Parish Church of St Julian

Parish Church of St Julian

This parish church was founded before the 12th century. It is traditionally suggested, though without firm evidence, that the present building was constructed around 1372 by Sir Thomas Hungerford, with further work in the late 14th and 15th centuries. The church underwent major restoration in 1845 when a new chancel was added by B. Ferrey. The chancel was rebuilt again in 1889–90 by the architects Bodley and Garner. A recent restoration was completed in 1952 by Caröe the Younger.

The church comprises a west tower, nave with clerestory (built in 1430), north and south aisles, a south porch, a chancel, and a north chapel known as the Hungerford Chapel. The exterior is built largely of ashlar, with portions of rubble masonry to the porch and eastern part of the south aisle. Roofs are of Cotswold stone slate, with slate covering the chancel roof. Embattled parapets feature throughout.

The west tower is three storeys high with set-back buttresses that develop diagonal pinnacles in the upper stages. An embattled parapet with pinnacles crowns the tower. A square stair turret on the south-east corner terminates as an octagon. The bell chamber is lit by a three-light window with cusped heads; a larger similar window with a transom lights the west face. The west door is surrounded by a hollow chamfer and ogee moulded surround with a four-centred arch lintel and drip mould. Arms are carved in the spandrels, and heads serve as label stops; these are identified as Edward Henderson, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Major Horton-Fawkes, patron of the living (added 1975).

The south aisle contains two three-light windows to the west of the porch with four-centre arch lintels, drip moulds, and diamond label stops. To the east of the porch is a four-light square-headed window with cusped heads, a drip mould, and carved label stops. An angle buttress with pinnacle stands to the west; a low buttress to the east bears a scratch dial. The north aisle features three- and four-light square-headed windows. A rood stair turret, dating to around 1430–50, projects into the re-entrant angle between the south aisle and chancel, with a polygonal east face and an embattled parapet with pinnacle.

The chancel is designed in a matching Perpendicular style, with three-light windows under four-centred arch lintels, a decorative finial on the apex of the east gable, and a five-light east window. The south porch has a rendered front with diagonal buttresses topped by pinnacles. An ashlar plain parapet is ramped up at the front to form a concave-sided gable with a central pinnacle. Below this sits a niche containing a modern figure (possibly 19th century) of St Julian. Embattled parapets run along the sides. The door surround is heavily moulded.

Interior

The south porch contains a fine 14th-century south door with six lights of blank panels below and reticulated cusped tracery above. It has a heavily moulded, restored door surround and two carved niches above. The porch roof is carried on carved angel corbels.

The nave comprises four bays with typical Perpendicular moulding of four hollows and four engaged columns. The roof is panelled and decorated in the Perpendicular manner (restored) with corbels carved as angels. Many Perpendicular benches feature poppy heads and simple panelled tracery on their ends, and some on their fronts or backs.

The tower arch displays similar Perpendicular moulding and is vaulted with a tierceron vault and central bell rope opening. A finely carved and decorated Perpendicular rood screen dating to around 1430 stands in the usual position. The rood loft and rood itself are modern replacements by Caröe the Younger, dated 1952. Squints with cusped heads flank either side of the rood screen.

The chancel, rebuilt in 1889–90, retains fittings of that date. Eight carved heads of early 14th-century date—representing kings and bishops—are set below the first south window; four further heads are placed to either side of the east window. The piscina has been restored. The north (Hungerford) Chapel dates to around 1443 and contains a moulded, carved, and painted screen. Its roof is panelled and decorated. The north wall likely contains an Easter Sepulchre, featuring panels of quatrefoils below a four-centred arch head with cusped panels. An inscription in the arched head reads: "For the love of Jesu and Mary's sake Pray for them that this lete make". Wall paintings on the east wall, dating to around 1500, depict Christ and the Twelve Apostles. The north-east corner has a carved and painted niche head. A tomb chest to Dorothy Popham (1614) is decorated with heavily mannered Jacobean Ionic columns and entablature, strapwork, and arms above. Tablets to other Hungerford family members commemorate Ursula (1645), Susanna (1652), and Giles (1638).

The north aisle contains a carved effigy of a priest dating to around 1400, set within a four-centred arch-headed recess. The font at the west end possibly dates to around 1250 and rests on a Romanesque base consisting of an eight-lobed bowl on a circular foot with eight attached shafts. It has a painted ogee-shaped cover dated 1623.

The south aisle contains a monument to John Hodson (1733) with an aedicule. At the east end is a Warrior Chapel with an elaborate cartouche commemorating Thomas Scudamore (1718). A piscina is also present in this aisle.