Church Of St Anne

Church of St Anne

A parish church in Sutton Bonington, dating from the 13th and 14th centuries, with 19th-century additions and alterations. The church underwent restoration in 1860, 1877, and 1903. It is constructed of ashlar and dressed coursed rubble with slate roofs featuring a decorative ridge to the chancel. The chancel is topped with coped gables and single ridge crosses to the east and west.

The building comprises a nave with a west bellcote, north aisle and vestry, south porch, and chancel. It is buttressed throughout. The south nave sits on a moulded plinth, while the north aisle stands on a chamfered plinth. A 19th-century gabled bellcote with two arches, each containing a single bell, projects from the west. The 1903 vestry is gabled and features a Caernarvon arched doorway in its west wall and a single arched 3-light window with intersecting tracery, hood mould and label stops in its north wall.

The fenestration is extensive and varied. The west nave wall contains a single 19th-century arched 3-light window with intersecting tracery, hood mould and label stops. The west wall of the aisle has a similar but smaller 14th-century restored 3-light window. The north aisle wall has a single 14th-century arched 2-light window with Y tracery. To the left of the vestry is a similar 2-light 14th-century window. The east wall of the aisle has a single 14th-century window with two arched lights under a flat arch.

The chancel windows are equally detailed. The north wall has a single 14th-century window with two ogee arched and cusped lights under a flat arch, and to its left another window with two round arched lights under a flat arch. The east chancel wall displays a single restored 14th-century arched window with intersecting tracery and hood mould, its apex decorated with blind cusped tracery. The south wall of the chancel features a single cinquefoil arched light, a small rectangular light, and a small 14th-century arched 2-light window with Y tracery, hood mould and label stops. The south nave wall has a similar larger 14th-century window with hood mould and label stops and a continuous sill band.

A gabled 19th-century porch with chamfered arched entrance and single quatrefoil above interrupts the south nave. The porch's east wall contains a single small rectangular opening. Its interior features re-used ashlar benches and an inner moulded arched doorway with hood mould and label stops. To the left is a similar 14th-century 2-light window with hood mould and label stops. The north aisle wall has a doorway connecting to the vestry. A single trefoil window appears in the east wall.

The interior contains a 3-bay 14th-century nave arcade with an octagonal column and respond to the west and a circular column to the east, the eastern respond being a corbel. The capitals are moulded, and the arches are double chamfered. The chancel arch is also double chamfered, with the inner order supported on octagonal columns with moulded capitals. A traceried screen divides the nave from the chancel.

The south-east chancel window has a low sill forming a sedilia, with a rectangular piscina to its left. The north wall displays a depressed moulded arched tomb recess containing a damaged 15th-century alabaster effigy of a knight. To its left is a recess for the organ. The south nave wall contains a small arched piscina. The south and west nave walls and the north wall of the aisle feature continuous sill bands broken by doorways.

A 14th-century octagonal font decorated with quatrefoil panels stands in the interior, with a 19th-century cover. The remaining furniture is 19th-century in date and includes a carved reredos. A Benefactions board adorns the south wall. The west window of the nave is probably by Morris & Co., while the south-east chancel window was created by Moore & Co., London.