Church of St Kenelm

Church of St Kenelm

Parish church of the 12th century with 14th-century alterations and 15th-century additions, restored around 1846. Built from red and grey coursed sandstone rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings and repairs. The roof is plain-tiled with gable-end parapets and kneelers topped by crocketted corner pinnacles situated above winged gargoyles, with a similar pinnacle at the apex of the east end gable. The church comprises a west tower intersecting with a continuous four-bay nave and chancel, with a south porch and an undercroft beneath the chancel. The architecture is principally Norman and Perpendicular in style.

The west tower dates from the 15th century but stands on a 12th-century base, built in grey sandstone with slender proportions. It is divided into three stages with a chamfered plinth and an offset above the lower stage; strings mark the divisions above the second stage. The tall west archway has a four-centred head and hoodmould with a large finial and grotesque stops, once providing access to a 12th-century doorway that was blocked in the 19th century. The upper two stages have small diagonal corner buttresses with offsets and large winged gargoyles at each base. The belfry stage features crocketted and finialed ogee-arched bell chamber openings with flanking niches of similar design. These niches are repeated in the corner buttresses, which are terminated by gargoyles at the parapet base. The parapet is embattled with blind cusped pointed arcading and tall crocketted corner pinnacles.

The nave and chancel are 12th-century work, though the east wall was rebuilt in the 14th century. Diagonal corner buttresses with offsets are present, the south-west one being decorated with a crocketted and finialed ogee-arched niche. Within the tower arch, the west wall contains a blocked 12th-century archway with a 19th-century rectangular light above it, and a three-light 19th-century window with a four-centred head. The side elevations of the westernmost bay are recessed and feature a chamfered eaves cornice. The north elevation has three original pilaster buttresses and a 19th-century buttress. It includes a 13th-century window of two lights with a square head, a similar 19th-century window, and a 14th-century lancet at the eastern end, to the west of which is a 12th-century jamb. A 14th-century door has been inserted beneath the eastern buttresses, and there is also a blocked 14th-century entrance opposing the south doorway. The south elevation has an original pilaster buttress and a 19th-century one, with a two-light 14th-century window with hood mould at the eastern end situated above a 14th-century archway that once led to the undercroft. Two other two-light windows are present—one from the 14th century but much restored, the other 19th-century—along with a 19th-century cusped lancet. To the upper right of the second window from the east end is a small relief of a figure with a raised hand in benediction, probably reset.

The south porch dates from the 15th century and is timber-framed with rendered and brick infill on a chamfered sandstone base. It has a gabled roof with overhanging eaves on shaped brackets and moulded bargeboards. A four-centred archway features foliated relief carving in the spandrels, and a coved jetty above supports a brattished tie beam; brattished wall plates and stone benches survive within. The south doorway dates to around 1150 and consists of two shafted orders, the outer enriched with a form of ray and fillet moulding and the inner with beakhead moulding. This doorway is recorded as the most complete of its type in the county. The shafts are much restored. The brown sandstone tympanum depicts Christ in Majesty with ribbed draperies characteristic of the Herefordshire school, and features broad interlaced borders.

The east end of the church is 14th-century work, featuring three tiers of plinth bands. A large pointed archway with an inserted 20th-century door provides access to the undercroft, with a three-light 19th-century window above it with a sill beam and hoodmould. A band marks the base of the gable, and a blind rectangular light occupies the apex.

Interior: The church was restored around 1840 with a 19th-century king-post roof. Two rood-beam corbels survive. The stone font and pulpit are 19th-century. Wall panelling from around 1900 is present. A fragment of a 14th-century cycle of wall paintings illustrating the life of St Kenelm survives at the north-east end.

A south window probably by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, dating to around 1905, features figures of Peace and Faith.

Historical context: According to a legend now disproved, the church stands on the site where St Kenelm, the boy Prince of Mercia, was murdered in 819. A holy spring rose from the ground, and a shrine was built which became a chapel of ease to Halesowen Abbey. The church was later made a parish church in 1841. The building retains a substantial proportion of its Norman masonry, including the impressive tympanum and mouldings of its south doorway. The striking detailing of its west tower and the 15th-century jettied porch are also particularly noteworthy.