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St Luke, Duston, Northamptonshire

Location
(52°14′35″N, 0°56′22″W)
Duston
SP 725 611
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Northamptonshire
now Northamptonshire
medieval Our Lady
now St Luke
  • Ron Baxter

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Description

St Luke's was originally a cruciform church and retains its central tower. The form of the original nave is visible on the W facade, and apparently had no aisles. The nave has N and S aisles, extended eastwards to subsume the former transepts, providing N and S chapels. The N chapel now houses lavatories and a kitchen, and the S is used as a vestry. The crossing has narrow arches to N and S, and broader, taller ones to E and W. All four are apparently 14thc., as is the upper part of the tower, although the lower storey may be 12thc. The nave has a clerestorey on the S side only, and there are N and S doorways in the aisles, the S early 13thc. under a porch, and the W windows are also 13thc. work. The three-bay nave arcades and the aisle windows date from c.1300, but the W respond of the S arcade is 12thc. An altar has been installed at the W end of the nave in addition to that at the E end of the chancel, to make St Luke's a double-ended church with the two liturgical spaces separated by the crossing. The font is 12thc.

History

William Peverel held Duston in 1086. No church or priest were recorded at that time, but the church was given by William Peverel II to the abbey of St James, Northampton as part of its foundation endowment, perhaps in the 1150s. The church itself was first mentioned in a grant by Earl Simon, dateable 1148-59.

Benefice of St Luke Duston and St Francis Duston (the Duston Team).

Features

Interior Features

Arcades

Nave

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

The font at Eydon also has fluting in its lower part, and is even less accurately shaped than this one.

Bibliography
RCHME Report, uncatalogued.
G. Baker, The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton, 2 vols, London, 1822-41, I, 144f.
J. Bridges, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, Compiled from the manuscript collections of the late learned antiquary J.Bridges, Esq., by the Rev. Peter Whalley, Oxford, 1791, I, 499-501.
N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, Harmondsworth, 1961, rev. by B. Cherry, 1973, 358.
RCHME, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northampton, V. Archaeological sites and churches in Northampton, London, 1985, 257-63.