Description

SX 98 NW SHILLINGFORD SHILLINGFORD ST. GEORGE ST. GEORGE 4/98 Church of St. George 30.6.61 II* GV

Parish church. C15, thoroughly restored and possibly partly rebuilt in 1856. Heavitree brecchia, the tower ashlar, the remainder snecked, with freestone dressings and a slate roof. Perpendicular style with some C19 Decorated windows. West tower, nave, chancel, north and south transepts, south west porch. Dr. Oliver considered that the church was originally a domestic chapel, enlarged in the late C15. The tower bears the arms of Sir William Huddesfield (d. 1499), Attorney General. C19 references refer to a very thorough rebuilding: an 1843 description mentions a "projecting aisle on the north about 9 feet square" (Davison) and it seems possible that the south transept was added and most of the nave and chancel were rebuilt in 1856. The north transept has no plinth and a stone rubble base and is probably medieval in origin. The chancel has a 3-light Decorated C19 east window with a hoodmould, a 1-light C19 cinquefoil-headed window with hoodmould in the south side and no windows on the north side. The nave has 2 C19 Decorated windows on the north side and 1 on the south side. The north transept has a 2-light probably medieval Decorated window and a picturesque C19 chimney stack with asymmetrical set-offs, an octagonal shaft and coped cap. The south transept has a 2-light Decorated window. The 2 stage battlemented west tower (no pinnacles) has a polygonal south east stair turret rising above the tower proper, with a parapet. The parapet and tower battlementing are largely replacements. Shallow-moulded bellringers' opening on south side, 2-light chamfered belfry openings on the east, west and south sides, clock on the north side. The west face of the tower has a shallow-moulded doorway and C19 door with studs and strap hinges and a 3-light Perpendicular west window with a hoodmould. The window is flanked by armorial bearings; the arms of Courtenay and Huddesfield on carved shields below hoodmoulds. Above the west window the string course rises as an additional hoodmould above a similar shield showing Huddesfield impaled by Courtenay with boar and dolphin supporters on either side. The fragments of inscribed carved scrolls survive above the coats of arms. The gabled porch has a probably C19 arched chamfered outer doorway with bar stops. The interior has a C19 roof, stone benches with wooden seats and a medieval volcanic trap inner doorway with shallow moulding. A fine C15 or C16 plank and stud door retains an iron ring with a back plate. Interior: No chancel arch. Plastered walls. Chamfered arches into transepts and tower. Unceiled wagon roof with moulded principal members and large foliage bosses; the bosses are re-used but much of the rest has been replaced. The chancel has mid C19 painted communion boards (tin) a C19 piscina, good altar rails and tiling. The nave has some C16 bench ends carved with foliage and tracery. The font has an octagonal bowl on a stem, the bowl, decorated with heraldry, may have been recut in the C19, the date of the tall pyramidal crocketted font cover. The C19 lectern re- uses some C17 woodwork. The door into the tower turret is probably C15: a 2 plank studded door in a chamfered, stopped doorway. The chancel has a particularly interesting monument to Sir William Huddesfield (d.1499): a purbeck marble tomb chest in a chamfered arched recess has a brass shield with the bearings of Huddesfield and Courtenay. The lid of the chest is probably a replacement or re-cutting of the original. Above the chest a small square brass shows Sir William with his wife and children kneeling beneath depressed ogee arches. Other memorials of interest include a brass wall plaque with a rustic inscription commemorating John Seaman, died 1664. A wall tablet in the north transept commemorates John Whiting, died 1726, with an eccentric verse: "Here under Whiting lays troubles now cease/we hope he's gon to everlasting peace". C15 armorial stained glass in the chancel has been carefully restored probably by Drake of Exeter, other stained glass is by Beer of Exeter.

Davison, M.S. notes from visit of 1843, West Country Studies Library Devon Nineteenth-Century Churches Project.

Listing NGR: SX9038387801

External Links

• Wikidata Q17535268

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