The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
"stapleford"
Parish church
The church has a chancel with an attached vestry on S, nave with attached organ
chamber at the E end, and a wooden N tower with a tall spire over the N porch. The E
end of the nave is probably 12thc. with a 19thc. (1874) extension to the W. The
chancel was also probably 12thc. originally. The chancel arch was rebuilt in the
16thc. The organ chamber, N porch and vestry are 19thc. Much of the exterior is
rendered, the area around the N doorway is uncoursed flint. The N doorway is the only Romanesque feature.
Parish church
Nave with N and S aisles and a N transept at the E end; aisleless
chancel and W tower. A large flint vestry has been added to the N of the nave. The nave,
transept and tower are of flint and pebble, while the chancel has been newly rebuilt in concrete blocks on the
original flint plinth course. There is a 12thc.
chancel arch, and a small gravestone loose inside the
church.
Parish church
The chalk, ashlar and flint church has chancel, nave with S aisles and S porch, N and S chapels, clerestory and N tower. Of the original 12thc. structure the N and W walls of the nave, S arcade, and the west wall of the aisle survive. The chancel was rebuilt in the 13thc. and the N chapel was added at this time. The lower stage of the tower was built c.1300 and the upper stage rebuilt in 1674. The S chapel is 14thc. and the clerestory and porch are 15thc. The church was restored in 1861 by W. Slater, when the nave was partly rebuilt. The chancel was restored eight years later. Romanesque sculpture is found on the S doorway, S arcade and the font.
Parish church
Small church isolated on the edge of the hamlet. Church consists of a stone west tower with a pyramidal roof probably done by C. H. Fowler during restoration of 1903-4. Nave and choir, reconstructed in brick in 1770, of a single, rectangular cell. There is a Romanesque pillar piscina in the sanctuary and a bowl from another pillar piscina reset into the SW corner of the nave.
Parish church
There are two churches on the same site: S of St Mary's is the redundant later church of SS Cyriac and Julitta. St Mary's has a four bay Perpendicular aisled nave with a clerestorey and an aisleless chancel, largely dating to Sir Arthur Blomfield's restoration of 1878 but with blocked round-headed windows to N and S. All of this is attached to a spectacular 12thc. W tower with a later doorway under a porch. The tower has a square lower storey with plain windows to N and S; an octagonal second storey on squinches with more elaborate 12thc. windows to N, S and W; a 16-sided third storey with pointed lancets; and a 16-sided later fourth storey with a modern parapet, all surmounted by a lead spike. There are string courses between storeys. Inside, the tower is open for the first three storeys, but the lowest has been vaulted at some point and the W side of the tower arch cut away. Construction is of flint and pebble rubble.