Norman church of St Mary the Virgin, Christon.
"The place-name was originally just ‘Cyrc’ or ‘Cryc’ (= creech = hill), the Saxon ‘tun’ being a later addition. Prehistoric exploitation of the immediate area is evident from the remains of agriculture; Roman remains were also discovered when the M5 was built, where that road scrapes the NE edge of the hill behind Christon.)
The church comprises a nave with a S porch, a central tower and a chancel. Work is found from the 11-12thc, 14thc, 16thc and 1875. The earliest masonry is in the chancel, which has long-and-short work in the E quoins and herringbone masonry in the lateral walls. From the later 12thc are the S nave doorway, the restored arches, vault rib supports and corbels of the tower and the font. Construction is of rubble with squared quoins. The author is indebted for some information to Elaine Jamieson of English Heritage, who led a party from the Bridgwater Archaeological Society around part of the hamlet, focusing particularly on field-systems ? prehistoric and medieval ? on the hill to the N.
Christon is not mentioned by name in the Domesday Survey, and any idea that it might be ‘Crook’ [24, 7] (on consideration of the place-name) is nullified by the Phillimore commentary that that place is in North Petherton Hundred. Light has recently been thrown on both the early and later medieval history of Christon and Loxton by Aston and Costen (2008), in which it is argued that Christon was Serlo de Burcy's 3 -hide holding in Banwell; a conclusion already reached by Morland (1964). This land was held by Serlo from the Bishop of Wells in 1086 and had belonged to Earl Harold in 1066. Christon was known as Chruchestone in the later Middle Ages and was clearly a chapelry of Banwell; it is also possible that Uphill was connected with Christon and perhaps was also a chapelry of Banwell (Members of the Council (1894), 68-9; Weaver (1901), 339).
S nave doorway -2 orders, round headed.
Dimensions
1
Height of 2nd order soffit apex 2.40m
Height of opening 2.20m
Height of outer edge of 2nd order above floor 2.625m
Height of top of label 2.745m
2
Dimensions of capitals 0.19m x 0.19m
Total width of doorway 2.15m
Width of 2nd order opening between shafts 1.65m
Width of opening 1.07m
Details -
1st order
Continuous with a continuous decoration of point-to-point open lozenges on face and soffit.
2nd order
En-délit nook shafts on low attic bases standing on tall block plinths. The capitals are triple scallops with plain conical wedges between the cones and tall abaci. Neckings are plain rolls and imposts quirked hollow chamfered. In the arch is single roll centripetal chevron, point-to-point on face and soffit. The label has a row of key ornament.
There are five apparently Romanesque corbels on each face of the tower; the corbels with double human heads at the angles look very much later. They are all well-preserved and clearly visible (except that the westernmost on the N face is behind a drain). Unfortunately, although there are a few interesting corbels, there is a rather tedious repetition of grotesque heads and a few geometric motifs. In the following analysis, the corbels are taken in an anti-clockwise sequence, numbered 1-5 from left to right on each face.
Tower corbel table N face -Corbel 1 (E end)
Geometric: roll within angular mouldings.
Corbel 2
Chevron.
Corbel 3
Lion with bird's head turning back to grip its tail in its beak.
Corbel 4
Equal armed cross pattée with pellets in the four quadrants.
Corbel 5
Hidden behind drain hopper.
Tower corbel table W face -Corbel 1 (N end)
As S3
Corbel 2
Grotesque animal-head with open mouth twisted sideways.
Corbel 3
As S2.
Corbel 4
As S3
Corbel 5
Saltire.
Tower corbel table E face -Corbel 1 (S end)
Animal-head with closed mouth
Corbel 2
Human head.
Corbel 3
Geometric design as S3.
Corbel 4
Grotesque animal-head with partly open mouth.
Corbel 5
Two fish.
Tower corbel table S face -Corbel 1 (W end)
Human head
Corbel 2
Grotesque animal-head with wide-open mouth (cf. 5).
Corbel 3
Geometric: roll at bottom; three pellets within angular cradle.
Corbel 4
Grotesque animal-head with round, wide-open mouth.
Corbel 5.
Grotesque animal-head with wide-open mouth (cf. 2)
W tower arch -Single order, round headed. It is identical to the E tower arch except that the nook-shafts are decorated with cable ornament.
E tower arch -This is the arch from the crossing into the presbytery, and is of one order decorated on the W face only, round headed.
Details -
1st order (W face):
Cylindrical attached nook-shafts on inverted cushion bases carrying plain triple-scallop capitals with plain chamfered imposts. The arch is decorated on the face only with two rows of chevron - single rolls arranged point to point. The label carries a Greek key motif.
Tower vault -Under the tower is a quadripartite rib vault with depressed roll-moulded ribs. Each is carried on a springer in the form of a chamfered impost block with a row of beading in a groove in the centre of the face, which supports a dragon's head shown in profile with its features – wrinkled skin and oval eyes – indicated by simple grooves. The dragons' mouths are slightly open showing pointed teeth alternating on the upper and lower jaws, and they have straight, projecting tongues. Slight differences between the dragons are noted below;
NE springer
In L profile. 10 beads on the impost, 2 teeth above and 2 below.
NW springer
In R profile. 12 beads on the impost, 3 teeth above and 2 below.
SE springer
In R profile. 11 beads on the impost, 3 teeth above and 2 below.
SW springer
In L profile. Impost apparently inverted, with 11 beads in the groove. Teeth indistinct: apparently 3 above and 1 below.
Font -Located at the NW angle of the SE part of the nave, thus unusually to the E of the S door, the font has room to the W and N and a little to the S. The decoration on the N and W faces of the bowl is easily enjoyed, but that on the S face is not so easy to appreciate. Resting directly, without a plinth, on the Victorian floor, the base is a rectangular block with chamfered upper surface. The stem, in two very unequal blocks, is cylindrical. Above a large roll, the bowl is a square tub; the three decorated sides carry their exquisite designs within border rolls. The S face carries several adjacent saltires. The W face carries five very fine scallops separated by sharply angular darts (the scallops having fine blank and flat mouths joined in their upper halves to form a strong connection at the top of the face). The N face consists of two very fine saltires, or stars, separated bya shallow roll. All the decoration on the font is executed with a confident sense of overall design, an awareness of how to balance variety with homogeneity, and a highly polished finish (evident in the tooling detail). It is unfortunate that the font no longer has any lead. Metal remnants at the centre of all four sides of the rim may be evidence of previous lock-fittings. It will be seen that there is a circular basin at the centre of the bowl’s floor."
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