Church Of The Holy Cross

Church of the Holy Cross

A parish church in Moreton Morrell, predominantly dating from the 12th century with substantial later additions and alterations. The building comprises a two-bay chancel with north vestry, a four-bay nave with north porch, and a west tower.

The chancel and lower part of the tower are 12th and 13th century in date; the upper part of the tower was rebuilt in the 20th century (1966), and the roof was replaced around 1808. A north vestry and porch were added in 1895.

The church is built in coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, with some ashlar to the chancel. The vestry is brick. The roofs are old tile.

The chancel has a coped gable and diagonal buttresses. Its east window is a 14th-century three-light design with head corbels re-set from the nave roof, flanking a hood mould. The north side has a blocked straight-headed opening with splayed jambs and a chamfered timber lintel bearing mason's mitres. The vestry has a north window with two Tudor-headed lights.

The south side of the chancel has two offset buttresses. Two straight-headed windows are present: the eastern is 14th century and the western is 15th century with three lights and four-centred heads.

The nave has diagonal east buttresses and a gable partly rebuilt in brick. The north side features a 14th-century entrance with two orders of moulding to a plank door, with an earlier rere arch behind. A 19th-century timber porch with enriched bargeboards has been added. The entrance is flanked by large early 19th-century pointed windows with splayed reveals and clear glass.

The south side of the nave has shallow offset buttresses. Two 14th-century moulded pointed window openings originally had tracery, now replaced by clear glazing. A blocked entrance has an inserted 19th-century plain pointed window. One buttress bears the date 1717 scratched into the stone; another has a scratch dial.

The two-stage tower has large brick diagonal buttresses and a string course over the lower stage with a plain parapet. The west window has a 15th-century moulded arch enclosing 19th-century Y-tracery. The north side has a re-set 12th-century round window head. The upper stage has 20th-century plain pointed louvred bell-openings.

The interior walls are plastered, dating from the 18th century. The chancel roof is three-bayed with two collars to the trusses and double purlins. The chancel arch is double-chamfered with plain moulded caps.

The nave roof is four-bayed with tie beams below wall heads, ashlaring with shields, and king and queen posts with diagonal struts and double purlins. The tower arch is double-chamfered, with the inner chamfer corbelled.

A 13th-century piscina to the nave's south wall has a slightly trefoiled opening.

Fittings include 19th-century stalls and altar rail in the chancel. The nave contains a 19th-century pulpit incorporating early 17th-century lozenge panels, a 19th-century font on a panelled octagonal shaft, and 19th-century charity boards in both the nave and tower. A painted coat of arms of George III hangs over the chancel arch.

Monuments include a wall monument in the chancel south wall to Richard (died 1635) and Mary Murden, which comprises a twin arched recess with kneeling figures facing across a desk, flanking panelled plinths supporting putti and an entablature to a broken pediment with an angel and two armorial bearings, an inscribed apron panel with enriched frame and flanking cherubs. A small inscribed panel with enriched frame commemorates Elizabeth Hervey (died 1623), an infant. A re-set brass marks Anne Bagshaw (died 1689).

A plain 12th-century tympanum rests on the south window sill, carved with a lintel bearing a horizontal Celtic cross and a diapered panel.