Church Of St Germain

Church of St Germain, Winestead

A parish church of multiple periods, from the 12th century to the 19th century. The 12th-century work comprises the north nave and chancel walls, with re-set corbels to the chancel. The late 13th century saw the addition of a north door, followed by a 14th-century south arcade. Late 14th- to 15th-century additions include the chancel arch and windows to the chancel and nave. A south aisle was demolished and replaced with a south chapel (the Hildyard Chapel) built in the early 17th century. Repairs to the chancel followed in the 17th century, possibly coinciding with the replacement of the north door in 1694. Major restorations in 1889–90 by Temple Moore included a new south aisle, rebuilding of the south chapel, partial rebuilding of the north wall, re-roofing, re-seating, and restoration of the chancel screen. A north porch was added in 1901, and the roof was re-covered around 1985.

The exterior is built of roughly-coarsed cobbles to the chancel, porch, nave north wall, and parts of the east and west walls; limestone ashlar to the south chapel and south side of the nave; red brick to the nave west end, east gable, and nave and chancel parapet; and brick with ashlar bands to the south aisle. Ashlar dressings are used throughout. The roof is covered in pantiles to the nave and chancel, with lead roofs to the aisle and chapel.

The plan comprises a two-bay nave with south aisle and north porch, a single-bay chancel, and a single-bay south chapel. The nave features quoins, a large pointed 3-light north window and pointed 5-light west window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmoulds, and a small 19th-century pointed cinquefoiled window to the west gable. A moulded string course, coped parapet, and gables complete the design. The aisle has buttresses to the angles flanking a re-set pointed double-chamfered door, square-headed 2-light windows, and an ogee-headed niche to the west end with a crocketed hoodmould and buttress shafts.

The chancel has quoins, a chamfered plinth, a small pointed trefoiled south window, and a corbel-table to the south wall bearing nine re-set corbels from the 12th century and later periods, including carved human and animal heads. A pointed 3-light east window with Perpendicular tracery and hoodmould lights the east end.

The Hildyard Chapel to the south has a chamfered plinth, two pairs of square-headed 2-light windows with 4-centred arches to the south, beneath a panel of three ashlar relief tablets bearing trophies and arms in ornate surrounds, flanked by two larger heraldic ashlar relief tablets with arms in ornate strapwork surrounds. The east wall contains a blocked chamfered Tudor-arched door, two pairs of recessed rectangular panels in chamfered reveals, and two heraldic tablets. The chapel is finished with a coped parapet and gable.

The porch has a plinth and quoins, with a pointed chamfered outer arch dying into the jambs. The inner arch is similarly pointed double-chamfered and frames a door dated 1694, inscribed with the names of the churchwardens.

Interior

A four-bay arcade of pointed double-chamfered arches stands on octagonal piers with plain moulded capitals and bases. The pointed double-chamfered chancel arch dies into the jambs. The chancel contains double sedilia with pointed chamfered arches, a pointed chamfered piscina with restored bowl, and a blocked pointed north door. A carved marble reredos of 1889–90 occupies the east wall.

The restored 15th-century nave roof features corbelled wall-posts and carved spandrels to moulded tie beams (some original) with carved bosses, scissor-braces with struts and carved shields, side purlins with wind braces, and king struts to the ridge piece. The south chapel retains a restored 17th-century moulded coupled-rafter roof, while the chancel has an ornate 19th-century two-bay arch-braced roof.

Monuments

In the nave stand a 14th- to 15th-century two-thirds life-size priest effigy reset in the west bay of the aisle, with a moulded base and head beneath a crocketed ogee arch. A fine chest tomb of Sir Christopher Hildyard (died 1602), probably from a London workshop, displays a knight effigy lying on a rolled mat with a cockerel at its feet, and an ornate inscribed chest with pilasters bearing carved lamps, hourglasses, figures, and flanking panels with arms in strapwork surrounds and carved fruit. Other monuments include a wall tablet to George Dickeson, a Hull Customs Officer, dated 1680, with an inscribed cartouche, grotesque below, and arms with an urn above; and floor slabs to Sarah and Rev Edward Robinson of 1756.

The chancel contains a black marble floorslab with a brass bearing a black-letter inscription to William de Retherby, Rector (died 1418), recording his building of the "choir and church". A black marble floorslab holds an incomplete set of 16th-century brasses of a knight, lady, and groups of kneeling sons and daughters, with an indent for a border, possibly cut from a 14th-century Flemish monument. A floor-slab with 19th-century inscribed brasses commemorates William and Catherine Hildyard.

The Hildyard Chapel contains wall monuments to Christopher Hildyard (1684) with a Latin inscribed cartouche in an ornate carved surround surmounted by arms and a flaming urn; to Robert Hildyard (1729) with an inscribed tablet and obelisk with carved arms and urn, flanked by flaming lamps; and to William Hildyard (1842) with a coffin and carved arms in relief. A series of ten 18th- and 19th-century white marble tablets to the Hildyard family are re-set in the floor, having been removed in 1889 from a former mausoleum situated between the chancel and chapel.

Fittings

The church retains a fine restored 15th-century oak chancel screen of five bays with blind traceried 2-light lower panels featuring sub-cusped trefoiled pointed arches and intersecting tracery above. The upper panels contain pointed 2-light openings with ornate Perpendicular and curvilinear tracery and nodding sub-cusped crocketed ogee heads, a pointed central opening with a Perpendicular-traceried head, and restored fan-vaulting supporting a gallery with an ornate frieze. An inscription to the east side records the restoration.

North and west screens to the south chapel were made in 1889 from 17th-century panelling that had been used for a former Hildyard pew. They feature blind elliptical-arched panels with ornate carved pilasters and spandrels, doors with cocks'-head hinges, and a restored balustrade above with drop-on-drop balusters.

A good 17th-century octagonal wooden panelled pulpit is supported on a baluster-shaped column and brackets, with a closed-string staircase and balustrade featuring a corniced handrail, vase balusters with square and round knops, and a newel with a vase finial. An octagonal tester with a fretwork frieze is suspended on an ornate wrought-iron bracket.

A fielded-panel dado to the nave and aisle was made in 1889 from former box pews. A plain 14th-century octagonal font bowl stands on a restored shaft and steps incorporating a fragment of a 13th-century incised graveslab. Fragments of 14th- to 15th-century stained glass remain in the chancel south window (formerly in the east window), displaying an inscription and the head of a priest, possibly William de Retherby. Royal Arms of 1792, three hatchments of the Hildyard family, 18th-century chandeliers, and a brass lectern of 1890 designed by Sir Gilbert Scott complete the fittings.

The chancel screen is similar to that in St Mary's Church, Welwick.