Church Of St Botolph Beauchamp Roding

The Church of St Botolph in Beauchamp Roding is a parish church with origins in the 14th century, significantly altered in the 15th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The walls are of flint rubble mixed with free stone, incorporating clunch dressings, and have gabled peg tile roofs. The west wall of the nave features two windows; the eastern window has three trefoiled lights set under a four-centred arch dating to the early 15th century. The western window has two trefoiled lights enclosing a quatrefoil within a two-centred head, with a decorative label featuring stops, and was restored in the early 14th century. A blocked doorway on the north wall, dating to the 14th century, features moulded jambs and a two-centred arch. A straight rood stair from the 15th century is situated on the south wall, incorporating a four-centred doorway. A 19th-century porch is set on the south side, constructed with knapped flint, timber framing, a gabled peg tile roof, and ornamental bargeboards. The nave roof boasts two moulded crown posts with stout arched braces, likely from the 14th century, and originally extended further east and west. The three-stage west tower features an embattled parapet. A 15th-century tower arch, with two-centred heads and two orders of chamfering (the inner order featuring moulded capitals and bases), separates the tower from the nave. The west window of the tower, also 15th century, has three cinque-foiled lights under a four-centred head. The west doorway is two-centred with two orders of chamfering. The second stage of the tower has single windows on the north, south, and west walls, each with two chamfered arches and a two-centred head. The bell chamber's windows, set into each wall, comprise two trefoiled lights under a four-centred head with a moulded label. The tower’s corner buttresses are diagonally placed, and the bell chamber floor dates to the 15th century and is complete. The chancel has a 19th-century window in its eastern wall, with 15th-century windows in the north wall (three lights, cinquefoiled with reticulated tracery under a four-centred head) and the west wall (two lights, similar design). The south wall of the chancel has two restored windows and a 19th-century doorway. The chancel arch has jambs of two orders, with a grooved soffit intended for a timber rood. The chancel roof displays 15th-century moulded wall plates, a tie beam with curved braces borne on stone corbels. A 19th-century pulpit with an ornamental handrail, and a matching reading desk, are also present. The church retains bases of 18th-century stepped pews within the nave, alongside 19th-century rebuilt benches and ends.