Petton Church (St Raphael and St Isidore)

Petton Church (St Raphael and St Isidore)

Parish church built in 1727 for Francis Chambre on the site of a medieval church. The building was restored in 1870 for William Sparling of Petton Hall and again in 1896 for Emma Florence Cunliffe, also of Petton Hall. Originally listed with dedication unknown, the church has now been identified as dedicated to St Raphael and St Isidore.

The church is constructed of red brick on a stepped plinth, moulded at the west end. The late 19th-century slate roof features lozenge-shaped patterns with coped verges on carved stone kneelers and four iron louvres. The plan consists of a nave and chancel in one, with a slightly later north vestry, a west bellcote, and a porch dating from 1870.

The exterior is lit by three round-headed windows on the north and south sides, with the easternmost window on the north side shortened; a similar round-headed window lights the east end. A segmental-headed west doorway with a panelled door is sheltered beneath an open gabled timber porch resting on brick side walls with sandstone coping, finished with a pointed finial and scissor bracing to the gable. The square open bellcote houses a bell inscribed "LONG LIVE ROGER WILBRAHAM 1666" and is topped with a steep pyramidal roof and brass weathercock. The north vestry has a round-headed window and a machine tile roof. A date stone above the porch records "THIS CHURCH / WAS RESTORED BY / W.m SPARLING ESQ / OF PETTON HALL / SEPT 1st 1870." Fixed to the south wall is a headstone to Edward Hayward with an inscription relating to his death caused by the wheels of a waggon in 1829 (the year was illegible at the time of the 1987 resurvey).

Interior

The interior contains box pews on the north and south sides with H-hinges and benches around the sides, probably dating from circa 1727. The squire's pew at the east end of the south side incorporates 17th-century carved panels, mostly depicting floral patterns. Reused square and rectangular panelling to the walls probably also dates from the 17th century, though the panelling around the windows on the north and south sides is likely 18th or 19th century.

A sumptuously carved Jacobean pulpit, said to have come from the Church of St Giles in Wrexham, dominates the interior. It bears the inscription "1635 / AM.. CW" with the "3" reversed. The pulpit features barleysugar balusters to the steps with foliage at their feet, fluted decoration to the base, and decorated carved panels separated by barleysugar balusters; it is topped with carved rosettes and has carved supports to the ledge of the desk. The back displays a carved emblem of the sun with the superscription "HIS". An elaborately carved tester with pendants includes later Gothic tracery patterns. The reading desk below the pulpit is probably original to the church, and part of the steps may date from the 19th century.

A small brass tablet on the west wall records that the church was "adorned and beautified by Emma Florence Cunliffe, Lady of the Manor of Petton" in 1896. She was responsible for the design of several fittings and furnishings and oversaw the importation of much woodwork from elsewhere. The west gallery has linenfold panelling to its front (said to have been discovered beneath the pews) and rests on two columns on square plinths brought from the Council House in Shrewsbury. These columns are covered with oval, oblong and diamond-shaped carving and have lion's heads at the top.

Much 17th-century woodwork was brought from Stanwardine Hall and reused in the reredos and the surround of the east window. Jacobean panelling also appears on the walls of the chancel, which has a bench on the south side and contemporary altar rails. Two 17th-century Dutch carved panels are fixed to the north wall of the chancel—one showing the Resurrection of Christ (inscribed "Christ Opsta") and the other inscribed "DE DOPE CHRIST"—reused as a font cover, said to have been purchased in Bridgnorth.

A wrought-iron screen with elaborately worked floral motifs is fixed to the east end of the easternmost pews, designed by Mrs Cunliffe in 1897. Also by Mrs Cunliffe are the wrought-iron sconces fixed to the pulpit, pews and gallery, and the candelabra in the chancel and gallery. Late 19th-century encaustic tiles pave the chancel and tessellated tiles the sanctuary. An iron-bound safe contemporary with these works is set into the south wall. The font consists of an 18th-century vase-shaped baluster supporting a detached Corinthian capital with a hollowed top and egg and dart moulding, possibly of different origin from its pedestal. A holy water stoup by the west door was found during the clearing of Petton Moat in 1825. A chained Book of Common Prayer dated 1745 is kept in the west pew on the north side. The roof is a plain collar-beam design in seven bays, restored in 1870.

Stained glass was largely designed by Emma Florence Cunliffe. The east window commemorates her uncles and aunt, William, Charles and Emma Sparling. On the north side, from east to west: (1) given by parishioners in 1909; (2) in memory of Legendre Watkin Cunliffe (died 1906); (3) in memory of Ellis Robert Cunliffe Stone (died 1914). On the south side, from west to east: (1) in memory of Robert Doyly Freeman Thomas (died 1911); (2) marking the coronation of George V (1911); (3) in memory of Emma Florence Cunliffe, née Sparling (died 1925).

Monuments throughout the church include 19th and 20th-century wall tablets and memorials to members of the Sparling and Cunliffe families. The most notable are large marble and mosaic monuments towards the west end of the nave: on the north side to Ellis Brooke Cunliffe (died 1915) and on the south side to John Brooke Cunliffe (died 1917). The only earlier monument is to the left of the pulpit, featuring plain pilasters with composite capitals flanking an inscription panel (illegible at the 1987 resurvey) commemorating Francis Chambre (died 1734), with an armorial device at the top and two putti heads at the bottom.

Petton was originally a dependent chapelry of Baschurch. The church was begun in 1906 by Emma Florence Cunliffe and has been maintained by successive vicars under the care of the churchwarden.