Church of St Dubricius and All Saints, Kimbolton, County of Herefordshire

Summary

A Gothic revival church of 1909-1910, by William Samuel Weatherley, constructed by Messrs Bowers of Hereford.

Description

A Gothic revival church of 1909-1910, by William Samuel Weatherley, constructed by Messrs Bowers of Hereford.

MATERIALS: the church has walls of local rubble sandstone. The dressings are of Corsham stone. The roof structure and wooden flooring are constructed from pine wood. The roof covering consists of plain clay tiles.

PLAN: the church has a nave, apsidal sanctuary, vestry and porch. The building is orientated north-east / south-west with the apse to the east. The entrance porch is at the south-west of the building. An outshut at the south-east end of the building houses the vestry.

EXTERIOR: walls are constructed from rock faced coursed stone. Detailing is in ashlar Corsham stone, with window tracery in Decorated style. Windows have a stone arch in the rock-faced stone directly over their heads. The roof is pitched with plain crested ridge tiles. Below the eaves are exposed rafter ends and a string course. This runs across both the north and south elevations of the nave as well as the apse.

The north elevation of the nave has three arched windows, each with three lancets beneath three quatrefoils, with the top quatrefoil being truncated. There is a small buttress which finishes where the nave meets the apse, with dressed stone offsets.

The south elevation of the nave has two three-lancet windows like those in the north elevation. A single storey pitched roof entrance porch is attached at the west end, with a stone pointed arch door surround and a cruciform finial at the apex of the gable. The vestry is at the east of the south elevation, and projects to the south. It is a single bay with a window of two lancets under a quatrefoil. It has a pitched roof with a single doorway in an outshut under a separate, lower hipped roof to its west. The gable end of the pitched roof has coping stones with moulded kneelers and a short shaft at the apex. The eastern elevation of the vestry is blind.

The east elevation is a five-sided polygonal apse. The roof is polygonal and pitched. The southernmost side of the apse is obscured by the vestry, each of the other four sides has a single lancet window. Four of the windows have stained glass. The fifth, on the north side has plain diamond leaded lights.

The west elevation has a projecting rectangular shaft in line with the gable apex supporting a bellcote in the centre. The gabled bellcote is made from Corsham stone and houses a single bell with a parapet to the base. The two windows have two lancets below a quatrefoil.

INTERIOR: the church is accessed through the entrance porch on the south elevation into the west end of the nave. The arch above the entrance door is pointed, and the double doors have eight panels each. The nave has wooden parquet block flooring. The roof structure is barrel vaulted and made from pine wood. A stone cornice runs the length of the nave at wall plate level on the north and south elevations. There are recesses which house radiators between the eastern-most and middle bays on each side of the nave.

The chancel is delineated from the nave by a step up onto natural stone tiles orientated at 45 degrees with flagstone copings. There are two choir stalls either side of a central aisle.

The pointed chancel arch is made from Corsham stone supported by imposts on either side. There are five sides to the apse, four of which are clad in wooden panelling. The fifth, southernmost side abuts the vestry and houses the organ. There is a carved stone piscina. The roof of the sanctuary is part barrel vaulted, part rib vaulted with a carved boss at the intersection of the ribs. The sanctuary is a step up from the chancel, and there is a further step up to the carved wooden altar and reredos.

The vestry is accessed through a door at the west end of the south wall of the nave which leads to a small stone floored hallway contained within the outshut. The entrance from the nave to the outshut has a decorated lintel and pyramid stop chamfered architrave. The floor is flagstone. The vestry has a parquet wooden floor, and double pane plate tracery windows.

MEMORIALS AND STAINED GLASS: three of the apse windows are by C C Powell and date to 1918. From north to south they depict: St Peter, Jesus and St Paul, Powell also designed four of the nave windows, two to the south of 1914 and two in the west of 1921. From east to west the south windows depict: St Francis, St Ethelbert, St Anselm, St Alban, St George and St Martin. The west nave windows depict Jesus blessing three children and the Magi visiting Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The three windows on the north elevation of the nave are by Kempe and Co. From east to west they depict: Mary and Jesus on a donkey led by Joseph, Mary visiting Elizabeth and Mary being visited by the Angel Gabriel.

