Description

GAWCOTT WITH LENBOROUGH

SP6731 CHURCH STREET, Gawcott
879-1/7/208 (North side)
13/10/52 Church of Holy Trinity, attached
walls and railing
(Formerly Listed as:
BUCKINGHAM
GAWCOTT
Church of the Holy Trinity)

II*

Church. 1827. Built by incumbent, Rev Thomas Scott at cost of 1526. Restored and altered 1894 by John Oldrid Scott and C20.Coursed squared limestone with ashlar dressings, slate roof to body of church, lead roofs to tower and apse.
PLAN: polygonal apse, wide aisleless nave and small west tower.
EXTERIOR: Classical style. Apse is lower than nave and has blank east wall, windows to canted sides and quoins to angles.
Windows have round-arched heads, plain raised ashlar surrounds
with key blocks, narrow projecting sills and small leaded
panes. 3-bay nave has similar windows and rusticated quoins.
West end has 6-paned, double-leaf doors either side of tower
with plain raised stone surrounds and low pediments on console
brackets. Above doors are windows similar to rest, but
shorter. Front is surmounted by half pediments, which flank
tower.
Tower has 3 stages and west window similar to those of nave
and on same scale. Middle stage has blank circles to north,
south, and west sides with plain raised stone surrounds, and
short top stage with clock face to west side. Tower has
rusticated quoins, hollow-chamfered string courses, moulded
cornice and plain stone-coped ashlar parapet with piers to
angles bearing ball finials. Church has chamfered plinth which
is of ashlar to west end and tower, hollow-chamfered cornice
and pediment gables, and plain stone-coped parapets.
INTERIOR: chancel arch has elliptical-arched head with key
block and imposts. Nave and apse have flat plaster ceilings
with later applied thin timber ribs. Nave ceiling has 4
circular ventilators with ornamental vents, probably of
cast-iron. Original communion rail, shifted forward from
entrance to apse, has symmetrical turned balusters. Early C19
hexagonal pulpit with panel mouldings to sides. Original
seating in 2 blocks with panelled woodwork. Late C18/early C19
chamber organ with added pedal board. Pair of tall, round
arch-headed boards, moved from east to west wall, framing
Lord's Prayer and Creed to one, Ten Commandments to other.MONUMENTS: wall monument of white marble on slate ground to parish benefactor John West d.1814 who paid for previous
chapel; erected by his trustees and signed Harrison
Buckingham. Veined marble wall monument on slate ground,
signed Harrison, in memory of Reverend Thomas Scott 1780-1835
as inscription records '(son of the late Thomas Scott Rector
of Aston Sandford) and first incumbent of this chapelry'.
Inscription goes on to record 27 years of service and building
of present church 'on the site of the former Chapel which had
fallen to decay, by assistance of friends tho not without
considerable personal expense'. He was father of architect Sir
G Gilbert Scott (born in Gawcott) and subsequently appointed
rector of Wappenham, Northants.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached walls are approximately 1m high
and curve forward from west angles of nave to frame shallow forecourt. Punctuated by gateways to north and south sides of churchyard with C20 iron gates. Wall to south returns to enclose south side of churchyard. This continuation is of coursed limestone rubble with brick coping. A length of iron railing with acorn finials to standards joins wall to apse at east end of churchyard.Present building replaces a chapel built 1806 at the expense of John West. Top stage of tower was lowered in 1967 eliminating a bell-chamber window.

Listing NGR: SP6799431829

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535852

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)