Church Of St George

Church of St George, Lower Brailes

This is a substantial parish church dating from the 13th century with significant alterations and additions in the 14th and 15th centuries. The building underwent restoration in 1879. It is constructed of regular coursed ironstone with stone slate roofs.

The church comprises a chancel, nave, west tower, north and south aisles, and a north vestry.

The chancel features mostly sandstone windows. The east window has five lights with reticulated tracery. The south side includes a three-light window with intersecting tracery, a two-light traceried window, and a four-light Perpendicular window. Two two-light north windows have traceried heads. There is a doorway with a pointed arched head and hood mould.

The nave has parapets with finials to the north and south. The south side has a corbel table with heads. A clerestory of twelve two-light Decorated windows runs along both the north and south sides.

The south aisle has an east window of three lights with plate tracery featuring trefoils and cinquefoils. Late 13th-century windows include a three-light window with intersecting tracery and four three-light windows with stepped lancets. A two-light lancet window to the west has a cinquefoil head.

The north aisle features six two-light Decorated windows with square heads and a pointed arched doorway with hood mould. It has an open parapet with a corbel table displaying a row of beast and monster heads.

The west tower consists of three stages. The 15th-century west doorway has a square head with partly renewed stonework. A five-light Perpendicular west window is present, with double window openings to the bell chamber. The tower has an embattled parapet with finials.

The south porch dates to the 15th century and has a parapet with finials and a sundial. The south doorway has three continuous orders of moulding and a hood mould. The door is a renewed plank design. Diagonal buttresses, coped gables, and gargoyles are present. A sanctus bell-cote has ogee heads and a finial.

Interior

The chancel has a renewed chancel arch in Decorated style with renewed stonework to the organ recess. A three-seat Decorated sedilia with stone arms and a Decorated piscina, both with ogee heads, are features.

The nave has six-bay arcades to the north and south with octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. The north arcade is later than the south arcade, which dates to the late 13th or early 14th century. The south arcade has piers with differing bases and capitals. The roof has a very low pitch with corbel heads supporting roof trusses. The easternmost roof beam bears traces of 15th-century painting.

A tall Decorated tower arch with three orders of continuous chamfers opens to the west. A late 13th or early 14th-century octagonal font with eight different tracery patterns is present. A 19th-century font cover, pine pews, pulpit, and stone reredos are also within the church.

Monuments and Burials

A wall monument in the south aisle commemorates Richard Davies, who died in 1639. He was a Master of Arts of Exeter College, Oxford, and the monument features a marble entablature supporting a still life of books.

A 15th-century tomb chest with traceried sides and a defaced effigy is also present.

Chancel floor gravestones record various burials: Sherley (1633); Jane, wife of Ralph Sherley (1685); Jane, wife of Barnabas Bishop, Patron of the church (1630); Barnabas Bishop (1635); William Bishop (1687); Francis Bishop (1712); John Bishop (1627); Dorothy, wife of John Bishop (161?); and James Wright (1716).

Historical Note

The Church of St George was known locally as the Cathedral of the Feldon.