The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
West Berkshire (now)
Chapel
Marlston is a hamlet in West Berkshire, 10 miles W of Reading. There is no distinct village centre, and the area is largely occupied by the twin schools of Brockhurst and Marlston House. The chapel stands in the school grounds, and was built substantially by Butterfield in 1855, of flint with red tile roof. It has a single nave with a bell turret at W end, and a square-ended chancel of two bays. There is a vestry in the position of a N transept, and facing doorways at the W end of the nave, the S under a porch. The N doorway is of c.1200, and there is a pillar piscina of the same period in the chancel.
Parish church
A spired church in a late 13thc. style by G. E. Street, 1862-63. It contains an arcaded font which is probably medieval rather than 19thc.
Parish church
Shaw is on the NE edge of Newbury in the Kennet valley, and shares that town's urban character. Shaw House, alongside the church, ranks as the most important Elizabethan house in Berkshire. The medieval church was pulled down without authorisation in 1841 by order of the Rev. S. Slocock, the then Rector, and the Rev. T. Penrose, the Patron, and the present church, built by J.Hansom in what must be called a Romanesque style, dates from 1840-42. The plain font is all that survives from the previous building.
Parish church
Enborne is a village in the SW of the county, 2 miles W of Newbury on the S bank of the Kennet. The church is a low, broad building with a timber bell turret over the W end. Otherwise it consists of a nave, chancel and N transept. Aisles were added to an earlier nave towards the end of the 12thc. and at the same time the nave was extended one bay to the W. Sculpture is found on the nave capitals and the font.
Parish church
Englefield is just outside Reading, to the east, and consists of Englefield House and its park with the estate church built by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1857 nearby. Scott re-used a good deal of the medieval church that was already there in his new build. His church consists of a nave with S aisle, chancel with a N chapel (the Englefield Chapel), a tower (added in 1868) at the NW of the nave and a S doorway with a porch. Three bays of the S arcade date from c.1200, while the jambs of the doorway, a pillar piscina and the font are all 12thc.
Parish church
East Garston is a good sized village in the west of the county, 5 miles north of Hungerford. The church stands at the west end of the village. Externally, All Saints' appears to be a substantial aisleless 12thc. cruciform church with a two-storey crossing tower. A S aisle has been added to the nave, and a 14thc. chapel added to the N of the chancel. There are N and S doorways, the former blocked and the latter under a porch. On the interior, all four crossing arches prove to be replacements, and the S arcade is of 1882 by Ewan Christian. The chancel is of 1875, by J. W. Hugall. Construction is of flint with brick banding on the tower and transepts. A 1684 datestone on the E wall of the N chapel presumably indicates a restoration, as does the 1882 date on the rainwater heads. This report includes the S doorway of c.1200 and the lower storey tower windows, as well as two crudely carved heads reset in the walling. Pevsner also reports a Norman pillar piscina, but its capital is carved with naturalistic foliage forms, and it must date from the later 13thc.
Parish church
East Ilsley is in the west of the county, 7 miles SE of Wantage. It lies close to the junction of the prehistoric Ridgway and the ancient route from Abingdon to Newbury, now followed by the A34 trunk road, a road so continuously noisy as to be audible at all times in the village. The church stands in the village centre. It has a nave with early 13thc. S aisle, N aisle of 1844-45, 14thc. W tower, and large square 13thc. chancel. The S aisle was restored in 1881-82, and the tower refaced in 1885-86. A further restoration was made in the mid-1970s to the stonework of the tower and the S aisle roof, and in 1987 major repairs were made to the N aisle roof, the ringers' chamber and the nave floor. The only feature reported here is the font, which dates from c.1200 or slightly later.
Parish church
Frilsham is a village in the Pang valley in West Berkshire, 10 miles W of Reading and immediately south of the M4. The village rambles along a network of lanes in this hilly, wooded part of the county, and the church and manor house are at the western end of the village, near the River Pang. The church is 12thc., with an aisleless nave and chancel with N and S nave doorways and two windows remaining. Only the N doorway is carved. Mee (1939) recorded a plain Norman font, but this does not survive.
Parish church
Farnborough is a village of a few dozen houses built along a minor road that runs parallel to the Ridgeway and to the south of it. It is situated 5 miles south of Wantage. The church is in the centre of the village, and has a Perpendicular W tower of ashlar and single nave and square chancel of flint rubble. The church has opposed N and S doorways, with a S porch. The simple 12thc. N doorway is the only feature described here.
Parish church
Great Shefford is a village on the River Lambourn in West Berkshire. It clusters around a junction of the A338 between Wantage (8 miles to the N) and Hungerford (5 miles to the SW). The church is at the W end of the village, is substantially a church of the end of the 12thc., with chancel, nave and a round W tower. Romanesque sculpture is found on the S doorway and the font.