Church Of St George

Church of St. George

A parish church at Kelmscott, dating from the late 12th century with significant later additions. The building is constructed of rendered uncoursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings, and features stone slate roofs with stepped coped verges. It follows a cruciform plan with a nave and chancel, north aisle, transepts, and a 15th-century south porch set in the angle with the nave. A bellcote stands at the junction of the nave and chancel.

The exterior displays considerable architectural detail. The nave's south side features a moulded eaves cornice carved with a crossed shield at the centre and carved heads at the corners. Two 15th-century square-headed windows with cinquefoil heads are set above four quatrefoils, with head-stops to the label mould. The porch has a 4-centred outer arch with hollow spandrels and a square label, with a steeply pitched gabled roof above. Inside the porch, stone benches with blind paired chamfered rectangular openings line the east wall. The west end is buttressed with a stepped diagonal buttress at the south-west corner and a stepped buttress at right-angles to the north-west corner. A 3-light trefoil-headed window from around 1260 with hoodmould lights the upper stage. The north side mirrors the south, with an eaves cornice bearing a crossed shield and two 15th-century clerestory windows of similar design. The gabled bellcote at the east end contains restored 13th-century paired trefoil-headed openings with a pierced oval above; the outline of an earlier steep chancel roof is visible on the east face.

The south transept retains a 3-light trefoil-headed window of around 1260 in its south wall, with scratch-dials incised into the south-west corner. The north transept's north wall displays a similar window and a weathered stone cross to its gable; its east wall contains small paired cusped lancets. A 19th-century integral lateral stack with a moulded circular shaft stands to the left. An infilled semi-circular arch on the east wall in the angle with the chancel, and its mirror in the north wall of the chancel, may mark the position of a former squint. Above this arch in the chancel is a carved head of a bishop or mitred abbot. The chancel contains an infilled 13th-century lancet in its north wall, and a square-headed 15th-century east window of two cinquefoil-headed lights with label. The south side features a 3-light trefoil-headed window to the east with open spandrels, and a square-headed 15th-century window to the west with two cinquefoil-headed lights and label.

The interior contains numerous features of significance. A late 12th-century round-headed single-chamfered doorway with plain moulded imposts and roll-moulded hoodmould is carved with a 2-headed face at its apex. The door itself is 17th-century with nail studs and plain strap hinges; small consecration crosses are incised in the east jamb. The north arcade comprises four bays with round-headed arches, hoodmoulds, and recessed 13th-century quatrefoils to the spandrels. The quatrefoil carvings include a man's head to the left, a queen's head to the centre, and a man's head with flanking beasts to the right. The circular piers have moulded plinths on truncated square bases, with capitals combining stiff-leaf and other foliage carving. Scratch-dials mark various points along the south-west corner. The east respond features a crocketed capital; the west respond displays foliage decoration with scalloped carving. A contemporary double-chamfered chancel arch has its inner order dying into the jambs. A similar arch separates the nave from the south transept, though its inner order features corbelled responds with nail-head ornament. The nave roof is a 19th-century tie beam structure in four bays, likely based on a late medieval form, resting on ten carved stone corbels including one depicting a green man at the centre on the north side. The south transept retains a probably 17th-century roof with five carved stone corbels from a late medieval roof. The chancel roof is 19th-century but sits above two tiers of carved stone corbels, thirteen in total, from successive medieval periods. Cusped rere-arches appear beneath the chancel's south-east window, the south transept window, and the nave's west window. A blocked window in the north aisle has a segmental head internally.

A 13th-century tub-shaped font with moulded plinth and circular base stands within. Two piscinae survive: a trefoil-headed example in the south wall of the south transept, and a square-headed piscina in the south wall of the chancel whose bowl is formed from a 12th-century scalloped capital. A sedile sits beneath the chancel's south-east window. An infilled pointed doorway on the north side is cut by the large Turner monument. The nave benches and pulpit are 19th-century work. Traces of medieval wall paintings are visible to the nave arcade, including lozenge-shaped decoration to the eastern respond and floral decoration to the underside of the eastern arch.

The north transept contains significantly better preserved murals, including early 14th-century figures set beneath trefoil-headed arches on the east and west walls. The east wall depicts scenes from the Massacre of the Innocents and the Presentation in the Temple; the west wall shows the Cain and Abel cycle. Adam and Eve appear in the west reveal of the north window, with remnants of a Last Judgement scene above. Medieval stained glass fragments survive in the nave and chancel, including a late 15th-century equestrian figure of St. George in the east window. Additional fragments appear in the chancel's south-west window. Iron bars in all windows are probably 15th-century.

The church contains numerous monuments. In the chancel's north side stands a large marble wall memorial to Thomas Turner, dated 1730, featuring inscription panels flanked by plain pilasters with Corinthian capitals and an armorial device in a roundel above. To its west is a memorial to James Turner, dated 1799, with a plain design and open segmental pediment surmounted by an urn. Small memorials mark Hestera Turner, dated 1683, on the chancel's south side, and Anne Turner, dated 1816, in a style matching that of James Turner. Late 17th-century grave slabs cover the Turner family vault in the raised sanctuary. The south transept's east wall contains a memorial to Edward Dore, dated 1733, with a marble inscription panel flanked by pilasters bearing hanging garlands and surmounted by an armorial device. A brass plate set into the floor commemorates Penelope Goodenough, dated 1671. Two putti, presumably from a 18th-century monument, stand on a window ledge.