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Anglican town church. Probably
C14 NW tower; C15 N aisle; N transept and SW porch 1863 to the
designs of Phipps (information from John Barbrook), the rest of
the church thoroughly rebuilt by Butterfield in 1870-1871 in the
Perpendicular style.
Plan of nave and chancel, N aisle (the former C15 nave) and NE
chapel, N and S transepts, NE vestry roofed parallel to the N
transept, NW tower, SW porch. Knapped flint and freestone with
slate roofs and pierced C19 ridge tiles to the nave and chancel,
brick parapet to tower. The nave and chancel are decorated with
stone bands and some chequerboard decoration in the gables and
the porch has flushwork decoration.
EXTERIOR: The Butterfield chancel has diagonal buttresses and a
5-light traceried E window. Buttressed nave with 3-light
traceried windows, the W window narrow. The N transept has a
3-light N window and diagonal buttresses. NE chapel has a
3-light E window with a transom in the tracery and diagonal
buttresses. The N transept has diagonal buttresses and 3 light
windows; 3-light windows to the N aisle. Unbuttressed W tower
with a C19 moulded W doorway below a 2-light Tudor-arched W
window; Y-traceried belfry openings. Richly-decorated SW porch
with a coped gable and diagonal buttresses, the gable filled
with chequered flint and ashlar blocks and a roundel window with
Flamboyant tracery. There is flushwork blind arcading above the
doorway which has a square-headed frame and carved spandrels.
INTERIOR: Plastered and painted. No chancel arch. The tower arch
has been blocked by a later screen, but its W face shows a
double-chamfered arch. Simple moulded doorway into the vestry is
said to be the doorway to the former rood loft stairs, preserved
when the vestry was built. The N aisle preserves a very fine
hammerbeam roof with 2 tiers of purlins, the hammerbeams carved
with figures holding shields depicting the symbols of the
passion. An engraving of 1854 shows that the heads of the
figures were lost and the existing heads are later replacements.
Butterfield arch braced roof to nave and chancel, plastered
behind the rafters, with pierced tracery decoration above the
collar. 5-bay arcade with corner shafts to the piers, the W bay
narrower and taller than the others. The braces on wooden posts
on carved stone corbels. 3-bay stone panelled reredos by
Butterfield, the panelling extending across the E wall of the
sanctuary and infilled with C20 painting. C19 encaustic tiles to
the chancel. Ogee-arched aumbry in N wall with a crocketted
finial, painted white and gilded.
Choir stalls with shouldered ends and poppyhead finials to the
rear row. The backs of the 2nd row are decorated with blind
tracery. c. early C20 timber drum pulpit on a low wineglass
stem, the sides carved with blind tracery. C19 stone font with
an octagonal bowl with carved sides and a brattished cornice on
an octagonal stem and plinth. The front has been painted white
and gilded. C19 nave benches with square-headed ends, moulded
tops and 2 vertical panels.
Stained glass includes an 1871 E window to the designs of
Clayton and Bell and an E window in the N aisle of 1864, to the
designs of P R Burrell. Heaton, Butler and Bayne window in the
nave signed with a memorial date of 1905.
A fine C14-C15 church with an outstanding hammerbeam roof in the
N aisle (formerly the nave). The C19 rebuilding is mostly by
Butterfield and there are good fittings and stained glass.
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