Church Of The Holy Rood

The Church of the Holy Rood is a parish church with origins in the early 12th century, located in Shillingstone. Subsequent alterations and additions occurred in the 14th, 16th, 19th, and 20th centuries. The church is constructed of rubble, flint, banded flint and rubble, and ashlar, with tiled roofs, stone copings and kneelers. It comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, a north aisle and chapel, and a south porch.

The west tower has two stages separated by a weathered string, with a rectangular southern vice and an embattled parapet. It features a diagonal buttress of four weathered stages. The west door has a moulded 4-centred head and continuous jambs with a label bearing carved shield stops. A 5-light Perpendicular traceried window sits above the door, while 2-light belfry windows are set under pointed heads with stopped labels. A sundial is situated on the vice. A 5-light C15 window with straight heads and Perpendicular tracery is visible in the south nave wall, above which sits a narrow, round-headed C12 window. The south chancel wall has two 2-light, pointed windows with curvilinear tracery under returned labels. The east chancel window is a C19, 5-light, pointed window with idiosyncratic tracery. The east chapel window and west aisle windows are pointed with 5 lights and Perpendicular tracery under returned labels. North chapel windows have square heads with one and two cinquefoiled transomed lights, while the north aisle features C19, square-headed Perpendicular windows of 2 and 5 lights. The south porch is gabled with a pointed arch of two chamfered orders and continuous jambs.

Inside, a C19, 5-bay arcade features pointed arches of two chamfered orders on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. Above the arcade are three reset C12 windows, one of which is blocked. The pointed chancel arch is composed of two roll-moulded orders that die into responds, while the tower arch similarly features two chamfered orders dying into responds. The chancel and nave have pointed, gilded C19 ribbed barrel roofs, while the aisle and chapel have collar beam trusses. A C17 octagonal pulpit with bolection mouldings and arabesques sits on a C20 plinth. A C13 Purbeck marble font has a square basin and round headed panels on a central drum with angle shafts. A C19 ogee headed piscina, C19 pews, and C19 glass are also present. Various C18 and C19 monuments are displayed, including a wall tablet commemorating Eliza Action (1817), featuring a kneeling woman executed by Chantry. A coffin lid with an incised effigy of a man flanked by the sun and moon is reset on the wall, alongside a lozenge carved stone positioned above the south door. Other fittings are largely C19.