Church Of All Saints

SP 39 NW WITHERLEY CHURCH LANE

8/127 (Ratcliffe Culey)

7.11.66 Church of All Saints

II*

Church. Early C14. Ashlar with stone verged slate roofs. West tower, 4-bay nave, 2-bay chancel. West tower of 3 stages with moulded plinth, 3 offsets and a plain parapet with moulded coping. Small recessed octagonal spire with one tier of lucarnes consisting of quatrefoil shaped openings (c.f. Church of St. Margaret, Stoke Golding, C.P.; Church of St. Michael, Fenny Drayton, Witherley C.P.). Single-light west window with ogee head and hood mould and convex, quarter round moulded surround. The second stage has a quatrefoil opening to the west and trefoil-headed windows to the north and south with hood moulds. Single-light belfry openings with trefoiled heads. There are buttresses at the bay divisions of the nave and chancel and angle buttresses at the eastern corners. The 3-centred side windows are mainly of 2 cinquefoil-headed lights with a single reticulation above; the nave windows have scrolled hood moulds with block stops and the chancel hollow-chamfered hood moulds terminating in carved heads. The easternmost window of the nave on the south side differs from the others in having 3 lights and Decorated tracery of a more ambitious nature (c.f. north side of Church of St. Margaret, Stoke Golding C.P.) and a convex quarter round moulded surround rather than chamfering; it appears to have lit a chapel which occupied this part of the nave. The chancel east window has 3 lights and reticulated tracery. Pointed north and south nave doors, the former with convex quarter-round moulded surround and scroll-moulded ogee hood terminating in a pair of carved heads; the south doorway is similar but has no hood mould. Interior: Pointed tower arch with an outer chamfered order and an inner convex quarter round moulding springing from moulded imposts with faceted bases terminating in carved heads. High pointed chancel arch on engaged semi-octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases. The window rear-arches have hood moulds reflecting the style of their external counterparts. High up in the west wall is a pointed window. C19 king-post roofs over nave and chancel. Fixtures and fittings: Plain octagonal stone font, possibly C14. In the south wall of the east bay of the nave is an ogee headed piscina, evidence that this area was occupied by a chapel. C19 octagonal pulpit on an octagonal pedestal. C14 sedilia with multiple cusping. C18 altar rail with turned balusters. Stained glass: east window of 1901 by Kempe; in the reticulations of the chancel side windows are medleys of medieval fragments. B.O.E. p.358.

Listing NGR: SP3267699416