Description

SP 39 NE WITHERLEY CHURCH LANE (north side) 9/132 Fenny Drayton

7.11.66 Church of St. Michael

GV II*

Parish church. C12 core; extended and remodelled in the early C14, north aisle added in the C16; restored 1860. The nave, south aisle and chancel are of random rubble with freestone dressings; the later additions are in dressed freestone blocks; Swithland slate roofs with stone copings. West tower, 2-bay nave with aisles and south porch, 2-bay chancel. 3-stage west tower with diagonal buttresses, parapet string and crenellated parapet with moulded coping stones to merlons and crenels. Recessed octagonal spire with 2 tiers of lucarnes in the form of quatrefoils (c.f. Church of All Saints, Ratcliffe Culey, Witherley c.p.; Church of St. Margaret, Stoke Golding c.p.). Pointed west door, unchamfered and rather crude in appearance. Above it is an ogee-headed lancet; the second stage has lancet lights to the south and west, and the pointed belfry openings have Y-tracery with trefoil cusping in the head of each sub-division. Nave and aisles: C12 south door of 2 orders with scalloped capitals. The inner order of the arch is roll-moulded but the outer roll is interrupted by triangular motifs which are carved on every alternate voussoir. The gabled south porch is late C19 and has a pointed doorway with a single order of colonettes and a keel-moulded arch. C19 south aisle windows comprising paired cinquefoil-headed lights; the east window of the aisle, however, is of circa 1300 and is made up of 3 graded lights with cusped heads. Restored window of similar type at the west end. There is a C19 buttress in the centre of the aisle and C14 diagonal buttresses at the corners. The square-headed east window of the north aisle has 3 lights with depressed trefoiled ogee heads. There is one similar window in the north side and a 2-light version at the west end. All have sunken spandrels. North door with segmental pointed arch. Chancel: C14 diagonal buttresses at the corners; C19 buttress at the bay division. C19 square-headed windows to the south side each with 2 trefoil-headed lights and hood mould terminating in carved heads. C19 pointed east window containing 3 graded lancet lights with a trefoil in each head; small C12 window with round arch, towards the west end of the north side linked by a sill string to a similar blocked window at the east end. Interior: C14 three-bay south arcade with pointed arches of 2 chamfered orders on octagonal columns with moulded bases and capitals. 2-bay north arcade with taller and wider arches but otherwise of similar character. The tower arch is smaller and springs from engaged semi-octagonal columns; the chancel arch is of the same scale and character as the north arcade. C19 arch-braced collar roof over the nave, and C19 scissor-braced roof over the chancel. Fixtures and fittings: C12 font basin; plain and cylindrical; C19 font with colonettes clustered around the pedestal, and circular basin. At the east and south aisle is a piscina with lancet head; the projecting basin has been broken away; this part of the church probably served as a chapel. C19 slender wrought iron screen between nave and chancel. Small C14 piscina in south wall of chancel with cusped triangular head and projecting basin. Monuments: Nicholas Purefoy, died 1545, and wife; alabaster chest tomb at the east end of the south aisle with 2 incised effigies, arcaded sides depicting weepers, executed in an early Renaissance style. In the north aisle: George Purefoy, died 1628; canopied chest tomb with recumbent effigy and Corinthian columns. Above and behind the effigy are the kneeling figures of two of his three wives. On the side of the chest are the kneeling figures of his children. Tablet to members of the Purefoy family whose monuments had decayed: Thomas, died 1399, William, died 1446, John, died 1447, John, died 1500, Thomas, died 1530, Ralph, died 1550; probably late C16/early C17. Tablet to William and Jane Purefoy, made in 1637; it displays 3 coats of arms. In the chancel: Edward and George Purefoy, died 1594 and 1593; massive double monument erected in 1596; 2-bay arcade on Corinthian columns, the back wall richly carved with strapwork. Stained glass: Late C19 east window depicting Jesus the Good Shepherd in the central light, and geometrical patterns elsewhere. B.O.E. pp. 152-3.

Listing NGR: SP3503897113

External Links

• Wikidata Q17541204

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Recommended Books

• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record