Church of St Clement

Church of St Clement

A parish church dating from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries with alterations made in the 19th century and 1930, and restored between 1959 and 1968 by Anthony Swaine. The building is constructed of mixed stone with pebble-dashed mortar, though the upper part of the east gable end of the chancel was rebuilt in brick. The east gable end of the nave is weatherboarded. The church has plain tile roofs and wood shingles to the spire.

The building comprises a nave with a west tower to the south aisle, a narrower chancel with north and south chapels (both stopping short of the east end), a small north-east chapel to the nave projecting to the north, and a north porch. The walls of the chancel chapels are continuous with the south aisle and nave chapel.

The nave's west end dates to the 13th century and has a battered plinth with a gable recessed above the wall-plate. A three-light 14th-century reticulated west window extends above the wall-plate with stonework of the gable padded out around the head. The west doorway is a 13th-century two-centred arched chamfered opening with broach stops and a scroll-moulded hoodmould with turned ends.

The south-west tower is 13th-century, probably integral with the nave but possibly built within the south aisle later in the century. It projects slightly to the west with renewed quoins, a single stage with a battered plinth, and diagonal south-east and south-west buttresses on moulded plinths. The tower features a splay-footed octagonal spire. It has a narrow chamfered rectangular north window, a small triangular-headed west window, a narrow rectangular brick south window, and a chamfered east lancet, all beneath the eaves. A brick relieving arch runs halfway down the west side. The west doorway has a possibly original chamfered pointed-arched stone head with 19th-century brick jambs.

The south aisle and south chapel are 13th-century with no plinth. The gabled roof is much lower than the nave and slightly lower than the chancel. There are four south and one east buttresses. The south elevation contains one 19th-century two-light window in 14th-century style with an original cill, and a 19th-century three-light 14th-century-style reticulated east window with a hoodmould and cavetto mullions whose bases may be original. A blocked two-centred arched stone doorway, now less than five feet high at the west end of the south elevation, is partly covered by the south-east tower buttress.

The chancel is 13th-century with a tall battered plinth, a single south buttress and a north-east angle buttress. It contains a 19th-century cusped two-light south window and a 19th-century two-light 14th-century-style east window with a hoodmould and a stone jamb of an earlier window immediately to the north. There is no north window.

The north chancel chapel and north-east nave chapel are 13th-century, possibly of two periods. They feature a large brick diagonal north-east buttress and a broad brick north buttress. An east window with three lights, cavetto mullions, a segmental head and hoodmould is placed asymmetrically to the south and was inserted soon after 1511. The chancel chapel has a small chamfered north lancet. The nave chapel contains a 19th-century two-light 14th-century-style north window and a chamfered west lancet. The north elevation of the nave has no windows.

The north porch stands on a 14th-century site but is apparently 19th-century. It is constructed of brick in Flemish bond on a chamfered brick plinth with a tile-hung gable. It has 19th-century wood double doors, square-headed, each with fielded panels. The inner doorway is a 13th-century chamfered pointed-arched opening with inward-turning scrolls to the hoodmould.

Interior: The structure comprises a two-bay south arcade to the nave with two unchamfered pointed arches springing from rectangular piers with chamfered imposts. A broad pointed chamfered arch leads to the north-east nave chapel with rolled chamfer-stops and chamfered imposts. A narrow rendered unmoulded round-headed chancel arch, possibly 18th-century, connects the nave and chancel. Single opposed arches connect the north and south chancel chapels, both pointed and chamfered, springing from semi-octagonal piers with scroll-moulded, undercut imposts and chamfer-stopped bases. There is no arch between the two north chapels. Plain imposts support a chamfered pointed arch between the south aisle and chapel. Two low, narrow unchamfered tower arches spring from plain imposts, one to the south aisle and one (blocked) to the nave on the north side of the tower.

The nave roof is a crown-post roof with four trusses. Three trusses have tall rebated crown-posts with broach stops; the two central trusses feature moulded cambered tie-beams and short pendant posts with solid braces. The truss against the west wall is cut through on either side of the window. The roof has sous-laces and ashlar pieces to a moulded cornice.

The chancel roof has common rafters with morticed collars, sous-laces and ashlar pieces. The north chapels are roofed together with the apex central to the north chancel chapel. This roof features a moulded tie-beam, common rafters with asymmetrical scissor-braces, ashlar pieces to the north and to the south side of the nave chapel, and a moulded north cornice.

The south chapel roof dates to the 17th century or was repaired in the 17th century, featuring scissor-braced common rafters with ashlar pieces and a chamfer-stopped wall-plate to the south. The south aisle has a lean-to side-purlin roof internally.

The interior contains stone seating in the south-west corner of the nave and on the south wall of the south chapel. A chamfered pointed-arched hagioscope, largely renewed, lies between the nave and chancel to the north of the chancel arch. A chamfered cambered-arched squint between the nave and chancel lies to the south of the chancel arch. A rectangular opening between the nave and north chancel chapel, possibly the entrance to rood-loft stairs, contains a small wood doorway to the east with a pointed arch and solid spandrels. A fragment of stone keel moulding is visible within the opening to the north. There are loose moulded stone fragments, one bearing dog-tooth ornament.

An early 14th-century rectangular font in the south-west bay of the nave arcade stands in the south-west corner. It has a deep black marble bowl on a rectangular, chamfered, roll-stopped central pillar with a circular column at each corner bearing a bell capital and base under a square abacus supported by tiny figures, heads and leaves. A medieval altar stone with consecration crosses remains in the north chancel chapel.

Remains of a 15th-century wood screen survive between the south aisle and chapel. Stairs to the tower consist of two parallel beams with pegged triangular treads, an unusual form possibly dating to the 17th century. A 17th-century Communion table and early 18th-century altar rails are present. An early 18th-century reredos features a lightly-moulded base and cornice with four pilasters and raised panels between them bearing the Lord's Prayer, Creed and Decalogue.

An 18th-century hexagonal pulpit with raised and fielded panels was formerly a three-decker. A lower desk with fielded panels, now positioned to the north side of the nave, also survives. A late 18th-century gallery spans the west end of the nave on four Doric columns, containing tiers of boarded seats with shaped arm-rests, an unusual survival on the Marsh.

Four blocks of 18th-century box pews with fielded panels remain in the nave and south aisle. Low late 18th-century chinoiserie gates to the south aisle survive (the remainder are now in the Church of St George, Ivychurch). The church contains six text boards (two oval and four rectangular), royal arms dated 1800 over the chancel arch, and a chest, possibly Dutch, inscribed "Anna Diercks Anno 1768".