Church Of St Kentigern

The Church of St Kentigern is a substantial parish church of at least 14th-century origin, extensively enlarged in 1523 and restored in 1844 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. It stands in Crosthwaite, Keswick.

The church is built of roughcast walls with coursed rubble buttresses, freestone quoins and parapets, and coursed rock-faced stone to the porch, all beneath graded-slate roofs. The plan comprises a long nave and chancel under a single roof, with north and south aisles, a south porch, and a west tower.

The exterior is predominantly in Tudor-Gothic style. The three-stage west tower has diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet incorporating a higher south-west turret. The west doorway sits beneath a 19th-century shouldered lintel, with a four-light window above featuring 19th-century Perpendicular tracery within a 16th-century opening. Square-headed belfry openings contain triple round-headed lights with sunk spandrels (replaced in wood on the west face), and a large south clock face is mounted on a slate panel. The seven-bay nave and chancel are crowned by an embattled red-sandstone parapet dated 1812, with a gable end. Clerestory windows are three-light and square-headed with round-headed lights and sunk spandrels, except for two two-light south chancel windows with plain mullions. A slate sundial with gnomon is set into the south wall. The chancel has freestone angle buttresses and a 19th-century five-light Perpendicular east window. The south aisle displays a 19th-century parapet and three buttresses, with six three-light windows similar to the clerestory windows. A doorway beneath a shouldered lintel marks the entrance to a former chapel at the east end of the south aisle. The east window is three-light; the west window is two-light with ogee-headed lights. The porch is characteristic of Scott's work, executed in Early-English style with buttresses, a steep roof, and an entrance featuring filleted shafts. Inside, the south-aisle doorway beneath a segmental head is a 19th-century renewal of an earlier opening. The north aisle incorporates a vestry embracing the west tower, with four-light square-headed north and west windows. The aisle windows are also square-headed, representing at least two phases of 15th and 16th-century work, with either ogee-headed, cusped, or round-headed lights with sunk spandrels. There are six two-light windows, the first bay featuring wooden mullions, and two 16th-century three-light windows at the east end, plus a two-light east window. A north doorway, corresponding to the south doorway, is round-headed with continuous moulding of late 16th or 17th-century character but is a 19th-century rebuild. Several slate grave slabs are attached to the outer walls, including two of the early 19th century attributed to William Bromley, mason of Keswick.

The interior is wide and spacious. The double-chamfered tower arch dies into the imposts, indicating that a tower stood here before the 16th century. The seven-bay arcades feature octagonal piers and double-chamfer arches, a dated form if they are as late as the 16th century; they appear to be a century earlier at the latest. The eastern bay is wider. The roofs are 19th-century work. The nave and chancel have a 13-bay tie-beam roof. The truss at the junction of nave and chancel has corbelled brackets; in the chancel the beams are castellated. Aisle lean-to roofs have moulded principals and purlins with foliage bosses. Angels appear at the foot of the principals at the east end of the north aisle, indicating the former presence of a chapel. A re-set piscina under a Tudor head stands in the chancel. Nine consecration crosses are visible in the aisle window reveals, dated to 1523. Walls are plastered. Nave and aisles have stone floors except for a raised floor at the west end and a 20th-century polished stone floor to the baptistery in the south aisle. The chancel has a polished stone floor of 1972; the sanctuary a mosaic floor of 1889.

The font was made circa 1395 in commemoration of Sir Thomas of Eskhead. It is octagonal with worn relief foliage and a representation of the Trinity around the bowl, set upon a panelled stem. The benches, probably of 1844, have ends with arm rests. In the south aisle is the Gothic frontal of a family pew dated 1826 and a Gothic box pew labelled "J Jackson Armboth". The 19th-century pulpit, on a 20th-century stone base, is polygonal with linenfold panels. The open-arcaded lectern is earlier, possibly dating from 1844. The choir stalls have ends with poppy heads and carving on arm rests, and an arcaded frontal. The back tier has curved arm rests and a screen behind it on turned balusters. The communion rail features wrought-iron scrollwork. The Tudor-panelled reredos has a shallow canopy and three relief brass panels signed JB.

The earliest monuments are male and female effigies said to be Thomas Radcliffe (died 1495) and his wife, now lying in the south aisle. Adjacent is a large slate slab set up on legs like a table tomb, originally laid in the floor, bearing two-foot brass effigies of Sir John Ratcliff (died 1527) and his wife. He was the chief patron of the 16th-century enlargement. In the south aisle is a recumbent white-marble figure by J. Lough (1846) on a Gothic chest, commemorating the poet laureate Robert Southey (1774-1843), who is buried in the churchyard. Several other 18th and 19th-century wall tablets are present, including two by Webster of Kendal, 18th-century brass plaques in the chancel, and a 1914-18 war-memorial plaque by E. Harrison of Keswick. Fragments of medieval stained glass remain in two aisle windows. The crucifixion east window is by Kempe (1897); other windows are attributed to Wailes.

The earliest features are the 14th-century tower arch and the late 14th-century font. The north aisle includes some 15th-century windows, but the church was substantially rebuilt in the early 16th century and consecrated in 1523. The tower is said to date slightly later, circa 1530-35. The patron was Sir John Ratcliff, whose brass effigy remains in the church. Extensive restoration was undertaken in 1844 by George Gilbert Scott (1811-78), the prolific Gothic Revival architect. The restoration was undertaken mainly at the expense of James Stanger of Lairthwaite, prompted by a campaign to raise funds for a monument to Robert Southey. Scott rebuilt the roofs and added the south porch; some furnishings also date from his restoration work.