The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
St Leonard (now)
Parish church
Blakemere is a village in SW Herefordshire, midway between Hereford and Hay-on-Wye. It lies E of a wooded ridge separating the flood-plain of the Wye to the NE from the valley of the Dore to the SW. The village is one of a chain of settlements on the E side of this ridge, including also Tyberton, Moccas, Bredwardine, Shenmore and Cublington. The church stands in the centre of the village, and is simple two-cell building of coursed sandstone rubble with a triple bell-cote on the W gable and a timber S porch. It was rebuilt in 1877 by G. Truefitt, who reused the 12thc S doorways to both nave and chancel, and the 12thc chancel arch. The font is also 12thc.
Parish church
Bledington lies in a valley in the Cotswolds, four miles SE of Stow-on-the-Wold and six miles SW of Chipping Norton. The church is sited on a rise at the edge of the village. It is built mainly of limestone rubble, with roofs of lead and of Cotswold stone, and comprises a chancel with a Sanctus bell, a clerestoried nave, a S aisle, a S porch, and an embattled W tower occupying the W part of the 12thc nave. There is a squint passage (sometimes referred to as a chantry chapel) connecting the SW corner of the chancel to the S aisle. The church was lavishly rebuilt in the 15thc, and the 15thc painted glass surviving in some of the windows is a notable feature. The church was restored by John Edward Knight Cutts in 1881 and by Frank Ernest Howard around 1923. Romanesque sculpture survives on the chancel arch, the S arcade of the nave and the font.
Parish church
Blithfield takes its name from the river Blythe, a tributary of the Trent, and is some 8 miles E of the centre of Stafford and 4 miles N of Rugeley. There is no village any longer; all that remains are the hall, the church and the old rectory (damaged by fire in 1962 and rebuilt into apartments in the 1980s). The old village disappeared, probably in the 16thc. or 17thc., to allow the extension of parkland for the hall. The Blythe itself was dammed in 1953 to form Blithfield Reservoir, over two miles long and half a mile wide, and now a centre for wildlife and leisure activities as well as a source of water for S Staffordshire.St Leonard's is of pinkish grey sandstone and consists of a nave with aisles and a tall clerestory, a chancel with a polygonal N vestry and a W tower. The four-bay nave arcades are mid-13thc. work, with cylindrical piers, moulded capitals and pointed arch with chamfered
orders. The aisle windows are 14thc. square-headed double lights and there is a S doorway with a porch by Street (1860). The nave was heightened and the tall clerestory added around 1500. The chancel is ofc.1300 or slightly later, with Y-tracery windows and ogee tracery in the piscina. In the S wall outside is a niche tomb that has been identified as that of Richard de Blithfield, rector fromc.1185-1234. On the N side of the chancel, the polygonal vestry dates from 1829-30. It was built as a mortuary chapel for the Bagot family, and is liberally supplied with Bagot memorials. Other Bagot tombs stand in the chancel itself. The W tower is of two storeys, 14thc. below and 15thc. above with diagonal buttresses and a battlemented parapet. The chancel was restored to Pugin's designs in 1851, and the work included replacing the timber roof and the E window. An attractive, simplified S view ofc.1770 in the William Salt Library (SV II 53) shows the church without its porch and apparently lacking a chancel roof. In Buckler's 1824 SE view (SV II 46) the porch is also lacking and the chancel is heavily overgrown with creeper. His NE view of the same year (SV II 48) shows the N side before the polygonal mortuary chapel was added. Other antiquarian views are noted in the bibliography. The church contains a 12thc. pillar piscina that has been ingeniously converted for use as an offertory box, and is thus prominently sited opposite the S nave doorway.
Parish church
Flamstead is a large village in the Dacorum district of western Hertfordshire, 6 miles NW of St Albans and 4 miles S of Luton (Bedfordshire).The village clusters around a junction of minor roads near the junction of the A5 (following the line of Watling Street at this point) and the M1, and the church stands on the high street, in the centre of the village, surrounded by a spacious churchyard. It is constructed of flint with Totternhoe (clunch) facings and repairs in brick and tile. The oldest part of the church is the W tower, of the 1st quarter of the 12thc. This has the remains of paired round –headed openings at the top of the lower storey, best preserved on the E face but nowhere showing Romanesque sculptural work and not recorded here. The upper storey is a later heightening with a plain parapet and a great deal of brickwork repair. The tower arch is also 12thc, but was narrowed in the 13thc, and the nave has 6-bay aisles dating from the 13thc with elegant and varied stiff leaf in the arcade capitals. The highlight of the church is undoubtedly its wallpaintings; both figural and decorative and covering the period from the 13thc to the 19thc. The tower arch and a relief, possibly Romanesque, reset in the nave, are recorded here.
Parish church
Hatfield is a village in the NE of the county, 6 miles E of Leominster and less than a mile from the Worcestershire border. It is a long village, extending for a mile along a minor road to the N of the main A44 Leominster to Worcester road, with the church just beyond its western end. St Leonard's has a chancel with a plain tufa chancel arch, and aisless nave with blocked N and S doorways, a timber W bell turret with a pyramid roof, and a W gallery. The main W doorway to the church is protected by a timber porch. The nave may be 11thc, and was extended westwards by a bay in the 14thc. At this time the chancel was rebuilt. The S nave wall collapsed and was rebuilt in 1723. There were restorations in 1878 (chancel) and 1903 (the rest of the church, including the bell turret). The Norman font was replaced by an octagonal one oin the 19thc, but remains in the church, under the bell turret. The only other feature recorded here is the blocked N doorway.
Parish church
Monyash is a small village about five miles W of Bakewell and the church lies to the E of the village. It was founded in c.1198 but was extensively altered during the centuries. The structure was built of coursed limestone rubble with gritstone dressings and quoins; it consists of a chancel rebuilt in 1884-7 by William Butterfield, a S and a N transept, an aisled nave, a S porch and a W tower. The only Romanesque feature here is the head reset in the later sedilia and piscina.
Parish church
The church has a substantially 12thc. nave, Perpendicular chancel, 17thc. N tower (added 1631), and 19thc. S porch. The nave was lengthened to the west in 1891 and the S porch was added at this time. Romanesque sculpture is found on the arch of the N doorway; on the 12thc. material incorporated into the 19thc. S doorway; on a pillar piscina, the font, and on a number of reset fragments. A plain round-headed window survives in the N wall of the nave. Two small mortars are also held in the church. The most accomplished carving in the church is the late 12thc. font, which has ten panels depicting eight Virtues triumphing over eight Vices, as well as a Cherubim and a depiction of Ecclesia triumphing over the Evil One. The church was restored in 1865 by J. Hugall, when the 12thc. apse was excavated.
Parish church
Bulford is a village about two miles N of Amesbury. The church lies on the E bank of the River Avon and lies to the W of the village and is of flint rubble with stone dressings. The structure consists of a chancel and a nave with N transept, and a S porch above which is a tower. The nave and the chancel date originally from the 12thc, although the only carved detail is found on the simple imposts of the chancel arch. The central tower was added in the 13thc. Various alterations were made in the 14th and 16thc. Restoration between 1902-1911 was carried out by Charles Edwin Ponting.
Parish church
A heavily restored church comprising nave and chancel. It contains a Romanesque font.
Parish church
Probably built of sandstone, but now plastered within and without, and whitened. Aisleless nave and chancel of the 12thc., with a brick chapel ofc.1620 on the N side of the chancel and a S tower built of timber. Romanesque sculpture is found in the chancel arch.