Description

WOOTTON WAWEN

SP16SE STRATFORD ROAD
1457-1/5/141 (North side (off))
05/04/67 Church of St Peter
(Formerly Listed as:
WOOTTEN WAWEN
CHURCH LANE, Wootten Wawen
Church of St Peter)

GV I

Church. 1035-40 for Wagen, of which the lower tower and parts
of the lower nave north and west walls remain; with
enlargements late C11/early C12 to nave and chancel of which
parts of the walls remain; C13 south aisle and south doorway;
C14 Lady Chapel and chancel north windows; late C15
clerestory, upper stage of tower, north doorway and east
window; early C16 north porch; early C17 enlargement of
chancel and chancel roof; south aisle windows inserted c1635
though of C16 date; C18 south porch; with restorations of
1880-81 by GG Scott Jr and further C20 restorations.
MATERIALS: lias stone with plain-tile roofs.
STYLE: Saxon, Norman, Early English, Decorated and
Perpendicular.
PLAN: 3-bay nave with 4-bay south aisle and 4-bay clerestory,
and north and south porches; 3-stage crossing tower to
north-east of nave; 2-bay chancel, and south Lady Chapel and
vestry.
EXTERIOR: buttresses: massive buttress with off-sets to west
end; buttresses to south aisle; 3 buttresses with off-sets and
angle buttresses to Lady Chapel; to tower, north side are 2
short buttresses; to chancel, north side are 2 large
buttresses with off-sets; chancel, east end has angle
buttresses and further short buttress below window.
Nave: south aisle, porch to second bay, opening has chamfered
frieze surmounted by bressumer beam and king post gable end,
within are seats, then south doorway has 4-centred arch with 4
chamfers and hoodmould with remains of open dogtooth moulding
and double plank doors.
South aisle: first bay is blank; 2 4-light, straight-headed
windows with cusped lancets and stylized foliage between, with
chamfered mullions and surrounds, continuous hollow-moulded
hoodmould. Further 2-cusped-light lancet window with Y-tracery
in pointed, double-chamfered surround to west end of aisle.
Battlements have finials with pinnacles rising from pilaster
strips with grotesque bosses.
North aisle: some herringbone masonry; porch to first bay has
buttresses, the upper part a pegged oak timber gable with
chamfered obtuse-arched opening; within the north doorway is a
4-centred arch with 2 orders of roll-moulding between
cavetto-moulding; nail-studded plank door with wrought-iron
ring handle with trefoil-patterned escutcheon. Small,
round-arched lancet window with quoined jambs and imposts.
4-light pointed window with renewed intersecting tracery in
chamfered surround with ovolo-moulded mullions, quoins and
hoodmould. Continuous chamfered band with gargoyles.
Clerestory, north and south sides alike: 4 3-light
Perpendicular windows in 4-centred arches, with
double-chamfered, hollow-moulded surrounds with
hollow-chamfered mullions, hoodmoulds have grotesque finials
and stops, between are pilasters with grotesque beasts,
surmounted by pinnacles with finials; battlements.
West end: central entrance, now blocked, with quoined surround
and massive lintel. 5-light Perpendicular window in 2-centred
arch, with chamfered surround, sill and hoodmould with worn
face stops.
Tower: long and short quoins, north side has round-arched
opening, now blocked and with semi-circular window to head;
second stage has slit, band, then pairs of 2-light
Perpendicular belfry windows with central headstop; band,
battlements with pinnacles with finials.
Lady chapel: 2 3-light windows with reticulated tracery to
head, the easternmost blocked to inside by monument, to east
end a window of 5 stepped ogee-headed lights with Curvilinear
tracery to head.
Chancel: north side has 2 3-light windows with reticulated
tracery to head with chamfered mullions and surround and
hoodmould with face stops. East window of 7 lights with
Perpendicular tracery to head in double-chamfered surround
with an outer order of foliage, hoodmould with foliate
decoration and chamfered sill; band, low parapet.
INTERIOR: nave: has 3-bay, double-chamfered, pointed 4-centred
arched arcade, the central arch is taller and wider on
octagonal responds with hollow-moulded capitals, the outer
responds are half-columnar with roll-moulded capitals and
water-holding bases, continuous hoodmould has face-stop to
centre. Scratch dial to westernmost window of south aisle.
To north wall an outline of round-arched north doorway; deep
splayed jambs to slit window.
To west wall a blocked doorway with quoins, between 2 fluted
columns on plinths with continuous frieze and dentil cornice
across wall. Large busts reputedly of King Edward III and
Queen Philippa to west window as hoodmould stops, window has
stained glass of 1905.
To clerestory a continuous hollow-moulded band with grotesques
and hoodmoulds. To east end of nave are 2 parclose screens mid
C15, one across tower opening has ogee-headed arch, otherwise
once enclosing side chapels, now with choir stalls and organ
console. Perpendicular oak pulpit with leaf-traceried panels.
C18 balustrade. Octagonal C14 font with 8 protruding hooded
stone heads on the underside.
Tower: small northern blocked round-headed porticus arch;
another similar arch to south now with glass doors; a narrow,
high eastern archway; and a western higher, wider arch, all
round-headed and with jambs of long- and short-megalithic
through stones, arches rest on crude square capitals. To first
stage a blocked rectangular opening.
Lady Chapel: 4-centred, double-chamfered arch between south
aisle and chapel on half-columnar responds; to north wall of
Chapel a similar arch over the Norman tower arch. C14
rib-vaulted piscina in ornate surround, unfinished. Floor of
Elizabethan brick; C17 3-bay king-post roof. Between Lady
Chapel and chancel a double-chamfered arcade with
half-columnar responds and octagonal centre pillar.
Chancel: altar rails have pierced splat balusters; stained
glass to east window is C14 and C17. Arch of a sedilia; small
wooden doors conceal carved C15 hagioscope. C16 pews with
carved bench ends with stunted poppy heads and coarse tracery,
restored C19. Roof: easternmost crossbeam inscribed `CS 1635',
though roof restored in 1949.
MONUMENTS: in chancel are 2 tomb chests, one with recumbent
alabaster effigy to John Harewell (d.1428); the other with
quatrefoil decoration, also to John Harewell (d.1505), has
dark marble top with brasses of John and wife Anna, 10
children shown below.
In Lady Chapel is C17 Renaissance-style canopied altar tomb in
painted marble erected 1626 with Ionic columns to each side
and recumbent effigy of Francis Smith (d.1605), Lord of the
Manor of Wootton, and Agnes (d.1562) his wife. Monument, a
free-standing urn on pedestal to Robert Knight (d.1744). Wall
monument to William Somerville of Edstone (d.1676) and his
daughters Catherina (d.1736) and Margaretta (d.1739), erected
1765. Architectural type wall monument to Henry Knight
(d.1762), Henrietta Knight (d.1763) and Henrietta St. John,
Lady Luxemborough (d.1756). Gothic-Revival wall monument to
John Phillips of Edstone (d.1836) signed John Ternmouth,
Pimlico.
All the listed items in the Churchyard form a good group with
the church.
(Trickett WH: St Peter's Church, Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire:
Visitors' Guide; Buildings of England: Pevsner N:
Warwickshire: Harmondsworth: 1966-: 480-2).

Listing NGR: SP1531263278

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17528436

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 Care and Repair
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)