Description

SK 31 NW
6/67

PARISH OF SMISBY
ANNWELL LANE (north side)
Church of St James

19-01-67

GV
I
Parish church. C13, C14, C15, C16 and C19. Coursed squared sandstone with sandstone dressings. Roofs hidden behind plain and battlemented parapets. Chamfered plinth. West tower, clerestoried nave and chancel in one, south aisle and porch, north vestry.

West tower of two stages divided by a chamfered string course. Diagonal buttresses to west, angle to east. The south side has a large circular clock face in recessed surround, and a tiny rectangular window below. To the west a three-light window with cusped lancet lights under a four-centred arch. Various tiny rectangular openings. Two-light bell-openings in each direction, with two plain lancet lights and mullions rising from the apex of the lancets. Tall battlemented parapet with four obelisk pinnacles. The north side has a C19 vestry with plain three-light chamfered mullion windows and a doorway with chamfered surround. The north side of the nave and chancel has two buttresses and three two-light chamfered mullion windows under flat arches. Tall three-light east window with bar tracery, and a piece of walling built up into the centre light. The south side of the chancel has a two-light chamfered mullion window and a small single light window placed at an angle.

The south aisle has a cross window to the east and two plain two-light recessed and chamfered mullion windows to south. Gabled south porch with moulded copings and plain kneelers. Four-centred arched doorway with hollow moulding. Raised and fielded panelled doors. Single lancet to west end of south aisle. Three two-light recessed and chamfered mullion windows to the clerestory.

INTERIOR: low three-bay arcade has circular piers and capitals and double-chamfered arches. Double-chamfered tower arch, the inner order on moulded capitals. A diagonal passage leads from the south aisle into the chancel. Trefoiled piscina in the south aisle. Square aumbry recess to chancel south. Tall unmoulded octagonal font.

MONUMENTS: at the west end of the south aisle an alabaster effigy of Joan Comyn, mid C14, and an incised alabaster slab to W Kendall +1500 and wife. On the north wall of the chancel an impressive wall monument to Henry Kendall +1627 and wife, with large kneeling figures facing each other across a prayer dusk. Kneeling children below. Re-used C16 linenfold panelling from Ashby-de-la-Zouch castle, as the dado behind the altar. Raised and fielded panelling in the vestry also said to have come from Ashby.

Listing NGR: SK3479619130

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St James at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17525740

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House