Church Of St Anne

ANCROFT ANCROFT NU 04 NW 7/8 Church of St. Anne 22/12/69

GV II*

Parish church. Nave C12. West end raised into a tower C13. Restored 1836 and again in 1870 when the nave was extended, the chancel rebuilt and the door and windows replaced. Tower restored 1886. Squared stone; Welsh slate roof. Romanesque style. Chancel, nave and west tower.

Nave south side is C12 as far as the mid-point buttress. Blocked south door with 3 orders of arches, the outer order with worn beakhead, the whole set slightly forward from wall face under a gable; an C18 sundial on the gable. Original C12 corbel table and large buttress, formerly at south-east corner of nave. Extended to east, new windows and new south doorway added in similar style in 1870.

Above the corbel table the tower was raised. On the south side it has 2 lancet windows and 2 slit windows to the newel stair. On the west aide the roof mark of the gable of the original towerless church can be seen, as can the band where the corbel table was cut away. This side has 2 faucets and a C12 window with shafts. The corbel table formerly continued on the north side; one arch remains.

2-bay chancel in similar style.

Interior: the tower was built to be defensible. It has a tunnel-vaulted ground floor blocking the C12 doorway, and a stone newel stair in the corner.

Nave and chancel entirely C19 inside. Chancel arch quite elaborate with chevron and billet moulding. King-post roofs with arched braces resting on stone corbels with good naturalistic carving.

F.R. Wilson: Survey of Churches in the Archdeaconry of Lindisfarne: Newcastle: 1870.

Listing NGR: NU0022645177