Church Of St Botolph

Church of St Botolph

Parish church, substantially rebuilt in 1872–3 by architect A W Blomfield while incorporating the earlier tower and 13th-century chancel arch (documented by plaque in tower and signed plan at the Rectory in High Wych). The church stands at the south end of Church Lane in Eastwick village.

The building is constructed of uncoursed knapped flint with limestone dressings, with steep red tile roofs featuring ridge tiles alternately plain and crested. It forms a long, austere Lancet-style composition with a tall unaisled nave, a slightly lower chancel, a transeptal north organ chamber off the chancel, a timber-framed north porch, and an unbuttressed west tower. The design follows closely the form and style of the earlier church it replaces.

The west tower, refaced in three stages, features a 19th-century battlemented parapet, a short pyramidal red tiled spire, and corner gargoyles. The bell-stage has two-light pointed plate tracery openings with quatrefoils in the head on each face. A lancet window appears on the west and north in the middle stage, with a two-light west window below. Each stage narrows at a string course. The organ chamber transept is lower than the chancel and displays triple lancets in its north gable, with a stone circular chimney on the ridge. Roll mouldings run under the tiled verges of the gables to the nave, chancel and transept.

The timber porch is open and features cusped bargeboards and side arcades with turned mullions, flanked by large decorative cast iron footscrapers. Iron gable crosses ornament the nave and chancel. The interior is plastered.

The nave roof is a five-bay arched braced roof on corbels. The chancel roof is scissor-braced with side and central purlins. High single lancet windows light the interior. The stone pulpit is a notable feature.

The centrepiece of the church is the surviving 13th-century moulded chancel arch, with three Purbeck marble shafts at each side, each with moulded caps and bases. Pevsner describes this as 'astonishingly ambitious ... as if for a cathedral'. The chancel is raised one step and has a three-bay boarded wagon roof, an encaustic tile floor, and three further steps to the altar. South of the altar are sedilia, with what is possibly a reset piscina on a shelf to the north. The east wall features a simple stone reredos integral with it, displaying three mosaic panels. A triple lancet east window is divided by dark marble shafts with annulets. A brass rail with twisted iron standards and scrolled brackets fronts the chancel, with open stall fronts arcaded with turned mullions. An opening to the organ chamber opens on the north.

The church contains outstanding 13th- and 18th-century monuments. A 13th-century recumbent marble effigy of a knight with crossed legs, mounted on a moulded base beneath the tower, is probably that of Richard de Tany (died c.1270). Pevsner identifies this as the finest 13th-century effigy in the county. Above it stands a fine wall monument with three Corinthian columns to Mary Plummer (died 1700). Opposite is a wall monument to Walter Plummer (died 1746) with exquisite carving which Pevsner attributes to Rysbrack. A brass commemorates Joan Lee (died 1564).

The church was rebuilt in 1872–3 at the expense of the Hodgson brothers of Gilston Park as an estate improvement; they are buried in the churchyard. A W Blomfield's reconstruction closely follows the detail and form of the 13th-century church while introducing 19th-century refinements. The building serves as a landmark and centre for the village group, its east-west elongation echoing the proportions of a barn range opposite when approaching Eastwick from the south.