Church Of St Editha

Church of St Editha

This church originally formed part of a Benedictine nunnery church, with origins in the 11th century. The present building comprises an early 12th-century nave and north aisle, a 14th-century tower topped with 17th- and 18th-century work, and a chancel and north porch added during the 14th century. The aisle was probably widened in the 14th century. The building underwent drastic restoration in 1869 by G.E. Street. It is constructed of sandstone ashlar with old plain-tile roofs topped by coped gable parapets.

The church is laid out with a nave of eight bays, a four-bay chancel, a north aisle, a north-east tower, and a north porch. The chancel's east window comprises five stepped lancets set within a blank arch. On the south side of the chancel is a blocked 12th-century Romanesque doorway of two orders with hood mould, which originally gave access to the cloister and is positioned at the western end. Below this are two pairs of lancets. The nave's south side contains three triplets of lancets set in blank arches. High up are two straight-headed, restored 14th-century windows with cusped ogee lights and pierced spandrels. Between these and set lower is a 19th-century lancet.

The west front combines the nave and the very slightly projecting aisle. The nave features a renewed four-light Perpendicular window. The aisle has northern and massive southern buttresses, both with two offsets. An early 13th-century doorway, off-centre, displays two chamfered orders, old double-leaf doors, and ironwork. Above it is a window with cusped Y-tracery and a small buttress below. The gable contains a trefoil opening and a 14th-century cross finial.

The north side has a splay plinth and shallow buttresses. A wide, low porch with a moulded doorway and double-leaf doors stands here; inside the porch is a 12th-century doorway of two moulded orders, with a trefoiled opening to the west. East of the porch are three triplets of lancets similar to those on the nave. The massive two-stage tower has diagonal buttresses on all corners except the south-east, each with a gablet and two offsets. A very large, restored three-light Decorated window on the north side rises into the second stage and features reticulated tracery, a transom, and a hood mould with head stops. The bell chamber has two-light openings with reticulated tracery and wooden louvres. The east side is largely blank except for two large slit openings to the bell chamber. An embattled parapet with slits below crowns the tower, and a clock face appears on the west side.

Interior

The chancel's east window has nook shafts. The north tower arch comprises three segmental painted chamfered orders with deep splayed jambs and a cusped arched brace roof. A 19th-century chancel arch of one chamfered order without responds or imposts separates the chancel from the nave.

The nave features an eight-bay early 11th-century Romanesque arcade of low, narrow arches with shallow scalloped capitals and a string course above. A former clerestory of small windows with splayed jambs survives, and a medieval head corbel sits high up. A 19th-century seven-bay crown post roof covers the nave, with a similar roof in the aisle. The tower arch has an outer chamfer and three inner chamfered orders with deep splay jambs.

Fittings

The church contains a 14th-century octagonal font with trefoiled blind arches and simple shafts, an iron-bound dug-out chest, and a 14th-century sculpture panel set on a head corbel in the aisle. 19th-century stalls are also present.

Monuments

An effigy of an Abbess dating to around 1200 occupies the second bay of the arcade, rendered in low relief and set on a 15th-century Perpendicular tomb chest with shields in quatrefoils. An early 15th-century effigy of a lady in the third bay rests on a similar Perpendicular tomb chest with blind arches at the angles. A monument to Francis Nethersole (died 1652) is located on the nave's east wall, featuring a panel with moulded architectural surround and a lozenge of arms.