Church of St George

Church of St George

This is a 19th-century Gothic Revival church built of red rock-faced sandstone laid in snecked courses, with yellow sandstone dressings to all windows, doors and gables. The building consists of a nave and chancel with a large north transept, a south porch, a prominent bellcote and a later north-west vestry added in 1906. The slate roofs feature ridges, eaves brackets and coped gables in limestone. Stone finial crosses crown the gables throughout except for the vestry. The porch incorporates a finial from the old church, built into the gable of the present porch. A tall yellow-brick chimney serves the vestry.

The windows display varied Gothic styles. The east, west and north transept windows are traceried in Decorated style with hood moulds. The east and north transept windows are original two-light designs, while the west window is of three lights and dates to around 1905. The chancel north window is also traceried but in a curiously miniaturised style. The north transept east window is a wheel window in Early English style, featuring a central round and five round lobes, plus five small round plate piercings. Other windows are pairs or triplets of pointed lancets. A small round-headed window from the former building has been incorporated into the south wall of the chancel as a blind window. The porch arch is equilateral with a broad chamfer stopped near the foot. The vestry has an equilateral arch doorway with bonded jambs and a broad lancet window, both with labels and block terminals. The bellcote is distinctive, with two foiled ogee pointed bell openings separated by round colonnettes and shallow gabled side buttresses, similar in design to Port Eynon of 1861.

The interior is well-proportioned, with prominent scissor-braced roofs to the nave, chancel and transept. The pews have scalloped tops and tusk-tenon joints. The transept floor is raised, and the transept pews feature a tall decorative front. Black and red quarry tiles laid in chequer pattern cover the floor throughout. The chancel arch is pointed and of moderate size, with the chancel kept short. A smaller opening in the chancel wall to the south provides access from the chancel to the pulpit. The pulpit front is round fronted stone mounted on a corbel base, with a single decorative panel depicting St George. The communion rails are gateless, featuring Celtic crosses in foil-headed openings with pierced decoration at the foot and a moulded rail.

The church contains significant stained glass. The nave west window is the special feature, a three-light design by Nathaniel Westlake dated 1905, depicting St Barnabas centrally, St Edward the Confessor to the left and St Mary Magdalene of Pozzi to the right, installed in memory of Col and Mrs Wood of Stouthall. The east window shows the Resurrection and Christ as shepherd with St Peter and St Mark. The chancel south window depicts the Annunciation, the chancel north window shows St George and St David, and the transept north window also depicts the Resurrection. The nave south-east window shows Dorcas the almsgiver, created by Celtic Studios in 1978.

Memorials include a brass war memorial to the north of the nave. The Lucas and other family memorials are gathered in the north transept and to the north of the chancel arch. A white marble oval with open curtains in the latter position commemorates John Lucas of 1787 and his son, the builder of Stouthall, and his daughter-in-law. To the left is a bronze plaque commemorating Col J N Lucas of 1863. Brass memorials to the west of the transept include one to Starling Benson JP of Fairy Hill of 1879 and another to Gen H R Benson of 1892. To the left of the chancel arch is an ancient stone brought from Stouthall Park, with a simple cross on one side and an elaborately carved cross with interlace on the other. The font beside the south door is medieval, square and made of tufa, though it was harshly scraped of all original finish when 19th-century whitewash was removed.