Description

DUNKESWELL DUNKESWELL
ST 10 NW
5/25 Church of St Nicholas
-
GV II
Parish church. Norman font but the church itself was completely rebuilt 1865 - 68,
the tower rebuilt again in 1953. Local stone and flint rubble with Bathstone
detail; slate roof with crested ridge tiles.
Plan: cruciform plan single phase church. Nave has narrow lean-to north and south
aisles. North and south transepts. Chancel has a vestry on south side and small
chapel on north side. Late C19 south porch and 1953 west tower. Consistent
Decorated Gothic style.
Exterior: the tower was rebuilt in 1953, a plainer version of the late C19 tower.
It is relatively low; a single stage tower with embattled parapet and low angle
buttresses. The belfry windows are lancets and there is a 2-centred arch west
doorway with 3-light Decorated window above. Both north and south aisles are 3 bays
and contains 2-light windows with steep gables over. The central doorway on the
south side, a 2-centred arch with double chamfered surround, has a similar gable
over and a late C19 timber gabled porch with shaped bargeboards in front. The
transepts have angle buttresses and 3-light windows with Decorated tracery each end
and the chancel is similar.
Interior: nave, transepts and chancel have similar open roofs carried on arch-
braced trusses with king posts and curving queen struts. The aisles have lean-to
roofs. The trusses rest on corbels carved with various motifs; sacred emblems,
armorial bearings, foliage and the like. Tall tower arch with moulded surround and
capitals to the shafts. 3-bay arcades each side on cylindrical columns with moulded
capitals. The transept and chancel arches are similar in style springing from
moulded imposts. Plastered walls. Stone flag floor with encaustic tiles in the
chantry. Carved Beerstone reredos; a blind arcade divided by half-engaged shafts
with carved foliate capitals and cusped heads. The panels are painted with
commandments and prayers. Oak altar rail with twisted cast iron standards with
foliate brackets. Stalls and pews are plain pine. Plain oak lectern and Gothic
pulpit. The only feature older than the 1860's is the Norman font. It is crudely
carved but a most unusual example; a girdled font with a plait around below which
are 2 rows of scallop ornament and above which an arcade of columns with carved
capitals and segmental arches. The panels are all different and feature in order a
bishop with crozier, a man and a woman, a sailing boat, a fabulous monster looking
somewhat like an elephant, an archer shooting towards the monster, a man with a
cross-handled sword, a king crowned with sword and shield, and a man in chains.
What does it mean? Some plain memorials and some C19 and C20 stained glass.

Listing NGR: ST1414107807

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26459848

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

• 
  Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)