Church Of St Cuthbert

Church of St Cuthbert

Small parish church of mid to late 14th century date, built on an ancient church site. The church was erected to the memory of Sir William Prouz (died 1329) by his three daughters and co-heiresses. It underwent some refurbishment in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and further modernisation in the 19th century.

The church is constructed of local stone and flint rubble with Beerstone and Hamstone ashlar detail, beneath a slate roof with crested ridge tiles. It follows a cruciform plan with a nave and chancel under a continuous roof, north and south transepts, a south porch, and a west tower. A 19th-century vestry is situated on the north side of the chancel.

The west tower is a single stage structure with low diagonal buttresses, an embattled parapet, and an internal corner tower in the north-east. The belfry contains two-light windows with elliptical-headed lights. The tower's west doorway is a two-centred arch with a moulded surround, hoodmould and worn carved label stops, containing old double plank doors. Directly above is a recessed plaque beneath a hoodmould bearing the conjoined three shields of Sir William Prouz's daughters. The north side of the tower contains a crank-headed light to the ringing floor and a cinquefoil-headed light to the ground floor.

The south side of the nave features, at its west end, a 19th-century Hamstone two-light window with Decorated tracery and hoodmould with carved human head label stops (a similar window exists on the north side of the nave). The porch, probably of 16th-century date, has a lean-to roof against the transept. Its outer arch is a Beerstone two-centred arch with broad moulded surround and plain hoodmould. Above is a Beerstone sundial, alongside which stands the much older and disused base of another sundial. The porch has a plastered vault, and the south doorway is a Beerstone two-centred arch with hoodmould and worn carved label stops, containing a much-restored pair of ancient studded plank doors with coverstrips.

The transepts and chancel contain Beerstone windows with Y-tracery, mostly of two lights, though the east window has three lights and the chancel tracery is cusped. All gables feature shaped kneelers, coping and apex crosses. The 19th-century vestry on the north side is in Tudor Gothic style and includes a Beerstone chimney shaft. The north transept has diagonal buttresses and a Beerstone and marble memorial in Gothic style commemorating Sir Edward Marwood Elton (died 1884), set at the foot of the end wall.

Interior

The nave has a restored ceiled wagon roof with moulded ribs and purlins, embellished with carved flat square bosses. The transepts and chancel have plain plaster vaults of indeterminate date. The tower arch is low with a moulded surround. The chancel arch is plain with a double-chamfered arch ring. Both transept arches are of 15th-century date with moulded surrounds, half-engaged shafts with carved foliage caps, and moulding enriched with large carved four-leaf motifs. The walls are plastered.

The floor is mostly flagged and includes a couple of graveslabs in the chancel. The north transept floor features a chequer pattern of 19th-century tiles, and the sanctuary floor includes some contemporary encaustic tiles. South of the sanctuary is a medieval Beerstone piscina and credence under a cinquefoil head. In the north wall of the chancel, the original priests' door now leads into the vestry.

Furnishings include 18th-century fielded panel stalls and a prayer desk, a late 19th to early 20th-century Gothic lectern and pulpit, and contemporary plain oak benches. A Gothic-style oak tower arch was erected in 1951.

The 15th-century Beerstone font features an octagonal bowl containing quatrefoil panels enriched with rosettes, with further rosettes around the base and a panelled stem.

Monuments

The church contains a significant collection of monuments. The oldest is in the north transept, representing a knight in armour with angels supporting his pillow, set in a niche under a three-centred arch with moulded surround enriched with four-leaf motifs. It is reputed to commemorate Sir William Prouz (died 1329) and was erected some time after his death.

The chancel contains two 17th-century mural monuments. One, in memory of Alice Issac (died 1685), is a marble rectangular plaque flanked by Corinthian columns with carved flowers in the wings and a moulded entablature, open pediment with cartouche and strapwork apron. It retains traces of ancient colour. The second monument's inscription has been lost; it is an oval marble plaque framed in a carved Beerstone cartouche of drapery with cherubs' heads at the top and a heraldic achievement in the apron.

The north transept contains a large and high-quality memorial to James Marwood (died 1767) by John Bacon, featuring two nearly life-size white marble female allegories in bas relief flanking a vase on a pedestal, all set on an orange marble ground. A second large monument here commemorates Sarah Marwood (died 1797) in white marble on a grey ground, depicting a mother with two children.

The south transept contains a monument to Robert Marwood (died 1733) with an urn over the entablature, and another monument to James Marwood (died 1811) by Peter Rouw the Younger, featuring three women grieving over a sarcophagus on which is a carved medallion with his profile.

The nave contains plainer monuments to the Reverend John Tucker (died 1830), Thomas White, the Marwood estate steward (died 1838) by Peter Rouw the Younger, and Jacob Soraster (died 1733).

The church contains no stained glass.