Church Of The Holy Rood

The Church of the Holy Rood is an Anglican parish church with origins in the 12th century, incorporating elements from the 13th, 15th, 19th, and 20th centuries. It is constructed of coursed rubble, with squared and coursed rubble to the tower, stone dressings, ashlar to the south face of the south porch and buttresses, and stone slate roofs. The church comprises a nave, chancel, south-west tower, south-west baptistry, and a south porch.

The south side of the nave features a single two-light chamfered mullion window under a flat head, a central buttress with set-off, and a two-light 19th-century Perpendicular style window to the right. The north side has a 12th-century doorway with square abaci and a tympanum bearing an incised cross and hoodmould, along with a single light to the left. The chancel’s south side displays a triangular-arched doorway and a two-light 19th-century window in a 15th-century style. Its north side has a two-light 14th-century style window with face stops to the hoodmould. The chancel east window is a two-light window under a pointed head, dating from the 13th century.

The three-stage tower has a saddleback roof, moulded string courses, and single, two, and three-light windows in a 13th-century style. The east side of the tower contains a doorway and crosses to the gable apexes. The gabled baptistry includes a two-light window in the 13th-century style. The gabled south porch has a Tudor-arched doorway with coved spandrels, embattled fretwork above, and a plank door, with an inner doorway featuring a round-headed arch, a 12th-century tympanum with a carved rustic Tree of Life, and a plank door.

The interior features open rafter roofs throughout. Notable fittings include a 19th century font in a 14th-century style within the baptistry, several wall tablets on the nave’s north and south walls, a 13th-century statue niche with crocketed pinnacles to the right of the north door, a Caroline pulpit, and a 15th-century rood screen with 19th-century restoration. The chancel holds Hungerford Pollen tablets on the south wall and a trefoil-headed piscina. Stained glass by Morris & Co. (1863) is present in the east window: depicting Adam and Eve to the left, designed by Ford Maddox Brown, and an Annunciation to the right, by D.G. Rossetti. Other items of note are a stone seat, believed to be from the 13th century, and Decalogue boards located under the tower.