Church Of St Cuthbert

Church of St Cuthbert

A parish church with early 14th-century chancel and nave of circa 1635, built in red sandstone ashlar with plain tiled roofs. The church was substantially restored and enlarged by John Norton in 1879-80, when the west tower (replacing an earlier 15th-century tower), north aisle, and south porch were added.

The tower rises in three stages, set on a plinth with diagonal buttresses. A hexagonal stair turret occupies the angle to the north aisle. The ground and first floor stages feature lancet windows, while the belfry has cusped 2-light windows in Decorated style beneath hood-moulds. The tower is crowned with an embattled parapet carrying four winged gargoyles, with a quatrefoil frieze below and a brass weathercock.

The nave is of coursed rubble construction (the chancel similarly treated) and is lit by three elementary 2-light Perpendicular windows under hood-moulds, probably dating from circa 1630-40. A pointed south doorway opens into a timber porch with bargeboards on sandstone walls, added in 1879-80. Foundations at the east end indicate the site of a small transept, which was removed when the nave was rebuilt in 1635.

The north aisle, added in 1879-80, has a steeply pitched roof and is lit by four paired lancets to the north wall and single lancets to the east and west.

The chancel is distinguished by its early 14th-century window design. The east window features intersecting tracery dating to around 1300, with 2-cusped lights and spherical triangles above. Other contemporary windows display hood-moulds of scroll type with crudely carved faces serving as label stops. The south wall contains a west window with transom and low-side window beneath; the interior stonework for securing the bolt of the shutter survives in partly restored condition. The priest's door has a double-chamfered pointed arch, also with hood-mould and carved faces as label stops. The east wall features a stepped-chamfered plinth and angle buttresses. A stone bowl with carved leaf decoration, possibly a medieval font, stands beside the buttress at the east end of the nave.

Interior

The north aisle arcade comprises four bays with octagonal capitals bearing heads in the spandrels, paired lancets in the north wall framed with detached columns imitating Early English style. The pointed tower arch dates from circa 1880. The nave features a magnificent double hammer-beam roof with wind braces and grotesque heads to the highly decorated carved wall-post brackets. An inscription on the tie beam at the west end reads "Thomas Brigg, Carpenter 1635".

The chancel arch, dating from 1879, carries stiff-leaf foliage carving on the capitals. A low stone screen with cast iron rail dates from 1897. The chancel's trussed-rafter roof is probably medieval. A restored early 14th-century piscina with credence shelf is visible, and an aumbry on the north side retains a 19th-century brass-hinged wooden door.

The east window contains stained glass from 1885. Fragments of medieval, possibly 15th-century, glass appear in the east window of the north wall. The window to the west preserves fine 14th-century glass including figures of the Virgin and Christ, probably from a Coronation of the Virgin, together with armorial shields.

The font, pulpit, and most fittings are late 19th-century, with the exception of Perpendicular bench ends in the north aisle. A board recording the parish charities, set up in 1746, hangs on the north aisle wall. The Royal Coat of Arms of George III is displayed above the tower arch.

Monuments

A brass plate on the south chancel wall commemorates John Chapman (died 1607). An alabaster cartouche honours Edmund and Richard Waring (the latter died 1676), and a polished stone slab on the west wall of the nave commemorates two infant daughters (died 1650 and 1653) of Ferrers Fowke of Brewood.

Historical Context

The church was probably founded between 1085 and 1094 by Roger de Montgomery. The advowson belonged to Shrewsbury Abbey until the Dissolution at the Reformation.