Church Of St George

Church of St George

This is a parish church dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, situated in Littleport. The building was substantially altered and extended in 1857 by the architect Teulon, who added a new north nave and aisle parallel to the original structure.

The church is constructed mainly of rubblestone with some brick and fieldstone, with limestone dressings and slate roofs. The plan comprises a west tower, a double nave with north and south aisles, a south chapel, and a chancel.

The west tower is four storeys high with an embattled parapet. It was rebuilt in brick and has a moulded plinth. The tower features four-stage angle buttressing and an embattled half-octagonal newel staircase with quatrefoil lights to each stage. The open ground stage of the tower was blocked in 1857 with a doorway made in the south wall. The main western entrance has a two-centred arch with two wave and one ogee order. The west window contains three cinquefoil lights in a four-centred arch, now restored. A two-cinquefoil-light window occupies the second stage, and the bell stage has three cinquefoil lights in a four-centred arch in each wall.

The original nave is embattled and features a clerestorey on its south side of four windows, each with two cinquefoil lights in four-centred arches. The south porch dates to the 14th or 15th century though much rebuilt. It has a gabled roof with an end parapet on moulded stone kneelers and diagonal buttressing. The outer arch is four-centred and restored, comprising two hollow moulded orders with the inner on engaged shafts bearing moulded capitals and bases. The inner doorway has a two-centred arch of two continuous wave mouldings divided by a cavetto.

The chancel features a window in its south wall of three cinquefoil lights in a four-centred arch, and a south doorway with a similar four-centred chamfered arch. The east window is 19th-century work, containing five cinquefoil lights in a two-centred arch with an original moulded label and large demi-angel stops.

Teulon's 1857 addition on the north comprises materials similar to the earlier work. It has a clerestorey of six windows, each with two cinquefoil lights in four-centred arches. The north aisle is embattled and has four windows each with three cinquefoil lights in four-centred arches, plus one window at its east end with two similar lights. The north porch is gabled with a parapet, and its outer arch is two-centred with three moulded orders, the inner on engaged shafts. A stone louvre stands at the east end of the north aisle.

Interior

The wall of the earlier west tower contains a 15th-century arch with an outer hollow moulded order that dies into the piers. The inner order rests on an engaged shaft to the respond, with moulded capitals and a high base. The nave arcade spans four bays with two-centred arches of two moulded orders (the outer continuous) rising from piers of lozenge section. The inner wave moulding is carried on engaged shafts with moulded capital and high base. The roof is 19th-century work of hammer-beam type with braced collars and a king post to each truss. Angels ornament the soffits of the intermediate purlins.

The chancel arch mirrors that of the nave arcade. The chancel contains a piscina in its south wall with a four-centred chamfered arch. Its roof is also 19th-century hammer-beam construction, with jackposts carried on original corbels carved with demi-angels. A four-centred arch of two moulded orders connects the chancel to the south chapel. Remains of a rood loft staircase survive south of the chancel arch.

Teulon's 1857 north nave has an arcade on its north side in six bays with pier profiles matching the 15th-century work. The four clerestorey windows of the original 15th-century nave remain but are unglazed. The roof spans six bays with queen posts on braced tiebeams and a king post to the collar.

Notable fittings include three 16th-century pews at the west end of the nave with original moulded rails and bench ends, the latter carved with poupée heads and one bearing a shield. The font is 15th-century work in limestone, octagonal with a quatrefoil to a panel on each side, standing on an octagonal stem with moulded base. A large iron-bound chest dated 1672 stands at the west end of the south aisle.