Description

ELSDON ELSDON
NY 9393
19/16 Church of
St. Cuthbert
21.10.53

GV 1

Parish church. C12, C14 and C16 or early C17. Restored 1837 and again in 1877
by F.R. Wilson. Random rubble and squared stone with Welsh slate roof.

Nave with bellcote, aisles, transepts with west aisles, chancel and vestry.

Nave: C19 south porch and flanking C19 Decorated windows. Low buttress in
south-west corner probably part of cut-back walls of earlier wider aisles.
West end has large C19 window in projecting walling which rises to support
bellcote. Low flanking buttresses are remnants of former tower (cf interior).

Transepts: the aisles are later additions (see the C14 angle buttress with
roll mouldings, now embedded in the north wall). C19 south window with jambs
of original window to left.

Chancel: C14 priest's door and three C14 windows, each of different pattern.
East end C19.

Gabled roofs with cross finials. Elaborate bellcote of c.1720 with 2 tiers of
ball finials and stone spirelet.

Interior: In west wall a high blocked tower arch with hoodmould of heavy square
section - probably C12 re-set as pointed arch. 4-bay nave arcades; C12 west
responds. Elsewhere C14 arches with octagonal piers and moulded capitals; 2nd
south pier has foliage carving in the capital; double-chamfered arches.
Transept piers are square with chamfered edges, the stops carved with tracery
or figures; double-chamfered arches dying into the imposts - the outer order
dying much higher than the inner. Similar chancel arch. Transept arcades
similar to nave. Very narrow aisles and transept aisles with quadrant tunnel
vaults and very thick outer walls; probably a C16 or C17 rebuilding. Corbels
for roof timbers of earlier aisles visible below vaults.

C14 sedilia in chancel. Trefoiled piscina in south transept. Medieval grave
covers in chancel south window, 2 in south transept, above south door, south
aisle west window, 4 in north transept. Roman tombstone in north aisle. False
hammer-beam roofs by F.R. Wilson. Cartouche of 1741 to William Brown.

G.N. Taylor: The Story of Elsdon: Frank Graham: Newcastle.
Hodgson J. : History of Northumberland: Newcastle.

Listing NGR: NY9364793281

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Cuthbert's Church, Elsdon at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7592906

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

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: West: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide