Church Of St Alkmund

Church of St Alkmund

Parish church of early 13th-century date, with significant mid-13th-century work, 15th-century elements, and 18th-century additions. The building was restored and partly rebuilt in 1877 by James Fowler.

Construction is in coursed limestone and ironstone rubble with a slate roof featuring decorative red ridge tiles. The gables are stone-coped with finials.

The church plan comprises a west tower, nave with north aisle and south porch, chancel with north chapel.

The west tower is a small two-stage structure of 18th-century date, built with a plinth and moulded string course with quoins. It has a west lancet window with hood mould and label stops, and a keyed oculus above. A string course runs beneath bell openings on the west, north and south sides, each a round-headed opening with raised keystone. Moulded eaves sit above, carrying four large re-used medieval corner gargoyles. Battlements crown the tower.

The original nave wall shows three string courses visible in the corner of the tower. A 19th-century two-stage buttress stands to the right of the north aisle. The north aisle has a plinth running round it, with a western lancet of hood mould and single label stop. The north side proper has two pointed windows, each of two lights with cusped oculus above, hood mould and label stops, divided by a two-stage buttress.

The north chapel of the chancel dates to the 13th century and was restored in the 19th century with a steep pitched roof. It has a two-stage buttress to the west and an eastern doorway with trefoiled head, round hood mould and head label stops. A pointed two-light window faces east with quatrefoil above, hood mould and medieval head label stops. The east end of the chapel has a plinth and high string course, with a large pointed window of two cusped lights with quatrefoil above and nook shafts, hood mould and head label stops, restored in the 19th century.

The chancel's east window is a 19th-century work flanked by two-stage angle buttresses, comprising three lancets with hood mould and head label stops. The south side of the chancel has a 19th-century rectangular window of three ogee-headed cusped lights with hood mould to the east, and a tall 15th-century rectangular window to the west with cusped ogee-headed lights. A large two-stage buttress stands to the west.

The nave has two 19th-century pointed windows, each of two pointed lights with quatrefoil, hood mould and label stops. A 19th-century gabled south porch has single pointed lights in east and west walls, squat clasping buttresses and a pointed doorway with single flanking shafts, hood mould and label-stops heads. The porch interior is flanked by stone benches. A moulded pointed 19th-century south doorway has single flanking shafts, moulded head, hood mould and foliated label-stops heads.

Interior

The north aisle contains a three-bay arcade of circa 1300 with keeled responds, circular piers, stiff-leaf capitals of various designs and double-chamfered pointed arches. A double-chamfered pointed chancel arch with keeled responds and plain capitals opens to the chancel. A large double-chamfered mid-13th-century pointed arch leads from the north aisle into the north-east chapel, with filleted responds, abaci with beading and nail-head decoration, and capitals with scored leaf designs.

The north wall of the chancel contains a long ogee-headed tomb recess with ornate finial. Another long ogee tomb recess with finial stands in the north chapel. A freestanding tomb in the north chapel, restored in the 19th century, bears an effigy of Robert Conyng, a priest who died in 1434, with damaged angels at the pillowed head and griffin at feet.

A 15th-century octagonal font has a foliated base. Part of an Anglo-Saxon funerary slab with interlace decoration survives. An ornate marble monument on the north wall of the nave commemorates John Broadby, died 1794, and his wife Elizabeth. Several 19th-century monuments are present. The church also contains a 20th-century font, pews and pulpit, a 19th-century brass lectern, and 19th-century timber roofs.