Church Of St Hilda

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NZ 80 NE 4/161

SNEATON VILLAGE Church of St. Hilda

GV II Church. 1823-25, altered probably c.1910. By Will Hurst for James Wilson of Sneaton Castle. Herringbone-tooled sandstone on chamfered herringbone-tooled plinth; sandstone ashlar dressings. Slate roofs with stone-flagged roof on tower.

West tower; four bay nave and south porch; chancel. Two stage tower, with shouldered angle buttresses, has chamfered slit lights in lower stage. Upper stage, over triple-chamfered band, has two-light windows beneath pointed hood-moulds and uncarved lozenge panels. Moulded projecting eaves. Belfry is set-back octagonal lantern with louvred lancets beneath lucarnes. Squat octagonal spire and wrought iron cross. Gabled porch, with diagonal buttresses rising to crocketed pinnacles, contains pointed-arched opening. Panel carved in relief with the Wilson arms over opening. Carved rectangular panel set in nave wall over porch reads: THIS CHURCH WAS ERECTED BY JAMES WILSON ESQ LORD OF THE MANOR 1823 Nave windows are of three-lights with partly-renewed tracery and pointed hoodmoulds. Nave is buttressed and has raised eaves band. Nave north side repeats south, without doorway. Chancel contains cruciform opening on each side and angle buttresses to east, that to south-east pinnacled. East end has three-light window beneath pointed hoodmould and roll-moulded gable. Windows throughout are Perpendicular style.

Interior: narrow, pointed, chamfered tower arch. Stilted, pointed chancel arch with timber screen. Square font, restored 1845, of which only the angle shafts with scalloped capitals are unrestored. Cartouche of the Wilson arms in the tower. 1824 hatchment over door.

Monuments: on nave south wall, tablet to James Wilson (d.1830) by H.Hopper: Perpendicular style tracery and niches with crocketed canopies. On chancel north wall, dated monument to members of the Chapman family, by T.Bedford of London, 1836: weeping figure in low relief, draped over an urn.

Stained glass: east window of 1927 by Kemp and Tower.

Church occupies a prominent hilltop site, dominating the surrounding countryside.

Listing NGR: NZ8940007870