Church Of St Luke With Gargoyles To West And Effigy To East

The Church of St Luke is a parish church largely dating to around 1850-2, built by C.W. Burleigh and subsequently influenced by Butterfield. It incorporates remains from the 14th century. The church is constructed of coursed stone with dressings, and has a blue slate roof with verge parapets. It comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, vestry, and porch, built in a mid-pointed Gothic style.

The three-stage west tower has angle buttresses, a parapet frieze featuring shields within a cusped lattice pattern, gargoyles at the angles, a short, recessed pyramidal lead-covered spire, and small trefoil-headed lights, except for the twin trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil above in the bell chamber. A stone stairway is located on the north side, leading to the ringing chamber. The nave has three bays with two-stage angle buttresses and two-light pointed trefoil leaded windows with a label. A low-gabled porch with a pointed-arch entry sits on the north side. C14 stonework is visible in the north wall of the nave.

The chancel is lower than the nave and has two bays divided by two-stage buttresses with gablet heads. The east window is a six-light pointed design with trefoil heads and a hexafoil above. The vestry is lower than the chancel and projects from the north side with a steeply pitched, solid stone block roof.

Inside, the church features an aisleless nave, a pointed chancel arch with moulded imposts, and a king post roof with cusped diagonal braces and principals. The chancel and vestry have a pointed deep-ribbed vault. A trefoil-headed piscina is set in the angle of the chancel window. A small oak screen with a gablet sits across the aisle. An octagonal oak pulpit rests on a stone base with trefoil-headed struts. The octagonal stone font has stencilled quatrefoils around the top, a square base, and an oak spire cover. Two boarded screens lead to the vestry, incorporating a Venetian Gothic-style door panel. Stained glass by O'Connor dates to around 1854. A recumbent effigy of a priest is located outside the east end and discarded gargoyles were on the site at the time of resurvey in June 1984.

The patronage of the living, held by A.J.B. Beresford Hope, a friend of Butterfield and acquainted with his work at All Saints, Margaret Street, London, resulted in Butterfield’s influence being incorporated relatively late in the building process, particularly evident in the vestry, chancel roof, and recessed spire, while the remainder of the structure reflects Burleigh’s more conventional style.