Church Of St Kenelm

The Church of St Kenelm is a parish church dating back to the 13th century, with significant additions and alterations in the early 14th century. Further restoration work took place in 1843, 1847/1853, and during the 20th century, with the 1847/1853 project overseen by James Cranston. The church is constructed of coursed sandstone with dressings resembling travertine, and features a timber-framed south porch, plain tile roofs, and a shingled spire.

The church comprises a 13th-century nave that flows into a 13th-century chancel, an early 14th-century south aisle, a 20th-century north vestry, a 20th-century south porch, and a 13th-century west tower surmounted by a broach spire. The west tower has three slightly recessed stages divided by moulded string courses and features diagonal buttresses, single lancet windows in the lower stages (some blocked), and twin flat-headed lights in the belfry. The south aisle has a 20th-century wooden porch leading to an early 14th-century doorway with a two-centred head of two chamfered orders, flanked by restored two-light trefoiled windows. The east window of the south aisle is a restored Decorated three-light trefoiled window, while the west window has restored two-light Y-tracery. The chancel has restored single-light trefoiled windows in the south wall, flanking a restored 14th-century priest’s door, and a restored Decorated three-light trefoiled east window. A late 19th-century vestry is located on the north side, with a 13th-century lancet window. The nave has two restored Decorated windows, each of two lights cinquefoiled, and a blocked opening, probably a door, between them.

Inside, the chancel features a 14th-century arch of travertine-like stone, a late 19th-century arch for an organ, and a restored piscina in the south wall. The nave contains a 14th-century piscina built into one of the jamb stones of the arcade to the south aisle, and a contemporary triangular headed opening above a tower arch. The arcade, with three bays, has two-centred arches of two chamfered orders and a label, supported by octagonal pillars with moulded capitals. The main roof is a collar rafter structure with braces to the collar and ashlar pieces. Some elements of this roof may be from the 13th century, but it has been restored. A late 19th-century arch braced collar truss with foliated corbels separates the nave and chancel. The nave and south aisle roofs are also collar rafter, with stopped and chamfered timbers. A recumbent stone effigy from the late 13th century is located in the east bay of the arcade, and several late 17th-century monuments, including those by Grinling Gibbons to the Jeffreys family, are placed on the north wall of the nave. There are also two late 17th-century wall monuments with heraldic cartouches at the west end of the arcade. The font has a likely 13th-century hexagonal bowl on an octagonal stem, probably from the 14th century, and the tracery of the south aisle east window contains heraldic stained glass.