Church Of St Botolph

Church of St Botolph, Quarrington

This is a parish church with origins in the medieval period, substantially remodelled in the 19th century. The earliest visible fabric is the early 13th-century north aisle, which was added to an earlier church of uncertain date. The tower was constructed in the early 14th century, and the south wall of the nave was rebuilt and enlarged at the same period. Post-medieval alterations, now demolished, followed. The church underwent extensive restoration and rebuilding in 1862–63, designed and built by Charles Kirk, a local builder and architect. The tower was restored and partly rebuilt in 1887. An early 21st-century northwest extension was added, and the bottom of the tower was converted to kitchen and other service facilities.

The building is constructed of ashlar and coursed stone rubble with slate roofs. The plan comprises a nave with north aisle and west tower, with a polygonal chancel containing a north transeptal chapel.

Exterior

The church is small, with a tall tower and spire. There are no parapets or clerestory, and the north aisle roofing is continuous with that of the nave. The tower and spire date from the mid-14th century. The tower has a west window of two lights, with similar openings in the bell stage and a plain parapet. The pinnacles were replaced in 1887. The polygonal spire has small, two-light lucarne openings. The nave south wall is also 14th-century and has three large windows, all heavily restored. Those to the east of the south door apparently follow earlier tracery patterns and display early 14th-century reticulation with hexagons and spherical triangles, with hood-moulds featuring headstops. The tracery in the window to the west of the door was replaced in a 14th-century style in the 19th century, when probably 16th or 17th-century uncusped, transomed lights were removed. The south door is a fine early 14th-century example with many fine mouldings, foliate capitals, headstops, and at the top a boss depicting a man putting his tongue out. Late 14th-century windows with triangular heads appear in the north aisle. A late 12th-century style doorway features a pointed, chamfered opening, chamfered imposts, and a hood mould. The chancel of 1862–63 is polygonal and executed in a 13th-century Westminster style, with two-light windows featuring geometric tracery. A richly carved inscription cornice records its construction in memory of Charles (d. 1847) and Elizabeth Kirk, parents of the architect and builder, Charles Kirk the younger. The northeast transeptal vestry is in a late 13th-century style and has a good east window with intersecting Y-tracery with drooping trefoils.

Interior

The interior is notably high in proportion to its size. The arcade consists of three bays and has tall, round piers with stylised foliage capitals and chamfered arches of two orders with a hood mould. It is possible that the arcade was raised in the 14th century to match the height of the south windows, which are notably large from the inside. The low, 14th-century tower arch comprises three continuous chamfered orders and is closed with a solid wooden screen. The north door has a triangular-headed rerearch. The nave roof, dating from the 19th century, is of trussed rafter form with curved braces giving the impression of an open barrel vault. A broad chancel arch of 1862–63 is executed in a simple 13th-century style with short, round responds with moulded capitals and a chamfered arch. The chancel of the same date displays a rich, Lincoln and Southwell-inspired style with shafts bearing excellent naturalistic floral capitals and corbels. It features a richly tiled floor and dado, and a good roof with carved and painted inscription.

Principal Fixtures

Two tiny piscinas, probably 14th-century, remain in the nave. A polygonal 14th-century font with tracery and foliage on the tapering bowl retains its cover, dated 1856 with later decoration by Charles Shannon. A 19th-century pulpit and low chancel screen with good Decorated-style tracery are present. Choir stalls of the 19th century display linenfold and rosettes. Excellent 19th-century encaustic and glazed tiles adorn the chancel, including a range of geometric patterns on the floor and wheat and grape motifs on the dado. Additional good geometric tiling appears in the nave around the font base. The church contains good 19th and early 20th-century glass, including fine chancel windows by Ward and Hughes, one in the nave signed H Hughes, another by Burlison and Grylls, and an interesting window of 1917 in the north aisle dedicated to members of the Barrett family. Another north aisle window is by Morris and Company, dated 1935. A few 18th and 19th-century wall tablets remain, including one to Romaine Hervey, d. 1837, featuring a draped urn on a sarcophagus.

Subsidiary Features

A lychgate, probably designed by Charles Kirk, dates from 1895. The churchyard contains some good monuments, including tall crosses erected to members of the Sharpe and Kirk families. A group of metal markers commemorates members of the Shannon family, including the artist Charles Shannon (1863–1937), a well-known portraitist and figure painter.

History

Two churches in Quarrington are mentioned in Domesday Book of 1086, one of which was presumably the present church; the other was probably the lost church of All Saints, Sleaford. The present church has no visible Anglo-Saxon fabric, although a very narrow chancel arch shown on a mid-19th-century plan might have been pre-Conquest. The earliest visible fabric is the early 13th-century north arcade. However, the long east respond suggests that it was added to an existing nave of uncertain, earlier date. Irregularities in the plan as it existed in the mid-19th century before the 1862–63 rebuilding, notably the asymmetric placement of the chancel arch in relation to the width of the nave and tower, and the thickening of the southeast and southwest corners of the nave walls, indicate that the nave was widened to the south, probably in the 14th century when the tower was built. The patronage of this work is unknown, but the nave south windows and south door are of very high quality.

A south porch was added at an uncertain, probably late or post-medieval date, and the 14th-century southwest nave window was apparently remodelled with uncusped lights and a transom in the 16th or even 17th century. The chancel was rebuilt and made smaller in the post-Reformation period. A drawing of 1805 shows it with a range of late 12th or early 13th-century lancets and two late 14th-century windows with square heads, presumably reset. It was again replaced in 1812 by the rector, Charles James Blomfield, later Bishop of London. His chancel was small and in a Georgian style with one wooden window. The north aisle was rebuilt and enlarged in 1848, and new furnishings including a pulpit, screens and apparently low box pews, some facing south, were installed in 1849. In 1859, the rector, Henry Hine, paid for a new stone east window. The church was substantially remodelled in 1862–63 to designs by Charles Kirk. He demolished the chancel and rebuilt it with a polygonal apse and a wider chancel arch. He also restored the nave windows, apparently along their original lines except for the southwest nave window, replaced the nave roof, removed the south porch, and added the northeast vestry, now the organ chamber. The tower was restored, and the upper part of the spire and the pinnacles were rebuilt, in 1887. Late 20th-century refurbishment and refurnishing occurred, and in the early 21st century a northwest extension was rebuilt and the west end of the nave was reordered.