The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
"fletton"
Parish church
St Margaret's has a nave with a broad N aisle and a narrow S aisle, a
chancel with a N aisle partly partitioned off to form a
vestry, and a W tower with a broach spire. The oldest
work here is a series of Anglo-Saxon reliefs related to those at
Breedon-on-the-Hill (Leics) and now set in the E chancel wall above the altar (until recently they were
outside, built into the E buttresses). The N arcade, N
chancel
arcade and
chancel arch all date from c.1160; the S aisle was
added c.1300 and it was probably at this time that the N aisle was widened, and
the two W bays of the N arcade
turned into a single long bay by removing a
pier and building a broad arch. In 1872 the church was
restored and a S porch built, and in 1901 the N aisle
was again rebuilt and extended to the E end of the church, absorbing the chapel
and vestry that were there before. The spire was
struck by lightning in 1917 and the upper part had to be rebuilt. The nave,
chancel and S aisle are faced with stone rubble; the N
aisle is of rough-faced ashlar; the lower storey of the tower is of rubble and
the upper storey of roughly-coursed ashlar blocks. 12thc. work is found in the
S chancel
corbel table, the N
arcades of nave and chancel and
the chancel arch. 2 fine relief panels showing standing
figures, built into the S wall of the chancel, are
probably 9thc., but are described and discussed since they have sometimes been
dated to the 12thc.
Parish church
St Peter's has an early 12thc. nave and chancel with scars of windows visible in the N wall of the nave inside, and plain round-headed windows in the chancel. A N aisle was added c.1160-70, and in the 13thc. a S aisle and W tower were built, and the W arch of the N arcade rebuilt. The clerestorey dates from the 15thc., and at this time too the S arcade was rebuilt. The N aisle was rebuilt in 1884-85, and the W tower in 1890. Construction is of stone and pebble rubble throughout, with ashlar buttresses except for those of the chancel, which are of brick. The tower has a short lead-covered spire. Romanesque features recorded here are the early 12thc. chancel arch, the mid-12thc. N arcade and the plain font, of indeterminate age.
Parish church
St Kyneburgha's is described by Pevsner as the most important Norman parish church in the county (i.e. Huntingdonshire). An aisleless cruciform church was built in the early 12thc. and dedicated in 1124. In the 1220s a S aisle was added and the chancel replaced; in the 1260s the S transept was replaced by a large chapel with an E aisle; and early in the 14thc. a N aisle was added. A broach spire was added to the tower around 1350, and the nave clerestoreys were inserted in the mid-15thc. The tower is of ashlar, the rest of the church of stone rubble.
Romanesque sculpture is found in the crossing arches and the exterior of the tower, in the W window of the nave, the reset S nave doorway, a tympanum reset over the S porch entrance, the dedication lunette set above the S priest's doorway and a pair of corbels set in the S porch. Part of a relief showing figures under arcading, now set in the N aisle, is discussed below but probably belongs to the 9thc.
The tower has two elaborately decorated storeys above a plain plinth storey, each of the three storeys being topped by a corbel table supporting a decorated frieze. The upper storey has five double units of blind arcading on each face, the three central units covering bell-openings. The area above the arches is diapered with fish-scale. The lower storey on each face has a central double arched window, flanked by a double unit of blind arcading to either side. Again the area above the arches is diapered, this time to give the effect of opus reticulatum. At each angle of each of the upper storeys is a nook-shaft.
Parish church
St Martin's has a tall aisled and clerestoried nave, a lower chancel and a W tower. The N and S nave aisles extend to the E end of the chancel, forming N and S chapels, the N now in use as a vestry. Of the present building, the tower dates from the end of the 13thc., and the chancel and N chapel to the early 14thc. There is evidence for a 13thc. N aisle, but around 1500 it was completely rebuilt, and a S aisle, S chapel and porch were added. The porch was rebuilt in 1652 and the N aisle in 1673 and again in 1887, and at this time the N chapel was converted into a vestry. R. Hutchinson, the architect responsible, collected such earlier remains as he found and displayed them in the walls. The E wall of the chancel was rebuilt in 1910. Currently (2004) the pinnacles of the tower, damaged in recent storms, are under repair. The nave is constructed of stone rubble, and the chancel of stone and pebble rubble except for the ashlar W wall of 1910. The S aisle and its porch are of ashlar, but the N aisle is of brick except for the W bay, of rubble. The tall lower storey of the tower is of pebble rubble, and the upper storey of ashlar. It will be seen from the above that no 12thc. fabric survives as built, yet St Martin's remains an important Romanesque church on account of the large number of carved stones that Hutchinson reset in the walls of the tower, inside and out, and the exterior N aisle wall, and the curious N vestry arch. There are also loose stones, at present kept in the tower.
