Church Of The Holy Cross

The Church of the Holy Cross is an Anglican parish church with a complex history spanning the 12th to 19th centuries. Significant rebuilding and alterations occurred in 1876-7 under the direction of William Butterfield. The church is constructed primarily of coursed limestone rubble, with stone slate roofs.

The original core of the church dates to the later 12th century, comprising the nave. This was expanded in the 14th century with the addition of aisles, which were subsequently altered in the 15th century. A 14th-century west tower rises from the west end. The north and south porches, also from the 15th century, are gabled and feature hollow-chamfered arches with hood moulds, brattished plates, and panelled wooden vaults with moulded ribs. A square-headed south door dates to the 15th century. The aisles contain 2-light, quatrefoil-headed windows; the east window on the south side may be 15th or 16th century and was restored in the 19th century. The nave features quatrefoil clerestory windows. The three-stage tower has 2-light bell openings and a machicolated parapet, topped by a 5-light west window.

Inside, the nave has four bays. The north arcade is divided into two sections: two arches to the east are likely from the late 12th century, supported by an octagonal column with leaf capitals, while the two western arches are from around 1200, featuring round columns and responds with circular abaci. The early 13th-century south arcade has hollow-chamfered arches on round columns and abaci. The roof is 15th century, with moulded and painted ties and trussed collar rafters. The chancel arch, originally late 12th century, was widened in 1876-7, with two orders of chevrons on slender responds with shafts and water holding bases. The chancel itself, dated 1876-7, includes a painted barrel vault and brick wall decoration by Butterfield, along with a north chapel, which incorporates pilaster buttresses of the original chancel and two piscinae with credence shelves. A tub font from the 12th century, decorated with chevrons and upturned palmette decoration, has been reset in the 19th century. A 19th-century oak pulpit is also present.

The north aisle features a probable 14th-century reredos, reset above the east wall, with a central vesica flanked by gabled niches and brackets for figures, all within a moulded recess. Relief figures are present in the spandrels. Two early 19th-century white marble wall tablets commemorate SARAH MASKELYNE and family (1837, by Franklin of Purton), and MAURICE MASKELYNE Bennett (died 1800, also by Franklin). West wall fragments of a 17th-century monument, including a crest, arms, and cherubs, are found at the west end of the aisle. The south aisle contains a 1778 white marble tablet to CHARLOTTE NICHOLAS and her husband, daughter of Sir Thomas Frankland, Admiral of the White, sculpted by Flaxman, featuring a relief depicting a deathbed scene. A 1911 white marble tablet memorializes JOHN BOWLEY and his bequests. Some 15th or 16th-century glass remains in the head of the south aisle's eastern window. A brass dating to 1658 memorializes three generations of the HENRY HAWKINS family, located within the chancel. The benchmark elevation is recorded as 290.3ft.