Description

Benington TL 2923 BENINGTON CHURCH GREEN (north side)

11/8 Parish Church of St Peter 24.11.66

GV I

Parish church. Late C13 or early C14 nave and chancel, c1330 N chapel and S porch, early C15 W tower before roof raised for C15 clerestorey. Restored 1889 by John Oldrid Scott. (Kelly (1914) 52). Flint rubble with stone dressings. Steep old red tile roof to porch, chancel and similar roof, hipped at E, to N chapel. Parapet hides low pitched nave roof and embattled parapet to the Hertfordshire spike on the tower. A tall wide aisless nave lit by windows at 2 levels, with a rood stair at the NE corner, and covered by a 4-bay open timber roof. Cambered tie-beams, curved braces from wallposts on corbels, and carved heraldic bosses, painted. 2 early C14 2-light windows in N wall and S wall with tracery. Blocked C14 N door. Late C14 oak S door with contemporary pointed arch in square head. Large 2-light C15 clerestorey windows, 3 on each side. The lower windows have moulded rear arches with hoodmoulds and head stops. 3 carved stone brackets and piscina for former alter at SE. Mid C14 Barnack stone octagonal font with corbelled shafts on alternate faces and C15 stem with panelled sides and base. Fragments of medieval glass in nave windows and wall-painting of masonry pattern with flowers at W end. Simple C15 oak benches. Traceried oak screen of 1889 moved to tower arch in 1966. 3 inscribed brasses on wall at NE, C15 scroll, William Clarke 1591, and John Clarke 1604. Narrower chancel with E wall and roof, and much of S wall, rebuilt in 1889. 5-light E window of that date with stained glass by Burlison and Grylls c1896 (Pevsner). In S wall pre 1300 Sedilia with stiff-leaf and crocket capitals and cusped pointed arches. Piscina early C14 with ogee arch. 2 3-light C15 windows with flat or low-arched traceried heads. Pointed C19 traceried window at SW. Small late C13 S doorway with moulded jambs and straight-sided arch. Chancel arch rebuilt wider in C15. Fine mortuary chapel at NE c1330 with small N door, 2 C14 N 2-light windows with flowing tracery, similar W window, C15 E window, and elaborate 2-bay arcade on S to chancel. Quatrefoil piers with thin shafts in diagonals and moulded bases and caps. Deeply moulded arches, pointed in W bay but elaborately crocketed and ogee pointed in next bay to E, flanked by panelled finials, which acts as a canopy to the traceried tomb chest of Sir John de Benstede and his lady with lifesize recumbent effigies. Small mutilated figures remain in canopied niches along the S side. The wall to the E has been pierced for a similar canopied tomb chest c1430 of Sir Edward de Benstede and his lady. The underside of the 4- centred arch is panelled with a central angel holding their souls in a napkin. Ogee headed niches line the tombchest and the arch has carved spandrels. Part of a C15 brass of a priest is fixed to the pier between the tombs. 2-stage W tower with angle buttresses and half-octagonal turret stair on S face dieing into upper stage. Tall C15 arch to nave. 2-light bell openings with quatrefoil in head under hood mould. Niche in NW buttress with shield of arms. Gabled parapet and diagonal buttresses to S porch, with a 2-light window to E and W and image of St Michael in niche over entrance. Broken stoup by door. The church stands on a prominent elevated site by the castle overlooking the green. OOf outstanding interest for chapel and tombs. (RCHM (1911) 50-1: VCH (1912) 75-7: Pevsner (1977) 93-4).

Listing NGR: TL2969223579

External Links

• Wikidata Q17528891

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Recommended Books

• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Setting up a Listed Building Heritage Partnership Agreement: Historic England Advice Note 5
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)