Parish Church (Dedication Unknown)

Parish Church (Dedication Unknown)

This parish church combines elements from the early 12th century onwards, representing a substantial building of Grade I importance.

The core of the structure is an early 12th-century nave. Around 1230, the chancel wall was probably widened to match the nave's width. The chancel arch may have been removed at that time or in the 15th century. The walls are constructed of flint rubble with stone dressing, except for the west tower, which is a fine example of 16th-century brickwork. Red tiled roofs cover the building throughout.

The 19th-century restoration campaign added a north vestry, south chapel, and south porch. At this time the chancel received new windows and features: a three-light east window with three roundels above in a two-centred arch (the rear splays and arch being original work), a doorway and recess in the north wall, and a two-light window with roundel over in the south wall. The chancel arch has been replaced by a moulded beam supported on chamfered wall posts with curved brackets.

The chancel roof is exceptional: a panelled roof of six cants with moulded beams and carved figures on the principals, complemented by moulded wall plates with carved cresting.

In the nave, the north wall retains a 15th-century window of three trefoiled ogee lights with tracery in a two-centred head. Further west stands a blocked 12th-century north doorway with plain jambs, a semi-circular head, and a plain tympanum; the lintel is ornamented with foliar and chevron design. The south wall features a 15th-century restored window of similar design to the north window. Also on the south wall is a 12th-century doorway with 16th-century four-centred arch but 12th-century jambs; the door itself is 16th century, made of studded boards with moulded strips and good strap hinges, and its semi-circular rear arch is original.

The nave roof dates to 1701 and carries the initials I.S. It comprises seven obtuse cants, is ceiled and pargetted.

The west tower is built of red brick with diapering. It features a crenellated parapet with crow-stepped gables and a corbel table of trefoiled arches. A crenellated octagonal north-east stair turret rises higher than the tower itself. The tower arch is two-centred with three orders, two of which are chamfered responds with semi-circular shafts featuring moulded capitals and stone bases. The west window is of brick, three lights with intersecting tracery in a two-centred head, with moulded label, jambs, and arch (the mullions are renewals in wood). The second stage has south and west windows each with one pointed light. The bell chamber contains three windows: the east, south, and west walls have two-light windows with four-centred heads, while the north wall has a similar single window. Diagonal buttresses strengthen the tower. The stair turret doorway has chamfered jambs and a four-centred arch, and its 16th-century door is of studded battens with hollow chamfered strips and good strap hinges.

Interior furnishings and features include a 15th-century font with traceried panels, carved square bosses to an octagonal bowl, a moulded base, and traceried stem sides; one side of the step is enriched with a band of quatrefoils. In the chancel is a 14th-century piscina with moulded jambs and trefoiled head (the basin is modern). A 15th-century piscina in the nave has hollow chamfered jambs and a cinquefoiled head with carved spandrels; its basin, back, and sides are cased with modern marble. A 15th-century seat in the chancel is made up with two standards with carved poppies, a moulded rail, and cusped panelling to the back. A 17th-century stool features turned legs and carved strap-work rails. On the south wall is a monument dated 1730 to Poley Clopton, MD, comprising two painted boards inscribed with the Ten Commandments. Glass in the nave includes 15th-century fragments in the tracery of the north window and 19th-century work.