Church Of St Chad

Church of St Chad, Welbourn

This is a parish church of Grade I importance, built over several centuries from the 12th to 15th centuries, with substantial restoration work carried out in 1854 and 1884. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble and ashlar with slate roofs topped by coped gables and finials.

The church comprises a west tower with spire, nave and aisles, chancel, and a south porch. The heavily moulded plinth runs around the building, and all window and door openings feature hood moulds with label stops. Angled gable buttresses are a consistent feature except on the tower.

The west tower is of four stages built in the 12th century from coursed rubble, with low buttresses of later date featuring set-offs. It is topped with 14th-century coped battlements and an octagonal crocketed spire. The spire is decorated with three sets of alternating lucarnes and is supported by four thin flying buttresses and pinnacles. The west front displays a 14th-century moulded and pointed double chamfered arched doorway. Above this is a three-light pointed arched window with moulded cusped reveal, followed by a tiny lancet window, a plain band, and a two-light bell opening set within a round arched opening with an octagonal pier and responds. The north face is blank except for a similar bell opening. The south face has a tiny lancet and bell opening, with a stair turret to the east topped with a short octagonal spire with moulded finial.

The north aisle has a single three-light west window, three three-light north windows, and a single four-light east window, all featuring pointed moulded arched reveals with flowing tracery. The chancel was rebuilt in 1854 and has a blank north wall, a large four-light east window, and two three-light windows to the south. All chancel windows feature pointed moulded arched reveals with flowing tracery. The south aisle contains three three-light windows facing south, a single four-light window to the east, and another three-light window to the west, matching the north aisle in style.

The south porch is a particularly notable feature. It has buttresses with niches and a coped gable with finial. The entrance is a pointed moulded arched opening with triple shaft responds and wrought iron gates dated 1908. Above the doorway is a niche with triple canopy containing a carved seated figure. The interior of the porch includes stone benches and the doorway features a moulded pointed arch with double keeled responds.

The clerestory is of 15th-century date and is battlemented, with four windows to both north and south. Each window is three-light with panel tracery and cusped transoms within pointed arches. The east nave gable contains a small circular quatrofoil window and, above it, a sanctus bell with canopy. To the north of the gable is a small octagonal spire topping the rood stair, and to the south is a large square crocketed pinnacle.

Internally, the church has four-bay arcades to both north and south of the nave. The north arcade features plain double chamfered pointed arches with octagonal piers and responds, whilst the south arcade has triple shaft responds. The tower arch is double chamfered with octagonal responds. Above the tower arch is a caernarvon arched opening. The chancel arch is similar in character to the tower arch, featuring double chamfering and triple shaft responds. Between the clerestory windows are pairs of broad niches with cusped heads. The south aisle contains a double pointed arched piscina and a shallow chamfered tomb recess.

The 19th-century fittings include wooden roofs throughout, a wooden pulpit and pews, and an octagonal font. Wall tablets include a marble memorial to Robert Knight and three 19th-century tablets to the Disbourne family in the chancel. The east window contains 19th-century stained glass.