Parish Church Of St Denys

Parish Church of St Denys

A parish church of 12th, 14th and 15th century date, with a chancel rebuilt in 1849 by H.E. Kendall and restored in 1850 by Edward Blore. The building is constructed of limestone ashlar and coursed squared limestone rubble, with slate and lead roofs.

The church comprises a west tower and spire, clerestoried nave, chancel, north aisle and south porch. The three-stage west tower has stepped clasping buttresses, chamfered plinth and string courses, a plain parapet and angle pinnacles. A set-back spire rises above, pierced with a single tier of lucarnes in four directions. The belfry stage contains two-light cusped panel-traceried windows with hollow chamfered surrounds. The west window of three lights has cusped heads and panel tracery over a hollow chamfered surround.

The south aisle dates from the 14th century and features stepped and gabled buttresses, a plain parapet and lead roof. Its three-light west window has cusped flowing tracery and a wave-moulded pointed surround. Two matching two-light windows and a pointed wave-moulded doorway are positioned to the north, with a matching three-light east window. The nave displays an embattled parapet and a clerestorey with six two-light 15th century windows having cusped heads and hollow chamfered four-centred arched surrounds. The 19th century chancel has gabled buttresses, a plain parapet and pairs of 14th-style windows with flowing tracery; its four-light east window also features flowing tracery. In the south wall of the nave are two 19th century two-light windows in 14th century style. Further west is a 16th century three-light window with panel-traceried head and four-centred arched lights under a hollow chamfered surround. The clerestorey to the south matches that to the north and is adorned at its west end with a painted sundial with iron gnomon dated 1827. The gabled 19th century south porch has gabled buttresses and a continuously moulded and pointed outer doorway. Its fine inner doorway is late 12th century, featuring engaged triple angle shafts with stiff-leaf and palmette capitals. The head has three orders of moulding with reels, chevrons and a roll, with two orders of dog-toothing to the hollow moulded hood.

The interior contains a four-bay 14th century nave arcade with filleted quatrefoil piers, annular capitals and double wave-moulded arches with hollow chamfered hoods. A late 14th century tower arch has engaged octagonal responds and capitals with a double-chamfered arched head. The tall 15th century chancel arch has narrow roll-moulded reveals and a double-chamfered head. The nave roof is 19th century in its present form, with pierced ties having quatrefoil spandrels, resting on 15th century corbels with grotesque masks and capitals. The south aisle roof is also 19th century, but retains a 14th century piscina in its south wall with cusped ogee head, and to the north an ogee-headed aumbry. At the west end of the aisle in the south wall survives a single bay of 12th century corbel table of looped pattern. The aisle also contains an early 18th century surround for a vanished tomb, comprising ashlar piers with ball finials and wrought iron railings with pointed tops.

Fittings include early 18th century oak altar rails with turned bobbin balusters and moulded rail, and a Minton-tiled sanctuary featuring the Symbols of the Evangelists. A stained-glass east window depicts scenes from the Life of Christ in memory of Sir Thomas Whichcote, 7th Baronet (died 1892). A good set of panelled and scumbled softwood pews in the nave dates to 1847, with bolection-moulded end panels and ramped doors. An early 18th century octagonal softwood pulpit has bolection-moulded raised and fielded panel sides and fluted pilasters supporting a moulded cornice; the front bears an escutcheon of Whichcote arms. A late 12th century round tub font has four engaged round shafts with stylised acanthus capitals and a 20th century carved wooden lid. Three funeral hatchments to members of the Whichcote family are displayed—two in the nave and one in the north aisle.

Monuments include a granite monument to George Bass, discoverer of the Bass Strait, who was born in the parish and baptised in this church in 1771. In the chancel is a marble wall plaque to Frances Hope (died 1704), rectangular with scrolled and draped sides, gadrooned base with arms escutcheon and a moulded cornice bearing flowers and an urn. On the nave north wall are two limestone plaques to Robert Cole (died 1717) and Stephen Bee (died 1766), one with swags and sprays, the other draped with foliage. A large white marble wall plaque in the Greek taste to Marian, Lady Whichcote (died 1849), also on the north wall, depicts the deceased seated with a book beside a lamp standard with coiling serpent within a plain surround, sculpted by T. Campbell. The north aisle contains two black and white marble tablets to members of the Whichcote family, one dated 1810 with fluted and draped urn by Earle of Hull.