Church Of St Wilfred

Church of St Wilfrid

This is a parish church of mixed date, with the earliest sections dating to the 12th century. The building underwent major expansion and rebuilding during the medieval period: the 13th century saw the construction of the arcades; the early 14th century brought the addition of the tower, spire, south aisle, south porch, and extensive rebuilding of the chancel; and the 15th century added the north aisle, clerestory, and south chapel. The church received various repairs during the 17th and 18th centuries, including reroofing of the spire in 1810 and the chancel in 1824. More extensive restorations followed in 1843, around 1860, in 1901–2, and in 1927.

The external walls employ various materials reflecting different periods of construction. Random cobbles appear on the south aisle, porch sides, parts of the south chapel, and the early section of the nave east wall. Limestone ashlar covers the tower, spire, north aisle, nave clerestory, east wall, and chancel east wall. The south chapel is built of roughly-coursed, hammer-dressed limestone, while red brick in English bond appears on the west wall of the south chapel, the upper section of the porch, and the chancel buttresses. Cement rendering covers the north and south sides of the chancel. Throughout the building, limestone ashlar provides the dressings. The roofing consists of Welsh slate on the chancel, pantile on the south porch, and lead on the remainder.

The plan comprises a west tower, a four-bay aisled nave with south porch and transeptal south chapel, and a four-bay chancel.

The west tower is the most prominent feature. It rises in five stages with angle buttresses and offsets to the first four stages, separated by moulded string courses. The first stage contains a pointed three-light west window with reticulated tracery. The second stage has slit lights, while the third stage is blank except for a line marking the former nave roof. The fourth stage contains slit lights and an east clockface. The top stage is set back and features pointed two-light traceried belfry openings, a corbelled-out coped parapet, and is crowned by a recessed octagonal broach spire with finial and weather-vane. The former gable line of the nave is visible in the tower's west wall.

The north aisle has a tall moulded plinth with diagonal buttresses between bays. It is lit by partly-restored pointed three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery and hollow-chamfered reveals. A pointed moulded entrance on the north side retains its studded board door. The aisle is finished with a moulded string course and coped parapet.

The south aisle contains a square-headed window with two trefoiled ogee lights, a pointed three-light window with reticulated tracery, and a pointed three-light west window with intersecting tracery.

The south chapel has a chamfered plinth with angle buttresses and offsets. Its principal window is a square-headed four-light trefoiled south window with incised spandrels. It is topped with a moulded string course and coped parapet.

The nave clerestory is particularly notable. Pilaster buttresses stand at the angles and centre, with pointed two-light traceried windows in hollow-chamfered reveals. A corbel table of moulded corbels with spouts runs beneath a moulded string course. The parapet is coped and features crocketed pinnacles to the north side and east gable, with truncated pinnacles to the south side.

The chancel displays the complexity of the building's development. The north and south-west sections have chamfered plints, while the east section (14th century) has a moulded plinth with angle buttresses and a moulded sill string course. The south side contains a square-headed two-light window with Perpendicular tracery, a lancet with dogtooth moulding at the apex, a pointed roll-moulded entrance with hoodmould (the door retains blind intersecting traceried panels), and a square-headed three-light trefoiled window with filleted reveal and restored mullions. The north side has 19th-century buttresses and a pair of pointed two-light traceried windows. The five-light east window features a filleted reveal with mullions and restored reticulated tracery above the original lower section.

The south porch has quoined angles and a narrow pointed double-chamfered outer arch with double doors. Inside, a pointed fillet-moulded arch of two orders rises above a mutilated carved corbel. The inner door dates to the 14th century and features filleted battens with an ogee-headed wicket.

Interior

The four-bay south arcade and five-bay north arcade employ pointed double-chamfered arches. The south arcade sits on filleted quatrefoil piers, while the north arcade alternates between filleted quatrefoil and cylindrical piers. The second piers from the west on the north side have outer buttressing. The capitals and bases are plain moulded, and mutilated bust corbels ornament the east responds.

The tower arch is particularly significant. A 12th-century arch, possibly the original chancel arch, has been reset as a steeply-pointed arch of three orders. The outer order is plain, while the inner orders are chevron and roll-moulded, rising on shafted responds with cushion capitals. A pair of reset 12th-century head corbels appears above the north arcade, while a small octagonal image bracket sits on a head corbel on the nave east wall.

The south chapel features a pointed double-chamfered arch to the south aisle on a filleted quatrefoil north respond, with a carved head corbel to the south. A piscina with a damaged pierced traceried head sits beneath a gabled hoodmould with finial. Three corbelled image brackets stand on the east wall.

The chancel arch is pointed and double-chamfered, rising on octagonal responds with plain moulded capitals and bases. The chancel itself contains a pointed cinquefoiled piscina with roll moulding and projecting bowl, a blocked door, and a plain bracketed stone lectern shelf to the north.

The nave roof is a restored 15th-century king-post construction with moulded beams and carved bosses including heads, figures, grotesques, and shields. The south chapel has a restored king-post roof with moulded tie beams. The remaining roofs date to the 19th century.

Furnishings include a marble wall tablet in the south aisle commemorating Hugh and Nancy Wright, dated circa 1831–5 and created by John Earle of Hull. It features carved palm fronds, a book, and a lamb. The font is a fine 15th-century octagonal piece with cusped square panels containing shields with foliate ornament, an octagonal column, and a moulded base. A full set of 18th-century box pews occupies the nave and aisles, and an 18th-century Royal Arms hangs in the church.