Church Of St George

Church of St George

This parish church dates from circa the early 14th century, with major enlargements in the 15th century. It underwent restoration in 1846, 1883, and 1924–5. The building is constructed of slate rubble with dressed slate and some red sandstone dressings; 19th-century windows are of Bath stone. The roofs are slate with lead flats.

The church plan comprises a nave and chancel in one, with 4-bay north and south aisles, a 2-storey south porch, and a vestry on the north side of the chancel in the angle with the north aisle.

A Norman font and records of the first rector dating to 1050 indicate an earlier church on the site, which became ruinous and was rebuilt around 1333 following dedication by Bishop Stapledon. The chancel and the bottom stage of the west tower are all that remain of this early 14th-century church. The 4-bay north and south aisles and south porch were added in the 15th century, along with a rebuild of the top stage of the west tower. The vestry, positioned on the north side of the chancel, appears later than the chancel but possibly earlier than the north aisle. Remains of the rood loft were destroyed in 1810 during repairs, and a gallery under the tower arch existed in the early 19th century. The tower pinnacles were removed in 1828 and replaced around 1846 during restoration work directed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin.

Exterior

The north and south aisles feature 19th-century 4-light perpendicular windows with segmental arches, alternating with shallow buttresses with set-offs. Both aisles have battlements with moulded coping and cornice; the cornice continues around a polygonal stair turret on the north side, which rises above the battlements. This turret has a small quatrefoil light and a corbelled squint in the east angle. The west and east windows of the aisles are 19th-century perpendicular-style 3-light windows with panel tracery.

The tall 2-storey south porch has diagonal buttresses with set-off battlements and 19th-century pinnacles, with a polygonal stair turret in the west angle featuring quatrefoil lights. A 19th-century 2-light first-floor south window sits above a 15th-century moulded 2-centred arch Beer-stone south doorway with quatrefoils and mouchettes in the spandrels. The inner doorway is similar but smaller, with old doors cased in 19th-century studded planks. The porch contains a 2-bay Beer-stone vault and inner walls with blind arcades, their shafts carved with low-relief capitals. A corbel over the inner doorway supports a late 19th-century figure of St George and the Dragon.

The chancel, probably all that survives of the 1333 church, has squat angle buttresses at the corners with weathered set-offs. The priests' doorway on the south side features a single chamfered 2-centred arch with a 20th-century door. The south window matches the east and west end windows of the aisles. The east window of the chancel is a large 19th-century restoration of a 3-light window with reticulated tracery in a 2-centred arch head.

The gable-ended vestry appears to be later than the chancel but possibly earlier than the north aisle.

The tall west tower divides into two stages: the bottom is earlier, probably from 1333, while the tall top stage is likely a 15th-century rebuild. It has set-back buttresses with set-offs and an embattled parapet corbelled out, with mid-19th-century crocheted pinnacles. A large polygonal stair turret on the north side has battlements and trefoil-headed single lights with hoodmoulds. The 4-light west window is a 19th-century replacement with perpendicular panel tracery in a 2-centred arch. The west doorway below has a chamfered 2-centred arch; only the stone jambs date to circa 1333, while the arch is 19th-century.

Interior

The internal walls have been stripped of plaster, though some remains around the south doorway retains paint. Windows have cavetto-moulded Beer-stone rear arches.

The fine 4-bay north and south arcades are also Beer stone, with moulded 2-centred arches and Pevsner A-type piers. Only the shafts have capitals, carved with low-relief leaf work and mounded bases. The tower arch is an unmoulded 2-centred arch with chamfered impost blocks. The doorway to the tower stair turret has a chamfered 2-centred arch with broach stops. The doorways to the porch chamber stair turret and roof stair turret have 2-centred arches with double cyma moulding and cushion stops. The doorway from the chancel to the vestry has a hollow-moulded 2-centred arch.

The south wall of the chancel displays a deeply moulded trefoil-headed piscina (possibly 1333) with quatrefoil sink. Immediately west of the piscina is a mutilated sedilia with cavetto moulding on one side and remains of plaster at the back showing finely painted head and shoulders of a figure. The north side of the chancel contains what appears to be a large blocked window.

Hagioscopes are located at the east ends of the north and south aisles, opening toward the chancel. At the east end of the north aisle is an ogee-headed niche high in the wall. From the porch chamber to the south aisle is a 2-light window with cusped arches.

The ceiled wagon roof of the nave and chancel dates to the late 10th century. The ribbed flat roofs of the aisles are late 19th-century.

An early 15th-century rood screen spans the nave and aisles with Pevsner A-type tracery, replaced in the nave in the 19th century but retaining 15th-century painted figures in the wainscotting. The later parclose screens have flamboyant tracery with large circles. The tower screen is mid-19th century. The stone pulpit has a slender stem and figures in niches with nodding ogee canopies alternating with running vine decoration on columns, executed in a rudely carved folk-art manner. A late 19th- or 20th-century stone flight of steps with wrought-iron balustrade leads to the pulpit. The carved wooden lectern is circa mid-19th century. A late 19th-century Holy Water stoup stands by the south doorway.

The red sandstone font is 12th-century, with a round bowl featuring spade-shape design (possibly representing arch heads) and roll moulding around the top, a moulded base, and a circular Beer-stone stem. The font cover is 20th-century. The benches are late 19th-century, made of soft wood in an Arts and Crafts style. The choir stalls are mostly 20th-century, except those at the back which date to circa late 19th-century. The carved wooden altar rail is 20th-century. The carved wood reredos with figures of saints is early 20th-century, though a stone altar with quatrefoils is documented in Davidson's 1847 records.

The organ dates to 1879 by H. Halmshaw. Royal Arms of Charles II are painted on board over the south doorway in a moulded frame with segmental head. A hatchment in the tower was restored in 1972. The tower clock was presented in 1879. Five bells were cast in 1802 by Thomas Mears of London; bells had been reported in 1553.

The nave and aisle floors are tiled. The chancel floor is paved in slate with many slate and limestone ledger stones, including one medieval example rebated for a brass figure.

Monuments include a good 17th-century monument on the south side of the chancel dated 1636, featuring a laurel wreath around a circular inscription flanked by Corinthian columns supporting a semi-circular pediment, with console brackets and an angel head on a gadrooned corbel below. Also on the south wall of the chancel is a monument to Margaret Fownes, died 1803.

Stained glass by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin dating to 1846 appears in the north aisle and chancel with decorated borders.