1053, Saffron Walden to Braintree road with the church in the centre. The walls are of flint rubble with dressings of limestone and clunch; the roofs are covered with lead, except those of the N and S chapels, which are tiled. The church consists of a chancel with two-bay N and S chapels, a nave with a clerestory and 5-bay aisles, a 12thc tower and a S porch. The earliest part is the W tower, of c.1170. The chancel was rebuilt in the mid-13thc , and the N chapel arcade and S nave arcade date from this period too. The N nave arcade, with clustered piers, is slightly later. The S chapel arcade is 15thc, as is the W bay of the N arcade. In the 15thc the bell-chamber of the tower was altered or rebuilt; a spire was built possibly at the same time, but it fell in the 17thc and a cupola with an open bell stage was added in the 18thc. The church was restored in the 1865-66 by Henry Stock, and the S porch rebuilt. The only Romanesque features are in the tower, and include the W doorway, the tower arch, with rich but badly eroded and enigmatic decoration on the jambs, and deep 3-bay arcading at the two interior E angles.

Steeple Aston

St Peter and St Paul, Steeple Aston, Oxfordshire

Parish church

Steeple Aston is situated in north Oxfordshire, 10 miles E of Chipping Norton. The church is built of both limestone and the local ironstone, situated on high ground at the NE end of the village. A church was known to be in existence before 1180, probably consisting of nave and chancel. The present church comprises a chancel with a N chapel, a nave with N and S aisles, a S porch and a W tower. It is now basically C13th, with additions in the C14th and C15th. It acquired the tower by 1220, when 'Steeple' was added to its name. The only remaining Romanesque feature is the font, decorated with a diamond and chevron pattern.

Todwick

St Peter and St Paul, Todwick, Yorkshire, West Riding

Parish church

Todwick is a small village part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham. The church lies to the W of the village and consists of a 11thc rectangular nave partially altered by the addition of 18thc windows, a Decorated-style chancel, a Perpendicular tower of three stages, and a S porch added in the late 18thc. Romanesque sculpture is found on the blocked round-headed N doorway, the late 12thc S doorway and the chancel arch.

Whitney on Wye

St Peter and St Paul, Whitney on Wye, Herefordshire

Parish church

Whitney-on-Wye is a village in the W of the county, 15 miles W of Hereford and under 2 miles from the Welsh border. It stands on the N bank of the River Wye; its dwellings clustering around a road junction on the main A438 Hereford to Brecon road. The church stands outside the village on its W side, and consists of a chancel with a N organ room and vestry, a nave with a W gallery, and a W tower. The medieval church was largely destroyed by the Wye in 1720, and what remained was rebuilt in 1740. There are traces of medieval walling on the N and E sides, but the only Romanesque feature is the font.