A plaque was installed on the west wall of the nave by Mary Walker, dedicating the windows above it to the memory of her husband Arthur. Below this is a memorial plaque to Mary.

FIXTURES AND FITTINGS: the font is located at the western end of the nave and is made from Corsham stone. It comprises of a plinth, octagonal shaft and octagonal basin. The basin has tracery, an I H C monograph and animal carvings.

On the west wall are two Della Robbia ceramic plaques; one under the south window depicting Joseph and Mary at the birth of Christ, the other under the north window depicting the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary.

The pulpit is located to the north-west of the nave where it meets the chancel. There is a stone plinth, with three steps leading up to a polygonal carved oak pulpit with carvings of religious figures.

The reredos was painted and gilded by Innes Fripp in 1912 and includes images of the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, flanked by St John the Evangelist and St John the Baptist. The base has an I H C monograph. The altar is carved from oak and depicts the lamb of God.

The pipe organ is on the east side of the sanctuary, and is by Forster and Andrews of Hull, 1911.

The nave has hanging three lamp light fixtures, each with three lamps. There is a crucifix above the central lamp.

History

Hamnish is a hamlet in the parish of Kimbolton, Herefordshire, located approximately 4km east of the market town of Leominster. The Church of St James, in the village of Kimbolton had been the parish church since the C12. In the late-C19 it was decided that a chapel of ease was needed for parishioners in Hamnish. To this end, a mission hall was erected in 1897. In the early-C20 it was felt that a permanent and larger capacity church was required for Hamnish. Designs were drawn up by the architect William Samuel Weatherley (1851-1922). Weatherley was born in Hatcham, Surrey and between 1867-1872 was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878). Subsequently Weatherly spent six years as Scott’s assistant. Much of Weatherley’s work was ecclesiastical, focussing on alterations and reordering.

The foundation stone for the Church of St Dubricius and All Saints was laid by Mrs Mary Walker on Monday 1 November 1909. Mrs Walker’s husband was Mr Arthur William Walker, a local landowner. Mr Walker contributed £1,000 towards the construction of the church with the additional £688 raised through donations from parishioners. The church was sited upon land donated to the parish by Mr Thomas Evans, approximately 45m to the east of the existing mission hall. The Church of St Dubricius and All Saints was intended to become the parish church of a new Hamnish parish; but this was never realised. The church was consecrated on Ascension Day 1910.

The reredos was installed after the church’s completion in 1912 and was designed by Henry Charles Innes Fripp (1867-1963). Innes Fripp was born in Clifton, Bristol and studied at the Bristol School of Art. He was known as a painter, illustrator and a stained glass artist.

Upon Mr Walker’s death in 1914, his widow Mary set about embellishing the church in his honour. The windows above the plaque were designed by Christopher Charles Powell (1876-1955), a painter and stained glass designer. Powell also designed three of the apse windows, installed in 1918.

Three further windows, designed by the church furnishing company C E Kempe and Co of London, were added in 1924. The company was established in 1866 by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907), and after his death it was continued by his relative Walter Tower. Kempe had used the image of a wheatsheaf as his signature, and after 1907 the wheatsheaf motif was embellished with a tower. Each of the windows to the north of the nave display this insignia in the lower left hand corner.

Reasons for Listing

The Church of St Dubricius and All Saints, Hamnish, a church of 1909-1910 by W S Weatherley, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:

* the building is a well-executed Gothic revival church, by a known architect;
* the church is of a considered and measured design, retaining multiple original liturgical fixtures;
* later additions by Innes Fripp, C C Powell and Kempe & Co. are of high quality and display high calibre craftsmanship.

Historic interest:

* the building provides an insight into the needs of the parish of Kimbolton in the early C20 and marks the generosity of local landowners Arthur Walker and Thomas Evans.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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