Church Of St Wilfred

Church of St Wilfred

Parish church, now redundant. Dating from the 13th, 14th, 15th and 19th centuries, with restoration carried out in 1846. Built in dressed coursed rubble and ashlar with slate roofs and buttresses. A plinth runs around all but the south aisle. The church comprises a tower, nave, north and south aisles, south porch, north chapel and chancel.

The diagonally buttressed two-stage tower has a moulded plinth band and bands. Two remaining crocketed pinnacles crown what was once an embattled parapet, with two gargoyles on the north and south sides. The west face displays a three-light arched window with cusping and hood mould. The belfry contains four arched openings, each with two lights and a hood mould. Three small rectangular stair lights and single clock faces are positioned on the north, south and west sides.

The west wall of the north aisle features a single 14th-century three-light arched window with cusped curvilinear tracery and hood mould. The diagonally buttressed north aisle has five gargoyles and four 15th-century three-light windows under flat arches with moulded surrounds. Between the westernmost pair is a four-centred 15th-century arched doorway with moulded surround and wooden door. The east wall of the north chapel has a similar three-light window. The 15th-century clerestory has a single traceried window with three cusped lights under a flat arch, flanked by three windows each with three arched lights under flat arches. Five gargoyles ornament this section.

The diagonally buttressed east end has a heavy moulded plinth band with a string course running across the north and south sides. Two gargoyles are present. A three-light arched window with cusped panel tracery and hood mould lights this elevation. The south chancel wall contains a single arched and traceried two-light window with cusping. To its left is a 19th-century doorway, and further left a single 14th-century window with two cusped lights and single transom under a flat arch with hood mould and decorated label stops.

The east wall of the south aisle displays a single 14th-century three-light arched, traceried and cusped window with hood mould. A string course runs beneath and extends around the south wall. The gabled angle buttresses of the south aisle are decorated with blind tracery. There is a single 15th-century three-light traceried and cusped window under a flat arch with hood mould. To its left stands the 19th-century porch with a single ridge cross and entrance flanked by slim columns with moulded capitals supporting a moulded arch with hood mould and head label stops. The inner 14th-century ogee arched doorway has a heavily moulded surround and 19th-century hood mould and head label stops. Left of the porch is a single similar 15th-century two-light window. Two gargoyles are present. The west wall has a single arched and cusped light. The clerestory corresponds to the north.

Interior

The interior contains three-bay 13th-century nave arcades. The south arcade columns have octagonal cores surrounded by four detached shafts. The capitals are decorated with crocket and other leaves, those at the east and west having plain moulded capitals. These support double chamfered arches with hood mould and label stops to the north side. The north arcade has round columns and keeled responds, all with moulded capitals supporting double chamfered arches with hood mould and label stops over the north and south sides.

The 13th-century double chamfered chancel arch is supported on keeled columns with moulded capitals and has a hood mould over. The inner arch of the double chamfered tower arch is supported on corbels.

The two-bay 13th-century chancel north chapel arcade has a single column with half-octagonal core surrounded by four detached shafts. The capitals are decorated with crocket and other leaves. The circular responds have moulded capitals. These support double chamfered arches with hood moulds to north and south. The south chancel wall has a chamfered arched tomb recess with hood mould. The south wall of the south aisle contains an arched and cusped piscina and a moulded arched aumbry. In the northwest corner of the nave wall is a small carved head. The chancel roof is supported on 19th-century corbels.

Monuments and fittings include a monument to Ann Cartwright of 1804 and another to Catharine Cartwright of 1799, decorated with an urn and crest on the apron, both in the south chancel. The north nave wall has a monument to Mary Owtram of 1778. The south aisle wall displays a fine and elaborate monument to Edmund Nicholson of 1693, decorated with cherubs and an urn on the crown, crest and skull on the apron, with the tablet flanked by carved drapery. A further fine monument to William Cartwright of 1748 is decorated with an urn on the crown and flora and crest on the apron. The north aisle wall contains remnants of a fine 17th-century monument decorated with two skulls on the apron. Several 18th and 19th-century floor slabs are present, some to the Cartwright family. The north aisle contains a hatchment dated 1749 and a fragment of 15th-century stained glass depicting a saint.