Church Of St Anietus

Church of St Anietus

This is a parish church of the 15th century, substantially restored in the 19th century. Built in granite ashlar with slate roofs featuring raised coped verges and cross finials, it exemplifies the Perpendicular style.

The church plan consists of a nave and chancel in one, enclosed by aisles, with a north aisle, south porch, and west tower. The chancel is slightly advanced at the east end and contains a 4-light east window with cusped lights, a 4-centred arch, and hood mould.

The north aisle extends across 5 bays on a hollow-chamfered plinth with weathered moulded buttresses and diagonal buttresses. A small 19th-century gabled vestry is attached to the west bay. The aisle windows are all 4-light with cusped lights and flat heads. At the east end is a doorway with cambered head and chamfered surround, fitted with a 19th-century Gothic panelled door. Between two windows stands a rood stair tower with pitched roof. The east window has Y-tracery with cusped lights, a 4-centred arch, and hood mould; an identical window exists to the west. A single storey rubble lean-to occupies the angle between the north aisle and tower.

The south aisle also spans 5 bays with a porch in the western bay, standing on a moulded plinth with weathered buttresses and diagonal buttresses. It features an embattled parapet with crocketted pinnacles between each bay. The five windows all display 4-centred arches, cusped lights, Y-tracery, and hood moulds, with a moulded string course above. The eastern bay contains a 4-centred arched hollow-chamfered priest's door with a 19th-century Gothic panelled door. Above this door is a slate tablet inscribed to Richard Martyn, dated 1704. On an adjacent buttress stands a slate sundial with gnomon dated 1682. Three slate ledger stones are attached to the east wall: one to Mary Thomas, 1705, and two unidentified, one bearing Latin verses also dated 1705. A large 5-light east window displays Perpendicular tracery. The west window matches the south aisle windows.

The south porch is two storeys high, standing on a hollow-chamfered plinth with embattled parapet, crocketted pinnacles, and weathered string course. Its 4-centred arched south doorway features roll moulding, recessed spandrels with leaves, and a square hood mould. Above is a 2-light window with ogee lights and chamfered recessed surround. The porch interior has a slate floor and stone benches. The side walls are formed with triple shafts creating two panels beneath a granite vaulted roof with moulded ribs and bosses. The inner doorway has a 4-centred arch with roll mouldings and recessed spandrels, without a hood mould. A holy water stoup stands to the right.

The west tower comprises three stages with clasping buttresses surmounted by crocketted pinnacles and an embattled parapet. Weathered string courses mark the stages; there is no plinth. The west door has a 4-centred arch with hood mould. The west window was replaced in the 19th century with 5 lights and intersecting tracery. At the south of the second stage is a tall 2-light window with cusped lights and upper quatrefoil. Clocks occupy the third stage on all sides. The third stage contains 3-light bell-openings with slate louvres and a 4-centred arch with hood mould, carried round as a string course. The tower interior shows removed wall plaster and a 19th-century tiled floor.

The interior features 15th-century waggon roofs in the nave and aisles, ceiled with moulded ribs and bosses, while the chancel has a 19th-century waggon roof. A tall plain 4-centred arch with imposts separates the tower. A 19th-century wooden screen crosses the chancel and east end of the aisles.

The nave has a 6-bay north and south arcade with Pevsner A-type piers featuring carved geometric abaci and 4-centred arches. At the east end, the north arcade has a narrow 4-centred arched doorway to the north chapel and an ogee cusped recess to the side, possibly an Easter Sepulchre, with remains of wall painting above depicting figures. The north aisle has a south piscina at its east end. A squint connects the sepulchre recess to the north aisle. The north aisle contains 19th-century lower and upper doors to the rood stair.

The south aisle contains a heavy studded door with strap hinges and rounded head, possibly of the 16th century. A stone newel stair on an S-bend ascends to the chamber over the porch, which has a rough granite floor and a granite ceiling of roughly hewn monoliths. The window here is hollow-chamfered internally.

The square stone font in the nave features blank arcade on one side and panels of trefoils and quatrefoils on the other, probably dating to the 14th century. The nave contains 19th-century wooden pews and a pulpit, while the chancel has poppy head bench ends. A letter of thanks from Charles I, dated 1643 from Sudeley Castle, is displayed in the north aisle. A marble tablet in the south aisle records a donation to St Neot poor by John Robins in 1828. A parish chest stands in the porch chamber.

Monuments in the north aisle include a slate ledger with incised nowy head and primitive cherub with wings to Richard Pomery, 1744, and a slate chest tomb with front panel of kneeling figures, upper panel with crest and emblems of death, and inscribed slate lid, to William Bere and family, 1610.

The south aisle contains marble tablets to Caroline Foot, 1813; William Dangar (two tablets, one dated 1831 and one from 1868 by Bedford of London), Louisa Michell, 1879, Samuel Thomas, 1792, and Melicent Thomas, 1795.

The church retains significant stained glass from the 15th and 16th centuries, much restored by John Hedgeland in 1830, remaining of high quality. The windows depict the Creation, the story of Noah, the story of St Neot, and representations of local families.