St Peter - Bourton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member SMacB
N 52° 19.712 W 001° 21.687
30U E 611658 N 5798844
13th century church of St Peter, Bourton-on-Dunsmore.
Waymark Code: WM126KC
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/12/2020
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Alfouine
Views: 0

"The church of ST. PETER stands in a small churchyard. It consists of a chancel, nave, north chapel, north and south aisles, tower, and vestry. It was almost entirely rebuilt in the 14th century and all that remains of the earlier church is a blocked south doorway to the chancel, the font, and probably part of the east bay of the south arcade. The clearstory, north aisle, and porch were added in the 19th century and the tower was rebuilt. It has been drastically refaced and restored. The chancel is built of limestone rubble with sandstone dressings and has a tiled roof of rather low pitch, a splayed plinth with a beaded lower edge, and rebuilt diagonal buttresses at the angles. The east end has a modern window of three pointed lights and above it the wall has been refaced. The south wall has been largely rebuilt but retains the jambs of an early-13th-century doorway with a large roll moulding; it is blocked and the head replaced by a timber lintel at springing level. East of the doorway there is a square-headed window of three trefoil ogee lights, of three hollow splayed orders, with a hoodmould without stops, and to the west a three-light square-headed window of one splay, probably 17th century. On the north side is a small vestry with a tiled roof and to the east a pointed two-light window of two splayed orders.

The south aisle has a slated roof with a moulded eaves-course of red sandstone and is lighted by three square-headed three-light windows of two hollowsplayed orders, one on the east and two on the south, all much restored. The wall has been refaced with a mixture of squared and coursed limestone and sandstone with a plinth of red sandstone ashlar. The modern clearstory is lighted by two square-headed windows of two trefoil lights. The west end of the nave has been rebuilt with a pointed doorway of two splayed orders, a hoodmould with head-stops; above the door is a pointed traceried window of two trefoil lights, and at sill level a string-course, dropped in two stages to the sill of the aisle window. The north aisle has a slated roof, and a diagonal buttress at the angle, and is lighted on the west by a pointed traceried window of two trefoil lights, and on the north by a modern square-headed window of three trefoil ogee lights. The clearstory has two windows, as on the south. The porch and the doorway into the chapel are modern. It has a stone-paved floor, stone-vaulted roof, a pointed entrance of two splays with a hood-mould and floriated stops; the mouldings of the pointed doorway arch die out on splayed jambs. The chapel has been refaced or rebuilt and the windows renewed. It has a tiled roof and is lighted by a pointed traceried window of three trefoil ogee lights on the north and by a two-light on the east. The tower is built of squared and coursed masonry and rises in three stages, marked by string-courses; it is crowned with an octagonal spire, bell-cast at the base, resting on a hollow moulding. The angles of the upper stage are splayed off into an octagon to accommodate the spire, which has gabled steeple lights near its base on the cardinal faces. The belfry windows on all four faces are pointed, of two trefoil lights with pierced quatrefoils; to the ringing-chamber there are pointed single trefoil lights on the south and east faces, and on the west a two-light pointed window with a clock-dial above.

The chancel (23 ft. 2 in. by 15 ft.) is paved with stone and has two steps to the altar; the walls are plastered. It has an open king-post roof of the 17th century, with moulded tie-beams and struts shaped to form tracery, and is supported on wall-posts with curved brackets. The altar rails are also of the 17th century, with turned balusters having moulded brackets at the top under the moulded rail on the west side only. In the south wall there is a piscina with a plain pointed arch and a square basin. Below the window to the east is a shallow square recess and over the blocked 13th-century doorway a modern flat head. In the north wall there is a modern pointed doorway to the vestry.

The nave (45 ft. 2 in. by 17 ft. 10 in.) is paved with stone and has a low-pitched lead-covered roof. The south arcade consists of four bays of pointed arches of two splayed orders, the east bay supported on responds and a pier, thickly rendered with cement, with splayed capitals, also of cement. The south side of the pier has been hacked away, probably in removing the west wall of a 13th-century chapel when the church was rebuilt in the 14th century. The wall over the arch is thinner than the rest of the arcade. The other arches are supported on octagonal pillars with moulded capitals and bases, except at the east end, where the arch dies out on the pier. The west bay has been built up between the pillar and the respond to carry the tower, and a pointed doorway arch formed to give access. The north arcade, of two bays, is a copy of the south but supported on a moulded corbel at the west end instead of a respond. The chancel and chapel arches are pointed, of two orders, the inner a splay and the outer a wave moulding, continued to the ground. The west door and window have splayed reveals with segmental pointed reararches. The pulpit, dated 1607, is of oak and placed on the south side of the chancel arch. It is octagonal, but rectangular below for a reading-desk, with carved and moulded panels, finished with a moulded capping supported on moulded brackets.

The south aisle (37 ft. 2 in. by 9 ft. 4 in.) is paved with stone and has a low-pitched roof with stopchamfered beams supported on wall-posts and curved brackets resting on moulded stone corbels. In the south wall at the east end is a piscina with a trefoil ogee head and the remains of a circular basin; above it there is a wall memorial to Thomas Worcester of Draycote, died 1698. There is a segmental pointed arch to the tower and in front of it is a 13th-century stone font, octagonal with a deep lead-lined basin, each side carved with a trefoil under a gable with a foliated finial.

The north aisle (22 ft. by 8 ft. 10 in.) is paved with stone and the roof is a copy of the roof of the south aisle. The eastern half of the aisle is occupied by the organ.

The north chapel (19 ft. by 16 ft. 1 in.), which has a modern open roof, is occupied by seven large slate memorial slabs raised one foot above the floor, and an eighth has been lowered to floor level for the door to the porch. The west wall has a modern pointed arch opening into the aisle and in the south wall, east of the arch, there is a piscina with a trefoil ogee head, from which the basin is missing. On the east side of the piscina, a 14th-century effigy, on a slightly tapered slab, has been built upright into the wall, with the lower portion concealed by one of the raised memorials. It appears to represent a cleric with his hands conjoined in prayer. On the walls there are 11 wall memorials, and 4 hatchments in addition to the 8 floor slabs, all to members of the Shuckburgh family, dating from 1717 to 1943.

The tower (6 ft. 10 in. square) is paved with stone, the walls are plastered, and the window has splayed reveals with a pointed rear arch.

There are two bells by Thomas Newcombe (c. 1600), the second inscribed with an alphabet, and one of 1827 by R. Taylor & Sons, Oxford.

The registers begin in 1560."

SOURCE - (visit link)
Building Materials: Stone

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