Description

CALDECOTE SP39NW 2/90 Church of St. Theobald and 25/03/68 Saint Chad GV II* Church. Late C13; restored, altered and porch, vestry, organ chamber and turret added by Ewan Christian 1857. Hartshill granite rubble with sandstone dressings and moulded cornices. Tile roofs have coped gable parapets with moulded kneelers. Nave, chancel, south porch, north organ chamber, west bell turret. Decorated style; bar tracery throughout is almost wholly restored or renewed. 4-bay nave, 2-bay chancel. Splay plinth and moulded sill courses throughout. Chancel has angle and 2 south buttresses of 2 offsets. 3-light east window has stepped sill course. All chancel windows have hood moulds with C19 head stops. Small chamfered south doorway has plank door with old strap hinges and sill course forming hood mould. 2-light windows. North side is largely similar; organ chamber projects only slightly and has angle buttresses and re-set 2-light north window. Nave has eastern and western buttresses merging with kneelers. One ancient and one C19 south buttress. Porch to second bay has small buttresses flush with front, and cross finial. Doorway of 2 moulded orders has C19 iron gates of openwork quatrefoils. Doorway inside of 2 chamfered orders has hood mould with C19 head stops, and late C13 door with applied ribs and large strapwork hinge. Three 2-light windows have hood moulds without stops. North side is largely similar, with vestry in the same position as the porch. Diagonal buttresses of 2 offsets. Traceried north lancet. West front has two 2-light windows set high up in the gable. Wide, shallow central buttress, with narrower upper section. The top is corbelled out, with a projecting buttress of 2 offsets to a C19 octagonal turret with similar buttresses to east, north and south sides, and chamfered lancet openings to alternate sides. Moulded cornice with ball flower decoration and stone spire with weathercock. Interior has painted rough render. Nave and chancel have C19 hammerbeam roofs, with carved angels to hammerbeams, of 5 bays to nave and 3 bays to chancel. Chancel has trefoiled piscina in south-east corner. Chancel arch of 2 chamfered orders; only the outer arch is original: the hollow-chamfered jambs with trefoil heads and the inner half-round responds with moulded octagonal capitals are C19. Similar C19 arch to organ chamber. The fittings are almost wholly mid C19. The chancel has encaustic tiles. Wood seats below south-east and north-east windows. Late C19/C20 carved, painted and gilded reredos. Painted sandstone pulpit. Font has octagonal stem and round bowl, both with foliage bosses. Lectern and candle stands of painted wrought-iron and brass. Stained glass: west windows and vestry have fragments of medieval glass. East window is mid/late C19. Chancel north-east 1894 and south-west 1907 by I(eipe and Tower; south-east 1872 may be by Kempe. Wall monuments: chancel north: William Purefey 1616 and his son Francis 1613. Partly-painted alabaster, with 2 near life-size kneeling figures beneath 2 decorated arches, framed by Corinthian columns on pedestals with obelisks above, a frieze of shields and a big achievement of arms, and 2 inscription panels below. Chancel south-east: Michael Purefey 1627. Partly-painted alabaster with a kneeling figure beneath a decorated arch, framed by ionic columns with cartouches above, and an achievement of arms. South-west: George Abbott 1648, erected 1649. An architectural design with Composite columns on consoles framing a panel, a moulded cornice and a cartouche of arms. Abbott defended Caldecott Hall against Prince Rupert on 28th August 1642. Nave west: 2 almost identical monuments to Michael 1570 and Joyce Purefey 1585 have tablets with achievements of arts framed by Composite columns, elaborate entablature and a central semi-circular pediment with the family crest, and 3 semi-spherical finials. Nathan Wrighte 1721: a white marble cartouche and drapery with winged head below. Ewan Christian's restoration cost £2,000. (Buildings of England: Warwickshire: pp222-223; VCH: Warwickshire: Vol IV, p41)

Listing NGR: SP3487295124

External Links

• Wikidata Q17550504

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