St George'S Church

St George's Church, Arreton

A parish church built primarily of Isle of Wight stone rubble with ashlar quoins and a tiled roof. The building comprises a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel with a south chapel, a south porch, and a west tower.

The church has a complex build sequence spanning from the 11th century onwards. The nave and part of the chancel date to the 11th century. The north aisle was constructed around 1200 and was later altered in the 15th century. The south aisle, west doorway, and clerestorey are 13th-century work. The chancel, including the chancel arch and a three-bay south chapel, dates to the late 13th century. The upper stage of the tower and its angle buttresses are 15th-century additions. The south porch was built in the 16th century. The church underwent significant restoration around 1885.

The west tower has a Norman lower part and a 15th-century upper part. It rises in three stages with late 15th-century ashlar angled buttresses and a crenellated parapet. The top stage has a two-light mullioned bell opening with wooden louvres and one lancet window. The second stage features a two-light mullioned window. The first stage contains a 13th-century arched doorway.

The south porch is early 16th-century work with moulded stone parapet and a sundial. It has an arched doorway with hood moulding and angled buttresses, and is covered by a ribbed barrel-vaulted ceiling.

The nave comprises three bays. The south aisle has two cinquefoil-headed windows with drip moulding above and one hipped dormer with a two-light wooden window. The north aisle also has two cinquefoil-headed windows with drip moulding and an arched doorcase. A cross-shaped saddlestone of 1885 tops the gable end with stone coping and kneelers.

The south chapel has three late 13th-century pointed arched windows with two lancets each and a circular window above in the original unfoiled form, with thin shafts and capitals. The east window is a Geometrical design of three pointed lancets with three circles above. A cross-shaped saddlestone finishes the gable end.

The chancel has two late 13th-century Geometrical windows with double lancets and circular windows above. A small round-arched Norman window appears in the north wall. The east window is Geometrical with three lancets and three circles. Stone coping, cross-shaped saddlestone, and buttresses complete the chancel exterior.

Interior

The nave contains an 11th-century west doorway with a window above it. The north aisle (circa 1200) has round piers and square abaci with chamfered corners; one capital is decorated with scallop carving. The south aisle features round abaci and double chamfered arches. An early 13th-century clerestorey has quatrefoiled circles.

The nave roof, probably 17th-century, has seven cants with chamfered beams featuring lamb's tongue stops. Beneath the dormer is a double trefoliated window now blocked by the north aisle.

The font is a Victorian copy of a Norman example. The pulpit is dated 1925 but appears to incorporate reused Jacobean fragments. The south aisle roof has 15th-century ogee-shaped brackets, though the roof itself is 19th-century work.

The east wall displays a 13th-century Christ in Majesty fragment in an elongated quatrefoil, possibly from a tympanum. Royal Arms are displayed. Wall tablets include one to Henry Roberts (died 1754) with heart, cherubs, shield and bows, and a series of 19th-century examples. Two basalt floor slabs are present.

The north aisle features curious one or two-tier brackets supporting purlins and principal rafters, probably 18th-century.

Notable monuments include: a marble wall plaque with draped urn to Mrs Mary Hill (died 1792); a wall plaque to the Reverend Sir Henry Worsley Esq. (died 1811) by Sir Richard Westmacott, showing a figure by a tomb flanked by an angel and eagle; a wall plaque to Sir Leonard Thomas Worsley Holmer (died 1825) by J. Haskoll (1829), depicting a seated woman and two children in antique costume grieving by an urn; and a wall monument to Richard Fleming Worsley Holmes Esq. (drowned 1814) by Sir Richard Westmacott, with a relief of a female figure grieving, a wrecked ship on the right, a broken anchor on the left, and shells below.

The south chapel contains a 19th-century roof and a brass plaque to William Serle (died 1595).

The chancel has a 13th-century chancel arch with ribbed columns, though the corbel heads are 19th-century work. A 19th-century stone and marble reredos displays the Ten Commandments, Creed, and Lord's Prayer.

Historical Context

This church is one of six island churches bestowed by William Fitz Osborn on his Norman abbey of Lire around 1150. It was subsequently given to Quarr Abbey.