Church Of St Sebastian

Church of St Sebastian

A parish church dating from around 1200, with significant additions and alterations in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, plus some 19th-century restoration. The building is constructed in coursed rubble ironstone with limestone ashlar dressings, and is roofed in grey tile and slate.

The church comprises a west tower with spire, a nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, and a rectangular chancel.

The 15th-century west tower has five stages, a moulded plinth and clasping buttresses, and is embraced by the north and south aisles. The west doorway has a moulded, pointed head with plain moulded jambs, hood mould and head label stops. Shields set in quatrefoils decorate the spandrels (restored in the 19th century), with a string course above. A large pointed window breaks through the second and third stages, containing three cusped lights with perpendicular tracery and hood mould. The fourth stage has a small trefoil-headed light on the west front, a clock on the north side, and a small rectangular light with a clock above on the south side. Four bell openings each contain two cusped lights surmounted by a trefoil-headed light flanked by mullions, with hood moulds above. Above these is a frieze of shields set in quatrefoils, moulded eaves, projecting corner gargoyles, battlements and ornate corner pinnacles. The octagonal spire is crowned with two tiers of plain lucarnes positioned in alternating directions.

The north aisle dates from the early 14th century. Its west front has a moulded plinth and string course, with a three-light pointed window featuring cusped intersecting tracery, hood mould with fillet and head label stops. The 15th-century moulded eaves display small sculptures, and the ornate panelled battlements are decorated with quatrefoils and roundels. An ornate corner pinnacle features an empty niche below with an angel holding two balls. The north side of the north aisle has a slight plinth, a three-stage setback buttress with a gable head, and a moulded string course that runs across the buttress and continues beneath a pointed window with two sharply pointed lights above quatrefoils, hood mould with fillet and head label stops. The string course terminates in a small sculpture near a small pointed doorway with keeled mouldings and hood mould (restored in the 19th century), with early 14th-century head label stops and a 17th-century wooden door. To the east is an early 14th-century buttress of three stages with moulded string course and a two-light pointed window with Y tracery and filleted hood mould. A 15th-century two-stage buttress with a setoff head follows, with a string course beneath a three-light pointed window to the east featuring intersecting tracery and hood mould. An early 14th-century two-stage buttress with a gable head marks the end of the north aisle. Fifteenth-century moulded eaves with small sculptures, ornate panelled battlements and five ornate pinnacles form the top of this aisle. The eaves and battlements continue above the plain east wall. A 15th-century clerestory contains five windows, each of three lights under flattened triangular heads with string courses joining their hood moulds. The moulded eaves feature two large gargoyles and a projecting corner gargoyle to the east, a frieze of shields and quatrefoils, plain battlements and ornate pinnacles.

The chancel dates from the late 13th century and has a slight plinth with a single round-headed window containing two pointed lights. A three-stage buttress with a gable head stands to the east, followed by an angle buttress. Plain moulded eaves and battlements cap the north side. The east front features a plinth and three-stage angle buttresses with gable heads. A large pointed window of three lights with intersecting tracery, hood mould and head label stops dominates the east wall. The gable has been restored and raised with stone coping and finial. The south side of the chancel has a slight plinth, an angle buttress of three stages with a gable head, and two pointed windows to the west, each with two ogee-cusped lights, reticulated tracery and hood mould. A three-stage buttress stands between them. Moulded eaves and plain battlements complete this wall.

The south aisle is early 14th-century with a plain east end and moulded plinth. Fifteenth-century moulded eaves with small sculptures, ornate panelled battlements and corner pinnacles form its top. The south side has a moulded plinth and string course, a 15th-century three-stage buttress with a setoff head to the east, a three-light window with intersecting tracery and hood mould, another 15th-century buttress, a three-light window with intersecting tracery, filleted hood mould and single head label stop, another 15th-century buttress, and then a smaller three-light window with intersecting tracery, filleted hood mould and head label stops. The 15th-century moulded eaves above feature small sculptures, ornate panelled battlements and four ornate pinnacles.

The south porch is early 14th-century with a slate roof. Its east side has a small rectangular light, a two-stage squat buttress with a gable head and plain moulded eaves. A barely pointed south doorway has chamfered mouldings, plain jambs with simply moulded abaci and a round-headed hood mould. The gable is coped with a finial. The west side of the porch has a small rectangular window, a two-stage squat buttress, and plain moulded eaves. Inside the porch are two stone benches. An early 13th-century south doorway features filleted roll mouldings, single columnar and rectangular jambs on each side with plain capitals and pronounced abaci, head label stops and a 20th-century timber roof. To the west of the porch, the moulded plinth and string course continue with a three-light pointed window with cusped intersecting tracery, filleted hood mould and head label stops. A set-back three-stage buttress with a setoff head stands to the west, followed by a three-light window with cusped intersecting tracery, hood mould and head label stops. Moulded eaves with ornate sculptures, ornate panelled battlements and pinnacles run around the top of the aisle to the west of the porch. A 15th-century clerestory of five windows, each of three lights under shallow triangular heads, is topped by moulded eaves with a frieze of shields and quatrefoils, and battlements with four ornate pinnacles.

The interior contains a 15th-century tower arch with semi-circular responds on high plinths, polygonal capitals and a plain chamfered pointed arch. Similar arches lead from the west tower into the north and south aisles. A small four-centred headed doorway appears in the south-west corner.

Three bays of the south arcade to the west are early 13th-century, with round piers, semi-circular responds, plain capitals, beaded abaci and double-chamfered pointed arches. A clear masonry joint is visible between the third bay and the wider fourth bay to the east. The fourth bay has a polygonal pier and respond on the west side and a semi-circular respond to the east with a pointed double-chamfered arch above.

Three west bays of the north arcade are 14th-century with semi-circular responds flanking free-standing masonry blocks, polygonal capitals and chamfered pointed arches. The easternmost bay dates from around 1200 and features two semi-circular responds with ornate capitals carved with palmettes and incipient volutes with spurs on bases. The eastern respond is heavily restored in the 19th century.

The east walls of both north and south aisles contain small ogee-headed aumbrys. Windows in the north and south aisles have hood moulds and head label stops on the interior. The 15th-century nave roof features tie beams and ornate bosses, as does the 15th-century north aisle roof. The south aisle roof is a 19th-century addition.

A 14th-century chancel arch with chamfered and pointed moulding has polygonal responds and capitals. The south wall of the chancel contains three very plain ogee-headed sedilia and a plain ogee-headed aumbry to the east. The north wall holds an aumbry with 19th-century doors and a monument to Robert Kelham and his family in white marble on a black field, decorated with an urn and ornate apron.

A 14th-century octagonal font has traceried panels, each divided by a mullion and decorated with variant forms of reticulated tracery. The interior also contains a 19th-century pulpit, lectern and pews.