The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Lichfield (to 1075); Chester (to c.1086); Coventry and Lichfield (to 1541) (medieval)
Parish church
Wrockwardine is a village in the E of the county (now part of the Unitary Authority of Telford and Wrekin), 4 miles W of the centre of Telford. St Peter's is a large sandstone church in the village centre, and is a cruciform building with a crossing tower and N and S chapels to the chancel. Of this, the crossing, transepts and E section of the nave are late-12thc; the chancel is 13thc; the W section of the nave is early-14thc, and the N and S chapels are both 14thc too, the S later than the N. The upper storey of the tower is 13thc work with plate tracery bell openings. The church was restored in 1854 and again in the 1880s. Romanesque work described here are the N and S transept doorways and the crossing arches.
Parish church
Madeley is in NW Staffordshire, just over a mile from the Shropshire
border and four miles E of Newcastle-under-Lyme. The parish was formerly an
extensive one, occupying the fertile, hilly ground as far W as the county
boundary. It consisted of the three villages of Great, Middle and Little
Madeley and Onneley, to the W. All of these lie along the A525 road from
Whitchurch to Newcastle. Madeley was apparently always the largest settlement.
The church is alongside the main road, with the Old Hall (now a 17thc.
building) immediately to the N. Old Madeley manor is a mile to the S, but
ruinous, and the new manor is in Little Madeley to the NE. Red and blue clay is
still extracted for brick manufacture, and coal was formerly mined at Leycett
colliery (closed 1957) and Silverdale (closed 1998). All Saints is a red
sandstone church with a nave with aisles, a S porch
and transepts, a chancel with a N chapel and a W tower.
The oldest part of the church is the 12thc. N arcade.
The S arcade and clerestorey
are ofc.1300, and both aisles have been widened; the N in the 14thc.
and the S in the 15thc., to judge from the windows. The nave aisles are of four
bays and extend partway alongside the tower to the W.
The S porch is 15thc. Its original entrance has been
blocked, and the modern entrance to the church is through a doorway cut into
the E wall of the porch, allowing the insertion of
lavatories at the S end. The N transept was added in the 14thc., and a lancet
at the W end of the N arcade wall (originally the outer
wall) indicates that there was no transept here before that. The S transept is
15thc., as is the N chancel chapel (now a
vestry). The chancel itself
was completely rebuilt in 1872 as part of a restoration by Charles Lynam of
Stoke-on-Trent. Views of the church before this restoration are in the William
Salt library. The tower is 15thc. with a 19thc. battlemented parapet with
finials. Romanesque sculpture is found in the N nave
arcade.
Parish church
Chebsey is a village on the river Sow, 5 miles upstream from the centre of Stafford. All Saints has a spacious nave with no clerestory and S aisle, a chancel and W tower with a modern vestry on the S side of it. Nave and chancel are 12thc.; visible in the two 12thc. N nave doorways (one now blocked and neither with a porch), the flat buttress on the N nave wall, and the tiny round-headed lancets on the N walls of the nave and chancel. The S aisle was added in the mid-13thc., and the chancel arch remodelled at the same time. Both this and the four-bay S arcade have pointed, double chamfered arches and moulded capitals. The S doorway, under a porch, is also 13thc. The W tower is 15thc. with diagonal buttresses, a SE stair turret and a battlemented parapet with pinnacles. Construction is of reddish sandstone, much renewed especially in the S aisle wall. The 12thc. doorways and windows are very plain, but the interior niche left by the blocking of the eastern doorway now contains loose 12thc. stones carved with foliage in relief. There are two 19thc. S views in the William Salt Library, Stafford, SV III 74 and 75a, but they add little to our knowledge of the building.
Parish church
Bradley lies some 4 miles SW of Stafford in a gently undulating landscape of small dispersed farms, traditionally dairy. The church is of red sandstone and has a nave with a N aisle, chancel with a N chapel and a W tower. The chancel side windows indicate a late-13thc. date, although the E window with its flowing tracery is 14thc. The two-bay N chapel is of the late-13thc. In the nave, the three-bay
arcade with its quatrefoil
piers and sunk quadrant mouldings in the arch belongs to the early 14thc. There is no clerestory, but the S nave wall has been fitted with three tall 15thc. windows that light the interior admirably. To the same period belong the battlemented parapets of the nave and tower. The N nave aisle is linked to the N chapel by a simple, very plain arch, perhaps early-13thc., and an old roofline visible in the masonry above this demonstrates that the aisle has been widened and heightened, probablyc.1500 (see VIII Comments/Opinions), the date of the aisle windows. The nave has N and S doorways without porches; the N 19thc. and the S 16thc. The tower and its arch are 14thc. and later work. It had a W doorway that was blockedc.1907 using 12thc. and later carved stones on the interior. Other 12thc. carved stones are set in the S nave wall outside, and the church is also important for its chip-carved font. Antiquarian views in the William Salt Library are a view from the N by J. Curtes of 1798 (SV II 122c), one from the SE by Buckler of 1842 (SV II 29), and one of the tower from the W, also by Buckler, 1842 ((SV II 117). This last shows the W doorway before it was blocked. There is also an 1842 Buckler drawing of the font (SV II 121).
