Church Of St Clement

Church of St Clement

A parish church on the south side of Main Street in Rowston, dating from the 12th to 15th centuries. The building was refitted in 1741 and underwent major restoration in 1904.

The church is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings. The roof of the nave is lead, while the aisle and chancel roofs are plain tile. The gables are ashlar-coped with kneelers and cross finials.

The plan comprises a west tower, nave with clerestory and north aisle, and a chancel with a north chantry chapel (now used as a vestry). The tower is remarkably narrow and of three stages, set back into the nave. Its west face features a single small chamfered pointed lancet window, above which is a small mandala-shaped chamfered window. Each face of the tower has a single shafted pointed bell opening above a band with a corbel table. The tower is topped by an octagonal crocketed spire with two sets of lucarnes and four crocketed corner pinnacles.

The west end of the north aisle has a four-centred arched doorway with a chamfered quatrefoil window above. The north aisle also has a single shafted doorway with a segment head and plank door, and to its left a single three-light flat-headed window with panel tracery in a deeply chamfered surround. The clerestory contains four three-light windows on both north and south sides, each within a four-centred chamfered arched surround with cusped lights. Above runs a band with gargoyles and battlements topped with corner pinnacles.

The former chantry chapel is also topped with battlements. Its west wall has a single four-centred arched doorway, while the north wall is blank. The east wall features a large two-light chamfered mullion window.

The chancel has a chamfered ashlar plinth and eaves. The east wall displays three pointed lancets—the centre one taller than the others—in chamfered surrounds with a moulded cill band featuring animal stops. The south wall contains three irregularly placed chamfered lancets and two small pieces of interlace masonry buried in the walling. The nave's south wall, topped by clerestory windows, is much disturbed. To the east is a single two-light pointed arch window with Y-tracery, followed by a buttress with set-offs and a slightly projecting heavily restored doorway. This doorway has a double pointed arched surround, with the outer arch deeply moulded with single shafts and plain capitals, and the inner arch chamfered and decorated with dogtooth. To the west is a narrow buttress, then a single chamfered lancet and a single chamfered fixed light.

The interior features a four-bay north arcade with double chamfered pointed arches. The three piers are: the first round, the second a keeled quatrefoil, and the third similar but with thin diagonal shafts. Each pier has moulded capitals and bases, with corbelled responds. The chancel arch is heavily restored with double chamfering and octagonal responds. The tower arch is chamfered and pointed with coved impost blocks. At the base of the south side stands a single shaft two metres high with moulded capital and base. A small wooden screen is present.

Above a doorway in the tower is a 12th-century tympanum, probably removed from the north door, decorated with a central cross and other stylised motifs. An octagonal 15th-century ashlar font with eight foliate panels stands in the church. The nave roof is largely 15th-century and was restored in 1904.

The interior also includes an internal wooden porch, wooden pulpit, pews, and choir stalls. In the chancel is a large ornate alabaster wall tablet commemorating Herbert Maclinder and his family, who largely funded the 1904 restoration. Hatchment bearing the arms of George II, commandment tables, creed and lord's prayer boards from the 1741 refitting are now displayed in the north aisle; they were originally placed above the chancel arch.