Description

CLAPTON IN GORDANO C.P. CLEVEDON LANE (south side) ST 47 SE Church of St. Michael 4/4 - I 11.10.61

Parish church. Norman origin, C13, north chapel c.1300, C15 additions to tower and alterations, C19 reroofing and restoration, particularly in chancel. Sandstone and limestone rubble, limestone dressings, slate roofs with raised coped verges, crestings, cross finials, north chapel rendered with lead roof, chancel chapel rendered. West tower, nave, south porch, north chapel, chancel and north chancel chapel. Decorated style, some Perpendicular. 2-stage tower has west lancet window of 2 lights with Y-tracery under a hood mould with dog- tooth, 2nd stage has single pointed arched bell-opening with wooden louvres each side, small lancet below to north and south; large diagonal weathered buttresses, string course, parapet with pierced cusped triangles, gargoyle corbels; small lean-to attached to north. Nave has former lower roofline visible to west and east, lancet to right and left and sanctus bellcote to east; north side only visible to west of chapel, blocked door with pointed arch, paired lancet with trefoil heads above, external stack, tall 2-light window with cusped lights, flat head and hood mould, buttress, attached single storey building with stone roof and pointed arched door; 3-bay south side has similar 2-light cusped window to left and 3-light Perpendicular style window to right, flat head and crocketed hood mould, external stair turret to east for former rood stair with pitched stone roof and lancet, buttresses. 2-storey gabled porch in central bay of nave, has pointed arched doorway with wave mouldings and hood mould, 2-light cusped window above with hood mould, heavy long and short limestone quoins and wall stepped forward to right for stair to former upper chamber. North chapel has tall 3-light east window of stepped cusped lancets, 2-light north window with cusped Y-tracery (blocked) and tall west lancet; battered walls. 2-bay chancel has Perpendicular 3-light east window, hood mould with mask stops, two 3-light south windows with cusped lights, flat head and hood mould, central priest's door with pointed arch and roll-moulding, similar 3-light north window; north chancel chapel set in angle, similar 3-light north window, pointed arched 2-light east window with stopped hood mould. Interior: tower has pointed arch in sandstone with keel-moulded shafts with masks at tops, fine wooden screen, probably early c14, said to have come from Clapton Court (q.v.), with 2-pointed arches and roll-mouldings, plain shafts at sides and centre, shield of arms in central spandrel, central circular opening and brattished top; former line of nave above and blocked lancet. Nave has 8-bay roof, arched-braces, collars, one row of purlins and ridge purlin, all principals moulded with carved bosses along purlins, cornice and brattished wall-plate; to south, windows have rere-arches, one hollow-chamfered and one wave-moulded; ogee-headed chamfered south door to rood stair, former upper door blocked, chamfered segmental head to south porch door, plain segmental-headed blocked north door, tall lancet to north chapel (possibly former external wall) and wide pointed arch with 2 chamfered orders and hood mould; tall pointed arch to chancel of 2 chamfered orders, with triple jamb shafts with foliage on capitals, squint to left, 2 upper east lights have reveals splayed to inner sides only. Porch has arched-brace and collar roof with moulded wall-plate, stone benches to sides, mutilated Norman tympanum above triangular-headed door with narrow wave-moulding, trefoil-headed holy water stop to right, recess for image above door and small upper niche with moulded pointed arch, east door to former chamber, as rood stair door. North chapel has 4-bay C19 roof of arched-brace, collar and collar purlin, former tie-beams cut off below wall-plates, corbels remaining to south, hood mould over arch to nave, piscina with cusped arch, base for image on east wall, 4-centred arched door to north chancel chapel. Chancel has 4-bay roof as in nave, probably C19 reconstruction incorporating earlier fabric, including carved figures at bases of principals; pointed segmental head to south door, C19 reconstructed piscina with jamb shafts to south, north squint to chapel with fragment of decorative painting above, pointed arch to north chancel chapel, as nave arch, with restored capitals; east wall has reredos with embattled cornice and fleuron frieze, Purbeck shaft to left and right, re-set upside down with stiff-leaf capitals; chancel chapel has C19 common rafter roof. Fittings: font in nave has quatrefoil bowl of C13 with later carved faces on undersides; early C14 benches to rear of nave with tripartite tops; wooden chest in nave, dated 1705; C19 carved wooden pulpit in nave. Monument in north chapel to Edmund Wynter, 1672 and his wife, 2 kneeling figures, with their daughter sitting under a prayer desk, Corinthian columns, open segmental pediment and allegorical figures; C17 ledger stones. In nave, stone tablet to Joseph Smith, 1745, and his wife, Speed; paired stone tablets to Edward Willis, 1717 and his wife, Sarah. In chancel, painted stone oval tablet with wreath, cherub and skull, to Ann Hinkes, 1701. (Sources: Pevsner, N. : Buildings of England : North Somerset and Bristol. 1958. The Builder, 2nd February, 1850, 57).

Listing NGR: ST4677973540

External Links

• Church of St Michael, Clapton in Gordano at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5117616

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Recommended Books

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
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  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
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  Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)