Parish church
The parish church of All Saints, Brailsford, stands on high ground in a solitary position about half a mile or more from the village. The church consists of a long nave and chancel, a S aisle, a S porch, and a W tower. The tower was build into the Romanesque nave. The chancel is narrower than the nave. The chancel and the chancel arch are early 14th c and the N and S windows are Perp. The chancel arch rests on Norman piers and scalloped capitals. The S arcade also has one Romanesque pier with a similar capital. Another 12thc pier stands one bay from the W end of the church and is connected by an arch with the W wall.
Parish church
Somersal Herbert is a hamlet in the SW of the county, in the Derbyshire Dales district 7½ miles S of Ashbourne but only 3 miles E of Uttoxeter in the neighboring county of Staffordshire. The church is in the centre of the settlement.
The medieval church, as described by Cox, consisted simply of nave and chancel with a bell turret on the W gable. It was rebuilt to the same design in 1836, and again by C J Neale of Mansfield in 1874 , while the tower was added in 1912. The only Romanesque feature is the font.
Parish church
St Mary's has a W tower, a very tall clerestoried nave with tall N and S aisles with four-bay
arcades, and a square-ended chancel. The chancel is the only one of these elements that is straightforward. It has a five light E window and tall three-light side windows with intersecting Y-tracery, i.e. ofc.1300, and the continuous chancel arch with sunk quadrant mouldings is of the same date. The N arcade is 13thc., with moulded capitals, some decorated with nailhead, and alternating round and octagonal piers. The pier capitals of the S arcade are stylistically earlier, late 12thc., including flat leaves and volutes, but the respond capitals have very complex mouldings and are much later, as are the double-chamfered pointed arches. Furthermore the S arcade is considerably taller than the N, and must have been heightened. The clerestory windows are square-headed triple lights with ogees; a 14thc.-15thc. type convincingly attributed to the early 17thc. by Pevsner. The N aisle windows are 17thc., and the S doorway is ofc.1300. It is protected by a rib-vaulted porch. The lower storey of the W tower is 12thc. with a flat buttress and small round-headed lancets, all chamfered, plain and renewed. The upper storey is Perpendicular with mullioned and transomed bell-openings but a plain parapet with tiny crocketed pinnacles. The tower arch, confusingly, is 14thc. Decorated. In Pevsner's account, the church was practically rebuilt in the early 17thc. using the old elements and this seems the only way to account for the contradictions in the architecture. 19thc. views of the church, inside and out, and the font are available in the William Salt Library, Stafford (see IX Bibliography). The remodelled 12thc. S arcade is described below, as is the most important Romanesque feature in the church; the font.
Parish church
The nave has no aisles but broad transepts at its E end. The N transept is of 1870 by A. Hartshorne; 13thc. in its details, but with a single opening to the nave consisting of shafted piers carrying a heavy joist. The S transept is of two pointed bays, and was built by John Stoneywall, later Abbot of Pershore, around 1500. The nave roof is modern and fitted with skylights. The nave E wall has the remains of wallpainting at the top. There are N and S nave doorways; the S under a porch and the N now giving access to a vestry. The chancel arch is 12thc. work, and the chancel is 13th-14thc., with simple lancets at the W end and Y-traceried window further E. The E window has reticulated tracery of the early 14thc. The W tower is 14thc., with diagonal buttresses at the W end and reticulated bell-openings. The parapet, with battlements and crocketed pinnacles at the angles, may be a later addition. Construction is of red sandstone ashlar throughout. The S transept has battlements. There are drawings of the church in the William Salt Library, dating from 1769 to 1841 (SV VII 35a, 35b, 36, 37a) and one of the S doorway of 1843 (SV VII 38). All show the church much as it is today. In the same collection are drawings of the font, of 1842 (A. E. Everitt - SV VII 42) and 1843 (J. C. Buckler - SV VII 41). Romanesque features are the chancel arch, the bowl of the font, and the two nave doorways. The N doorway was not accessible when the church was recorded.
Parish church
Quatt is a small village in the Severn valley on its E bank, 4 miles SE of Bridgnorth. The church stands in the village centre.
St Andrew's has a chancel that is 11thc in origin with a 12thc doorway and window and evidence of work in the 14thc including a N chapel (restored in 1950). The tower, nave and N aisle are 18thc work and there is a 12thc font. This and the S chancel doorway are the only features recorded here.
Parish church
Longnor is a small town, little bigger than a village but with its own
market square and market hall. It is in NE Staffordshire, half a mile from the
river Dove that forms the border with Derbyshire and built on a ridge between
the valleys of the Dove and the Manifold. As early as 1300 the open fields
along the Dove valley and the steeper land running down to the Manifold were in
use as pasture land. The present church is a rebuilding in grey stone of
1780-81 and consists of nave and a W tower. The nave is a broad and rectangular
with an altar at the E and no separate chancel. In 1812
the walls were raised to allow the insertion of galleries at the W and S. Gallery-level windows were added at the same time -
round-headed like those below them. A false ceiling was installed in 1948-49 as
part of a general post-war restoration, so the upper windows are visible only
on the exterior. The W gallery was converted into a
meeting room in 1996. The tower is contemporary with the nave, and has
projecting quoins and an embattled
parapet with pinnacles at the angles. This is
apparently the third church on the site. The previous two were Chapels of Ease
to Alstonefield; the first of unknown date, probably 12thc., and the second a
16thc. new build. The Tudor church had become unsafe by 1730 and was derelict
by the 1770s. The only Romanesque feature is the
font.