Description

LITTLE NESS C.P. LITTLE NESS SJ 41 NW 5/135 Church of Saint Martin 27.5.53 - II*

Chapel of ease. Late C12 with C15 or early C16 alterations. Restored and porch and vestry added in 1878. Dressed red sandstone with ashlar dressings. Machine tile roof. Nave and chancel in one with south porch and north vestry. Battered plinth to east and west and parapeted gable ends with plain copings. Integral gabled ashlar bellcote to west with 2 trefoiled ogee openings, pilasters to sides with gables above, and cross at apex. South side: 2 identical windows, C15 or C16 to left and c.1878 to right; 3 cinquefoil-hooded lights with panelled tracery, moulded reveals and straight-sided arched heads. Restored round-arched south doorway to left consisting of one order of shafts with scalloped capitals, chevron ornament to outer arch and hoodmould with carved head above; C19 nail-studded boarded door. Gabled timber framed porch with chamfered stone plinth, cinquefoil arched entrance, brackets supporting wall plates and trefoil-headed side lights. Open truss inside. North side: buttress to centre with chamfered offsets. C19 window to right, of 3 cinquefoil-headed lights with panelled tracery, moulded reveals and straight-sided arch. East end: window of 3 cinquefoil-headed lights (the centre ogee) with panelled tracery, moulded reveals and hoodmould with carved heads as stops. West end: C19 double-chamfered lancet with hoodmould. Vestry: chamfered plinth, lean-to roof and integral lateral stone stack with chamfered offsets and cornice to chamfered cap. Square window to front of 2 trefoil-headed lights with hollow-chamfered reveals, window to east of 3 trefoil-headed lights with steps down to chamfered-arched crypt doorway below, and chamfered-arched doorway to west with double-chamfered reveals, moulded arch, hoodmould with lozenge- shaped stops, and boarded door with strap hinges. Interior: probably C17 four-bay roof with moulded wooden wall plate. Arched-braced collar trusses with continuous slightly-ogee chamfer. Second truss from west with C19 cusping, and hammerbeams with cusped brackets. Third truss from west with billet-ornamented tie-beam, collar, struts and painted wooden rood of 1927 with canopy. Collar trusses against east and west walls. 3 moulded purlins to each side. All windows (except for east window) with chamfered rear arches. North doorway to vestry with chamfered arch, hoodmould with lozenge-shaped stops, and boarded door with strap hinges. Blocked C12 round-arched doorway or window to left (see straight joints). Fittings: early C16 German triptych set in late C19 carved wooden frames. C17 or late C19 later seventeenth-century style altar rails with large turned balusters and moulded handrail. Late C19 eagle lectern. Late C19 Jacobean-style polygonal wooden pulpit with carved panels. Late C19 wooden pews. C12 circular red sandstone pulpit with rope moulding dividing tapered bowl and base, and C19 iron-bound wooden cover. Pair of C18 brass chandeliers in chancel. Reset medieval floor tiles in sanctuary and porch. Some fragments of C15 stained glass in north window and C19 stained glass in other windows. Saint Martin's has always been chapelry of Baschurch. There is a motte (County A.M. number 1100) to the south-east of the church. B.o.E., p. 169; D.H.S. Cranage, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, Part 9, pp.772-3; Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire and Shropshire (1900), p. 156; P.A. Parott, Little Ness. The Story of a Shropshire Parish (1935), pp.48-9.

Listing NGR: SJ4075319893

External Links

• Wikidata Q17539992

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Recommended Books

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)