Church Of The Holy Cross

Church of the Holy Cross

This is an Anglican parish church in Sherston, located on the west side of Church Street. The building represents a complex architectural history spanning from the late 12th century to the 19th century, with major rebuildings and restorations undertaken throughout this period.

The earliest surviving elements date to the late 12th century, seen in the north arcade. The crossing and north transept were added in the early 13th century, followed by the chancel in the late thirteenth century. The fifteenth century saw significant additions and modifications. The tower, a notable feature of the church, was rebuilt in 1730 by Thomas Sumsion of Colerne, representing a fusion of Gothic and classical forms. The church underwent major restoration in 1876–77 by T.H. Wyatt, with further restoration work carried out in the 19th century by Ewan Christian.

The church consists of a nave, chancel, south aisle, south porch, crossing tower, north aisle and north transept. External materials vary by section: coursed rubble is used for the nave and chancel, while squared and coursed dressed stone appears on the south aisle and porch. The tower is constructed in ashlar with battlements and copings, and stone slates cover the roofs throughout.

The exterior displays windows and details spanning several centuries. The south side of the nave has a two-cusped-light fifteenth-century window under a flat head with hoodmould. The nave and north aisle west windows are fifteenth-century examples with four lights, pointed heads and panelled tracery, set beneath gables. The north aisle contains a three-light fifteenth-century window, paired thirteenth-century lancets, and a trefoil-headed thirteenth-century doorway. The south aisle has three four-light fifteenth-century windows under flat heads with hoodmoulds, moulded string courses, buttresses with set-offs, and an embattled parapet. The chancel features a restored three-light thirteenth-century east window with cusped heads and attached shafts.

The crossing tower is two stages in height and demonstrates the fusion of Gothic and classical forms characteristic of its 1730 date. Its south-east corner contains a polygonal stair turret. Classical rusticated pilasters appear on the remaining corners, with moulded string courses and a pierced panelled embattled parapet with openwork crocketed corner pinnacles. The first stage has trefoil-headed blank panelling, but the south face features a round-headed classical niche with a Gothic crocket above and a medieval face below. Two-light bell openings display curious 'M' tracery and perforated blocks. A clock occupies the south face below the bell openings. The north transept has a three-light lancet window with dragon heads to the hoodmould and a re-used twelfth-century corbel table.

The south porch dates to the fifteenth century and features diagonal buttresses and a panelled embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles. The pointed-headed, multi-chamfered archway is surmounted by a sundial, with a two-light window to the parvise. A fragment of medieval sculpture adorns the right side, reportedly of the Saxon hero Rattlebone but probably depicting a cleric. Two-leaf wooden Gothick gates provide entrance. The porch interior contains a lierne vault, two benches and a multi-chamfered architrave to the south doorway. A nineteenth-century plank door with panelling closes the entrance. An 1876 Incorporated Church Building Society restoration board is mounted on the east wall, with a benefaction board on the west wall.

The interior reveals the building's long construction sequence. The nave arcade, spanning four bays, features circular piers, round-headed arches and zig-zag decoration dating to the twelfth century. The crossing tower contains thirteenth-century demi-shafts with face corbels and large heavy chamfered pointed arches from the 1730 rebuilding. Open rafter roofs cover the nave, north aisle and north transept. The south aisle has a flat panelled roof, while the crossing has a nineteenth-century barrel vault in the chancel. The nave contains a fifteenth-century tomb recess on the north wall, a former rood stair opening on the north side of the crossing arch, and a walk-through squint also positioned on the north side of the crossing. A piscina appears on the east wall of the north transept, along with a fourteenth-century tomb recess bearing a mutilated figure on the north wall.

The fittings include a restored thirteenth-century font with shafted base and octagonal bowl in the nave, a Jacobean vestment chest, a pulpit, three wall monuments, and an 1883 stained glass west window. The chancel contains two wall monuments to the Hodges family (1676, restored 1861) and to the Estcourt-Cresswells (1788), as well as a late nineteenth-century stained glass east window. The south aisle houses a fine 1715 monument to Joyce Hitchings, which displays a praying woman in a shell-hooded niche on the south wall.