Church Of St Clement

Church of St Clement

A parish church of significant medieval development spanning the 11th to 17th centuries, with substantial restoration undertaken in 1863 by Ewan Christian. The building is constructed in limestone ashlar and coursed limestone rubble, with lead roofs throughout.

The church comprises a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, and a rectangular chancel. The west tower possibly dates from the 11th century as a round tower, later encased in ashlar and raised in the 14th century. The tower displays a 14th-century moulded plinth and string course with large two-stage clasping buttresses on each of its four sides, each taking the form of a hexagon and reaching to bell stage level. A north-east buttress contains a stair turret with three slit lights. Between the buttresses at first-stage level are convex walls. The principal west window is large and pointed, featuring three cusped ogee-headed lights with vertical tracery above, hood mould and head label stops. Above this is a moulded string course and a smaller pointed window (restored in the 19th century) with two pointed cusped lights, vertical tracery and hood mould, with a clock above. Bell openings on all four sides are pointed with two cusped ogee-headed lights, mullions flanking a quatrefoil above, hood mould and head label stops. Large corbel heads above the apex of each bell opening support broad angular shafts running up to the pinnacle plinth at the centre of each side. The tower is finished with moulded eaves, large corner gargoyles, battlements and eight ornate pinnacles. The east gable is ashlar-coped with a cross finial, and the east nave gable is ashlar-battlemented with pinnacles and a cross finial.

The north aisle dates from the late 12th century and features a plain plinth and small pointed west window with hood mould. The north side displays a small, deeply splayed rectangular window set high up to the west of a late 12th-century doorway (partially restored in the 19th century). This doorway has a round, roll-moulded head with chamfered inner order, single flanking shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, tympanum, hood mould, label stops and a plank door, with a head carved at the apex. Two tall rectangular early 14th-century windows to the east each feature two cusped ogee-headed lights and rectangular hood mould. The east end of the north aisle contains a rectangular window of three cusped ogee-headed lights and rectangular hood mould. A 15th-century clerestorey with three windows runs along the north side, each window having a four-centred head with three cusped pointed lights, hood mould and large head label stops. The north aisle is finished with moulded eaves, two large gargoyles and a projecting corner gargoyle.

The north side of the chancel features a parapet and a three-stage diagonal buttress. A large 14th-century east window with segmental head has five cusped ogee-headed lights and reticulated tracery (restored in the 19th century), hood mould and head label stops. A two-stage south-east buttress adjoins this window. The south side of the chancel also displays a parapet.

The south aisle was heavily restored in the 19th century. A plinth runs along its length. The rectangular east window features three ogee-headed cusped lights, reticulated tracery, hood mould and 19th-century block label stops. The south side includes a rectangular 14th-century window to the east with three ogee-headed cusped lights, hood mould and 19th-century block label stops, and a two-stage buttress with moulded plinth. To the west is a large 19th-century pointed window with plate tracery, featuring three trefoil-headed lights and a cusped oculus above, adjoined by a two-stage buttress with moulded plinth. The west end of the south aisle features a large window with five-petalled plate tracery. A 15th-century clerestorey with three windows runs along the south side, each with a four-centred head, three pointed cusped lights, hood mould and large head label stops. The south aisle is finished with moulded eaves, two large gargoyles and battlements above.

The interior of the tower is apsidal in plan with a small doorway to the north featuring a four-centred head, broad chamfered surround and a plank door. The 14th-century tower arch has a pointed, double-chamfered head dying into rectangular jambs chamfered to east and west.

The north arcade of the nave comprises two bays dating from the mid-12th century, featuring round moulded heads with double-billeted outer order, single round piers and semi-circular responds. The capitals are scalloped with various designs. The south arcade dates from the mid-13th century (heavily restored in the 19th century) and displays pointed, double-chamfered heads with a cluster of four columns around a central concave pier, the whole enriched with rich foliate capitals and an octagonal abacus. Corbel responds with heads support foliate capitals. Large head corbels support a late 17th-century roof.

The early 13th-century chancel arch features a pointed, double-chamfered head with a keeled inner order and ornate 19th-century corbels. The north arcade of the chancel comprises two bays dating from the mid-12th century (heavily restored in the 19th century), with plain round heads, a central round pier with scalloped capital, and plain moulded responds with moulded imposts. Remnants of springing of a rib vault are visible on the north side of the arcade above the pier. The early 13th-century south arcade of the chancel consists of a single bay, possibly re-set in the 19th century, with a pointed, double-chamfered head, polygonal responds with stiff-leaf capital to the east and waterleaf capital to the west.

The south wall of the chancel contains an ornate 19th-century piscina. An ornate late 12th-century string course with beaded scallops and flowerheads runs under the east window of the south aisle, possibly re-set in the 19th century.

The north aisle vestry contains four capitals re-set in its walls: two with beaded late 12th-century Canterburyesque foliage, one late 12th-century capital with crude leaves and grapes, and one mid-13th-century Lincolnesque foliated capital. The south aisle features an early 14th-century tomb recess (possibly re-set in the 19th century) with a richly moulded ogee head, flanking shafts failing to meet corbel heads above, plain flanking pinnacles and a central finial.

The furnishings and fittings include an early 13th-century square font supported on a central shaft with four narrower detached shafts and beaded ornament at corners. A brass of a priest in the south aisle possibly depicts Thomas Dalyson, rector of Fiskerton in the 15th century, and shows a cope with an oak-leaf motif. A 17th-century painting in the south aisle depicts the Madonna and Child, attributed to Carlo Dolci. The church contains a 19th-century pulpit, lectern, altar rail, screens, pews and reredos. Six early 14th-century bench ends with flat tops and simple tracery decoration are preserved. On the north side of the north pier of the chancel arch, three steps lead up to a blocked doorway that formerly led to the rood screen. Various 18th-century gravestones have been re-set to the rear of the nave.