Middleton Chapel

BITTERLEY

SO57NW MIDDLETON 482-1/5/98 Middleton Chapel 12/11/54

GV II*

Church. C12, restored 1857. Stone rubble with ashlar dressings. Plain-tile roof. PLAN: chancel, nave with north porch and integral bellcote. EXTERIOR: C19 chancel east window of 3 Norman-style lancets with roundel over. Blocked door with plain flat-headed tympanum over. Flat-headed C12 lancet to south. North wall with single C12 Norman lancet. Nave: north wall has C12 Norman lancet, and C19 restored Norman-style lancet and doorway and 2 ashlar buttresses. South wall has single C12 Norman lancet and 3 C19 Norman-style lancets interspersed with 3 C19 ashlar buttresses. West end rebuilt mid C19 incorporating arched west window in Norman style, the window set in projecting buttress rising to form bellcote with ashlar-roofed canopy with single bell-opening. North porch: C19 gabled porch with sandstone-slate roof, set on timber-frame and ashlar plinth. INTERIOR: chancel with single-bay single-purlin restored roof of reset rafters and ashlaring. Stained glass in east window by Kempe. Restored chancel arch on scalloped capital and half-round shaft. Chancel screen with 8 openings with vaulting supporting gallery over, restored but retaining mostly original material. Unpierced end bays, open central pair, and mid rail with tracery under side bays. Arched entrance inset with carving and initials N N on one spandrel. Open pendant tracery in Decorated-style pointed arches. Vaulting over arcade with bressumer with 3 bands of foliage carving. Plain vertical-panelled gallery with restored foiled tracery in central panels. Probably original, with a rood loft that was not restored with the rest of the screen. Screen was dated 1582 prior to restoration. Nave: 4-bay restored roof with 3 arch-braced hammerbeam trusses and single trenched purlin roof. Each truss of principals, collar, hammerbeams with carved ends, strut and restored arch-braces, wall-posts and brackets. C16 plain octagonal font.

Listing NGR: SO5400777333