Reasons for Designation
A parish church is a building, usually of roughly rectangular outline and
containing a range of furnishings and fittings appropriate to its use for
Christian worship by a secular community, whose members gather in it on
Sundays and on the occasion of religious festivals. Children are initiated
into the Christian religion at the church's font and the dead are buried in
its churchyard. Parish churches were designed for congregational worship and
are generally divided into two main parts: the nave, which provides
accommodation for the laity, and the chancel, which is the main domain of the
priest and contains the principal altar. Either or both parts are sometimes
provided with aisles, giving additional accommodation or spaces for additional
altars. Most parish churches also possess towers, generally at the west
end, but central towers at the crossing of nave and chancel are not uncommon
and some churches have a free-standing or irregularly sited tower. Many parish
churches also possess transepts at the crossing of chancel and nave, and south
or north porches are also common. The main periods of parish church foundation
were in the 10th to 11th and 19th centuries. Most medieval churches were
rebuilt and modified on a number of occasions and hence the visible fabric of
the church will be of several different dates, with in some cases little
fabric of the first church being still easily visible.
Parish churches are found throughout England. Their distribution reflects the
density of population at the time they were founded. In regions of dispersed
settlement parishes were often large and churches less numerous. The densest
clusters of parish churches were found in thriving medieval towns. A survey of
1625 reported the existence of nearly 9000 parish churches in England. New
churches built in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries increased numbers to
around 18,000 of which 17,000 remain in ecclesiastical use. Parish churches
have always been major features of the landscape and a major focus of life for
their parishioners. They provide important insights into medieval and later
population levels or economic cycles, religious activity, artistic endeavour
and technical achievement. A significant number of surviving examples are
identified to be nationally important.
The standing and buried remains of the medieval church at Annesley are
reasonably well-preserved and retain important archaeological deposits and
architectural features. The deposits will include information about the
structure, the architectural style, the ritual use and the status of the
church. The history of the site plays an important part in the
understanding of the medieval and subsequent settlement of the area and
the changing social and economic status of Annesley.
Details
The monument includes the standing and buried remains of Annesley medieval
church and graveyard. The church is a Listed Building Grade I and is
surrounded by the graveyard. The monument is situated on raised ground
overlooking Annesley Park to the south.
The church dates from the 13th century but was deserted in 1874 when a new
church was erected to serve the modern colliery village of Annesley
approximately 1.5km to the north east.
The church measures approximately 35m by 14.5m, is built in stone and
survives as a roofless ruin with both standing and buried remains. The
standing remains include the west tower, nave, chancel and a large 14th
century chapel to the south. The surrounding graveyard contains a variety
of mainly 17th and 18th century grave markers.
The west tower is built of larger masonry than the rest of the church and
displays the remains of a parapet and coved eaves. There is a canted stair
turret in the north west corner of the tower. Along the north wall of the
nave are two large buttresses and the remains of three windows. Traces of
wall plaster are still evident on the north and west walls. The chancel,
at the eastern end of the church, has incomplete window openings in the
north and east walls with a central, late 14th century doorway flanked
with the remains of square headed double lancet windows in the south wall.
There is little to distinguish the period of construction in this part of
the church but there are at least three phases of blocking and window
openings in the north wall and the tower.
The chapel, known as the Folley or Felley chapel, was built in 1363 by
William de Wakefield and Robert de Annesley. In the east wall was once a
fine, five-light, ogee reticulated window. This no longer survives but the
chapel does contain sedilia with shaped shafts and pointed trefoil heads,
features that date to before 1300. The chapel has a central buttress and
two pairs of gabled corner buttresses. At the west end of the south wall
there is a chamfered 13th century doorway with the remains of three mid-
14th century double lancet windows to the east. Incomplete window openings
are evident at both the east and west ends of the chapel.
Areas of the paved floor are visible on the surface although the majority
is now covered in grass and scrub growth.
All modern fences, walls and path surfaces are excluded from the
scheduling, although the ground beneath these is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
