Parish Church Of St Dunstan (Church Of England) 3/4 Mile South Of Village

TL 41 SW HUNSDON EASTWICK ROAD (east side)

2/8 Parish Church of St Dunstan (C of E) 24.1.67 (formerly listed as Church of St Dunstan) 3/4 mile S of village

GV I

Parish Church. Early C14 unaisled church of flint rubble with stone dressings and old red tile roofs. W tower, shingled spire and timber N porch of early C15. Church renovated, reroofed and N chapel and E part of chancel built in brick c1450 by Sir William Oldhall when building Hunsdon House. S chapel also in brick 1603-17 by 3rd Lord Hunsdon. restored 1830: reseated 1851: conservatively restored by Philip Webb 1871-2. Reset early C14 window in N chapel. 4-bay original C15 nave roof, single-framed of scissor braced rafters, collars and ashlar pieces. Similar roofs to N chapel and chancel (boarded). Rood stair on N. Perpendicular octagonal font. Lower part of C15 screen. C16 recessed wall monument and fine tomb chest to Sir Thomas Forster d1612 and brass to Margaret Shelley d1495 on chancel N wall. Unique C16 brass of park-keeper. Early C17 hexagonal pulpit with sounding board. Splendid alabaster monument to Sir John Carey c1616 in S chapel possibly by Colt (Pevsner), with iron railings. Fine mural monuments to Jane Chester d1736, Felix Calvert d1713 and Robert Chester d1732. Early C17 family pews in S chapel and panelling in nave. A fine late medieval parish church with the oldest timber N porch in the county, an elaborate Jacobean screen to S chapel, the best example in the county (Pevsner), 2 early C17 monuments of the highest sculptural quality of their time (Pevsner), early brickwork and timber roofs, and fine C18 mural monuments, all of outstanding interest. Part of a group with the contemporary Hunsdon House nearby. An important landscape feature. (EHAS Trans (1902) 46-56: RCHM (1911) 127-8: VCH (1912) 329-31: Gibbs (1915) 29-35: Pevsner (1977) 210-12).

Listing NGR: TL4181512710