The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Leicester (now)
Parish church
Foxton is a small village in the Harborough district of SE Leicestershire, 2.4. miles NW of Market Harborough. The church stands towards the S of the village. It consists of a long chancel, an aisled nave with a N porch and a W tower. The S aisle is narrower than the N, which has a flowing 14thc window and a porch of the same period. The lower parts of the W tower are 13thc. The E part of the chancel was rebuilt, probably in the 17thc, and the church was restored in 1892-93 by H. Hardwicke Langston of London (chancel) and William White. The interestingly renmodelled font is the only Romanesque feature.
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
The village of Hallaton, eight miles north-east of Market Harborough, occupies a sloping site with a stream to the south and to the west what may have been a 12thc motte and bailey castle built to protect iron works (VCH, V, 121-33; Pevsner and Williamson, 1984, 171-72). The imposing church of St Michael lies on the south-west side of the village, half a mile below the castle site. Although the exterior of the church, including the dominant W tower, is largely 13thc and 14thc, Romanesque elements are preserved in the aisled interior. Notably part of the N arcade is late 12thc; otherwise it was extended in the 13thc when a new chancel was built. Most importantly for this Corpus a sculpted tympanum detached from its original doorway is now reset in the N porch. For Pevsner, this tympanum depicting St Michael fighting the Dragon was 'the best Norman tympanum in the county' (Pevsner and Williamson, 1984, 171-72).
Parish church
Waltham on the Wolds is a small village in the Melton district of NE Leicestershire, 5 miles NE of Melton Mowbray. The church stands on the High Street in the village centre and is built of coursed and squared limestone. It consists of a chancel with a N vestry, central tower, transepts, aisled nave and a S porch. The doorways indicate a 12thc nave to which aisles were added c.1300. The chancel was remodelled at this time too, and so were the transepts. The nave clerestorey and the tower belong to the 15thc. The church was restored by Rev. G. E. Gillett in the 1830s, then in 1850 a complete restoration was undertaked by G. G. Scott. The richly carved font is 13thc in form but largely Romanesque in its details, and other features described here are the much restored N, S, and reset vestry doorways. In 2016 a new guidebook was produced (Alexander (2016) and before it was complete, new works were begun that necessitated the inclusion of an addendum explaining what had been done. The work took place between April and September of that year and included the installation of a toilet at the W end of the N nave aisle, along with a servery for catering. The font was moved from its traditional position inside the W doorway to the E end of the N aisle, and the step for the celebrant to stand on while baptising was discarded. In the course of these works it was found that the nave floor was rotten and the PCC decided to replace it with polished Ancaster slabs. It was decided at the same time to remove all the pews permanently to allow the nave to be used for more social purposes; a decision that some of the parishoners found inappropriate.
Parish church, formerly chapel
Illston on the Hill is a small village in the Harborough district of SE Leicestershire, 7 miles N of Market Harborough. Illston is unusually a dead-end village, and the church is in the centre. St Michael's consists of a W tower, a clerestoreyed nave with S aisle and S porch, and a chancel. The fabric is largely of the late-13thc or later. It is built of coursed rubble stone and was restored by H. Goddard and Son in 1866-67. Only the font is Romanesque, and must be from an earlier building.
Parish church
Theddingworth is a small village in the Harborough district of S Lecestershire, on the N bank of the River Welland that forms the border with Northamptonshire. The church is in the centre of the village, and is an ironstone rubble church with limestone dressings. It consists of a W tower and spire, nave with two aisles and low clerestory, chancel and two flanking chapels. The only Romanesque sculpture in the church is on the capitals of the N arcade; of similar date although plain are the arch leading to the N chapel, and the round font. The S arcade, though round-arched is 13thc. The church was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1858.
Parish church
Tilton on the Hill is a village in the Harborough district of E Leicestershire, 8 miles S of Melton Mowbray and 10 miles E of the centre of Leicester. The church stands in the centre of the village and is built of coursed ironstone rubble with limestone dressings. It consists of a W tower with a spire, a nave with aisles and a clerestorey, and a chancel. The lowest part of the tower and the tower arch are late-12thc, as is the S chancel doorway. The nave arcades are late 13thc, the chancel 14thc and later, and the upper parts of the tower 13thc with a 14thc recessed spire. The N arcade was built uncomfortable close to the tower arch and the chancel arch, perhaps as a result of a shortage of space for the N aisle. The Romanesque features treated here are the tower arch, the S chancel doorway and the font.
Parish church
Twyford is a village in the Melton district of eastern Leicestershire. It is 5 miles S of Melton Mowbray and 9 miles E of Leicester The church stands on the N side of the main street through the village, It is an ironstone and limestone ashlar building consisting of a chancel, clerestoreyed nave with N aisle and S porch, and a W tower The chancel was rebuilt in 1775, a vestry added in 1849 and an organ chamber in 1889. The earliest and only Romanesque feature is the N arcade of c.1180-90. The rest of the church was rebuilt or remodelled in the later middle ages.
Parish church
Rothley is a village in the Charnwood district of the county, 5 miles N of Leicester. It stands in a loop of Rothley Brook, a tributary of the River Soar, and the church is on the E side of the village. It is an impressive building of pink granite dreesed with grey stone and consists of a tall Perpendicular W tower, embattled and clerestoreyed aisled nave and and a chancel renewed by J. Reynolds Rowe in 1877-78. Nothing in the fabric is earlier than the 13thc, and the only feature described here is the 12thc font. In the churchyard stands the Rothley Cross; a tall shaft with no cross-head dated to the 9thc by Kendrick.
Parish church
Chadwell is a small village in the Melton district of NE Leicestershire, 4 miles NE of Melton Mowbray and 17 miles SE of Nottingham. The church is on the northern edge of the village, and consists of W tower, nave with S aisle and S porch and a chancel. A 12thc aisle has been taken down, and the blocked arcade is visible inside and out. There is also a plain round headed tower arch. Otherwise the church is substantially 13thc. The church is of coursed squared ironstone with ashlar dressings and was restored by R. W. Johnson in 1865-66. the The blocked N arcade and later plain round tower arch are of the Romanesque period, as is the font.