Church of Saint Bridget

Church of Saint Bridget

A parish church built from rubble slate with roofs of small silver-grey slates. The building comprises a long nave and chancel, with a bellcote at the west end and another at the nave east end, together with a gabled south porch.

The west end displays a battered wall base with a coped gable and a plain bellcote with a ridged flat top and two flat-headed openings. Two narrow west lancets light this elevation. Along the south side of the nave are three small Portland stone lancets with a substantial porch positioned between the first and second lancets, with a buttress to the east. Evidence of a blocked transept arch remains visible. The porch itself is a coped gabled structure with a cross finial and a chamfered sandstone round arch, possibly of late medieval or 16th-century date. Stone benches are set into the porch, and the inner door has a cambered head. The east end of the nave has a coped gable and a plain gabled bellcote with two segmental pointed openings. The north side of the nave has three similar Portland stone lancets and a transept to the left. The transept contains two sandstone lancets to the west, one narrow cusped lancet to the north, one to the east, all of medieval date. A small short north aisle extends to the chancel, featuring a small rectangular north light, a lancet to the east, and a roof swept over. One Portland stone small lancet is present on the north aisle. The east end has a coped gable and three Portland stone lancets. The south side of the chancel displays one eroded medieval lancet to the right, one 19th-century Portland stone lancet, and to the left a blocked narrow door and low late medieval rectangular small light.

Interior walls are whitewashed and plastered. A plastered pointed chancel arch has impost blocks. A blocked nave north door is present, and a low plastered north transept arch. Corbels for a rood loft survive, with the associated stair pierced through to the left of the chancel arch and terminating in a 14th-century moulded slightly ogee arch to the rear. A cambered arch from the chancel to the north lean-to, now serving as a vestry, appears to be post-medieval. A blocked chancel south door is evident.

The 1869 fittings include rafter roofs of six or seven sides, patterned tiled floors with encaustic tiles and some marble in the chancel, pine pews, stalls with Gothic arcaded frontals, and a Gothic screen to the north vestry. A fine hanging corona is suspended in the north transept. The pulpit has a panelled Gothic timber front of cusped arches under quatrefoils, set on a stone base with steps.

A 13th-century font survives as a shallow scalloped square with scallops flared out from a round shaft. The octagonal base appears to be another font inverted. Against the nave east wall stand two bays of a very fine late medieval screen, each panel featuring two-light blind tracery, a rare survival.

The north transept contains four eroded medieval gravestones: two with sculpted heads only, a third with a sculpted head and canopy behind, and a fourth displaying a full draped effigy. On the altar is a lavishly carved semi-circular timber piece, possibly of late 17th or early 18th-century date, depicting Solomon and Sheba. Though said to have been in the church in 1869, it is presumed to be continental in origin. An early 17th-century carved cupboard door is fixed against the west wall. Iron and brass candle-standards, probably of 1869, are attached to the nave pews, with more elaborate examples at the stalls. A brass candelabrum of 18th-century style, dated 1910, hangs in the chancel. Gothic east wall arcaded panelling of around 1912 comprises eleven bays with delicately carved detail.

The stained glass includes a fine High Victorian east window with six 14th-century-style scenes and clear glass between, attributed to Bell & Almond and dated 1869. Three single lights in the chancel depict Archangels and are dated 1911. The north transept west lancets include one from after 1877 showing "Blessed are the pure in heart" and another from after 1869 with two scenes of "Raising the dead". The north transept north lancet, dated 1874, shows "Resurrected Christ", whilst the east lancet of 1911 depicts "Virgin and Child". Six nave lancets of Christ in different guises date to 1901 and are by Herbert Davis. The west lancets depict Saints David and Bride, dated 1891, by Cox, Son & Buckley.

Memorials include plaques in the north transept to Charles Phillips of Hill (died 1749) and Hugh Meare of Pierston (died 1745), a draped urn oval plaque to William Phillips (died 1798), and a plaque on the east wall to Elizabeth Phillips (died 1739).