Parish church
Theberton is a small village in east Suffolk, 3 miles E of Saxmundham
and 2½ from the sea. It stands on a rise in the low country SW of the
marshy Minsmere Level, with the church in the centre of the village and
Theberton Hall 0.3 mile away to the NW. St Peter's consists of a nave and
chancel in one with a thatched single roof, a S aisle
and S porch at the W end of the nave, a modern brick
vestry covering the N doorway, also at the W end of
the nave, and a round W tower. The 12thc. church consisted of the present nave
without its aisle and the western section of the chancel. A corbel table survives from
this, occupying the western part of the chancel on both
sides, and there is a 12thc. string course on the N side of the chancel only. The N nave doorway survives inside the modern
vestry, and there is a 12thc. window, now blocked, in
the N wall of the nave. The round tower is 12thc. too, although the octagonal
upper story was addedc.1300. It has Y-tracery bell openings on its
cardinal faces, and similar Y-tracery flushwork on the intermediate faces. The
tower arch was replaced around the same time. The 15thc. embattled parapet also has flushwork decoration. A W window
was inserted in the tower in the 15thc. The chancel may
have been lengthenedc.1300, using a mixed facing of flints and reused
material, including shaft sections and broken plain
corbels. The S priest's doorway dates from this time,
as does the Y-tracery N window inserted in the western section of the
chancel. Its companion on the S side is 15thc., and
those in the eastern section are 16thc. with brick mullions and arches. The E
wall has been rebuilt in a curious mixture of flint, stone rubble and brick,
more or less decoratively arranged. It contains a three-light 19thc. window in
a Perpendicular style. Returning to the nave, a short S aisle with a
porch at its W end was added in the 15thc. but the
aisle was rebuilt by L. N. Cottingham under the patronage of the Rev. C. M.
Doughty of Theberton Hall in 1846. This aisle is now called the Doughty Chapel,
and its arcade is painted. Romanesque sculpture is
found on the N doorway, the blocked N window, the chancel
corbel table and the
string course below it.
Parish church
Present church is mostly Perpendicular, but one Early English window has been uncovered towards the W end of the S wall. The N door is Romanesque, as is potentially the font.
Parish church
The river Lark cuts through the Fornhams (All Saints on the W side of
the valley and St Martin and St Genevieve on the east) after passing through
Bury St Edmunds on its way to join the Great Ouse near Ely. Fornham All Saints
is only half a mile from the northern outskirts of Bury, but retains its
village character. All Saints church has a nave with S aisle and S
porch, a chancel, N chapel and
W tower. The earliest work is the 12thc. S doorway, heavily restored. The nave,
however, was rebuiltc.1300 (one Y-tracery S window), and the porch was added in the 15thc. The S aisle was then added,
abutting the E wall of the porch, but extending
alongside the chancel to form a S chapel. The
chancel itself is 14thc., with a three-light
reticulated E window and flowing tracery windows on the N side. Its piscine is
curiously placed to the W of the sedilia. On the N a
chapel was added in the 15thc. with a squint to the main altar. The tower is
13thc. in its lower parts, with simple lancets. The bell-storey is ofc.1300
and there is a battlemented parapet with gargoyles and pinnacles. The restoration was by Sir Arthur Blomfield, in
the 1860s, and he replaced the aisle and chancel roofs,
renewed most of the windows to their original designs, restored the
porch and added the tower pinnacles. Romanesque sculpture is found on the restored S
doorway.
Parish church
Discoveries of flint tools give evidence of Neolithic occupation of the area, and the remains of an Iron Age settlement and finds of Romano-British pottery attest to the continuity of its occupation until the 2ndc. AD. Some time in the mid-5thc., Anglo-Saxon settlers established a village here that remained in occupation until c.650. Around that time the settlement moved 1½ miles upriver to the present West Stow village site. The old site was abandoned, and cultivated as ploughland until the end of the 13thc., when a storm covered it with blown sand, effectively preserving the 5th.-7thc. village. From the mid-19thc. onwards, rich finds of early Anglo-Saxon grave goods were discovered in the area of the unsuspected village, but a major excavation was not undertaken until 1965-72, when a team headed by Stanley West uncovered most of the settlement. In 1972, West broached the idea of a reconstruction of the village on site, and this is now open to visitors as West Stow Anglo-Saxon village.The landscape around West Stow today is almost entirely man-made, and a brief history will be worthwhile. The present village lies on the N bank of the river Lark some 5 miles NW of the centre of Bury St Edmunds. It is a compact village arranged around a green, and the church is at the N end with the hall site and its 16thc. gatehouse around 300 yards to the NW. The village is at the SE corner of the so-called King's Forest, a plantation of conifers begun in 1935 but including some older woods, and covering more than 8 square miles. To the W of West Stow, a series of lakes alongside the Lark are the remains of gravel workings, begun in the 19thc. and left when extraction ended in 1981.The church is a stately flint building of nave, chancel and W tower standing in an enormous churchyard ('all of four acres', according to Mortlock). The nave is aisleless and its windows reticulated (ie, early 14th..) on the S and Perpendicular on the north, except for one pointed 13thc. lancet in the N wall. Its early 12thc. origin is attested by the N doorway, now inside the N vestry / kitchen of 1903, and only accessible from within the church. The S doorway is 14thc., under a 14thc. porch. The chancel is broad, with reticulated windows and a piscina decorated with crockets and finials set into the SE window reveal. It was heavily restored in the 19thc., and the chancel arch is of that period too. The tower arch is tall and the tower is 15thc., with diagonal W buttresses and lateral E buttresses, a polygonal S stair turret and a battlemented parapet. There is chequered flushwork on the buttresses and the plinth. The N nave doorway is the only Romanesque feature.