Stawell Church

Stawell Church is an Anglican parish church that dates from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, with significant restoration completed in 1874. It is constructed of coursed rubble with freestone dressings and features slate and tiled roofs with coped verges and cruciform finials. The church has a nave with a continuous chancel, a south porch, and a squat west tower, making it a simple, low building.

The tower has a saddle-back roof, diagonal buttresses, and a weathered set-off about three-quarters of the way up. There is a square stair-turret on the north side, a good Perpendicular west window, and a west door. On the east face of the tower, there are two obscured tablets incised with the year 1610, likely marking a restoration. It is believed that the upper portion of the tower is unfinished, and the roof represents a compromise. The gabled porch features an outer doorway of two orders, which has been much altered, along with a consecration cross and a simple lancet on the west elevation.

Inside, the church has a two-bay nave with lancets on both the north and south sides, and on the south side, there is a two-light window from 1874 in a neo-Decorated style. The chancel also has lancets on the north and south sides, with the southern lancet featuring a cusped head. The three-light east window, dating from 1874, is in the neo-Decorated style, and there is a priest's door to the south, which is studded with strap hinges.

Formerly, there was a three-bay 14th-century arcade on the north side of the nave, with some external evidence still visible, although it is obscured by robust two-stage buttresses from 1874. The inside of the porch is benched on a flagstone floor, and there is a 19th-century inner plank door. The interior is plastered with tile floors beneath an unceiled wagon roof from 1874. There is further evidence of the arcade in the form of polygonal piers with stepped caps, although their bases are now much below the present floor level. The church features a simple tower arch and an octagonal 15th-century font with quatrefoil panels, along with a 19th-century cover. A medieval chest is located under the tower, and there is a bell dated 1770. The church also contains two notable late 18th-century wall monuments. The remaining fittings, including pine pews, a pulpit, and altar rails, date from 1874.