Church of St John the Evangelist

Details

SO 91 SE ELKSTONE ELKSTONE VILLAGE

3/115 Church of St. John the Evangelist 26.11.58

GV I

Parish church. C12, partly rebuilt C13; C13 porch and C15 tower. Random rubble and ashlar limestone; stone slate roof. Nave without aisles; west tower, south porch, and chancel with former columbarium over. South doorway has carved lintel with canted top as tympanum over doorway with shouldered arch; inner arch of beakhead ornament and outer of chevrons; billeted hoodmould; tympanum depicts Christ in Majesty with the hand of God above, surrounded with the emblems of the Evangelists and the Agnus Dei; 2 orders of supporting columns, the outer with scalloped capitals and the inner with carved grotesque heads. Parapet gable with simple pointed porch arch and hollow saddle stone above; small trefoil-headed side windows and stone seats internally; banded plank south door with C15 closing ring. Corbel tables with set of carved animal heads to north and south nave walls. In south wall 2-light C15 ogee-headed window to right of porch with some masonry showing Norman chevron decoration; 2 offset buttresses at south east corner, 1 linked to corbel table. Blocked north doorway with canted top opposite south with window matching 2-light in south to left; right 2-light with rectilinear tracery head; offset buttress at north east corner. Small round-headed east chancel window with crenellation ornament and pellet moulded border within; billeted string course indicates original eaves line; plain lancet in parapet gable above; clasping corner buttresses; offset buttress below east window added in 1824. Central offset buttress to south chancel wall with lancet either side; one stone has intersecting arcade decoration; central flat buttress on north wall with fragment of corbel table attached lining through with eaves line on east wall; C15 2-light to left; very small window with round head to right, and beyond at junction with nave projecting rectangular stair turret with 2 small laricets and hipped roof. Large C15 3-stage tower with diagonal offset buttresses; continuous moulded plinth broken by west door with 4-centred arched head, moulded with hood and square carved labels; image niche mounted on sill of 4-light west window which lids rectilinear tracery and carved angel stops to hood bearing heraldic shields; offset to each buttress in 2nd stage has carved figure, 2 bearing musical instruments: a citole and a shawm; cinquefoil-headed window to west and south faces of ringing chamber; stair turret on south side is rectangular, has 2 small trefoil-headed windows, and reduces in size after ringing chamber; 4-light Tudor-arched belfry openings with stone louvres and lozenge laurels to hood; crenellated parapet with diagonal animal gargoyles linked by moulding below. Interior is plastered and limewashed; inner openings to north and south doors are round-headed, that to north having area of uncovered medieval painting adjacent; C15 4-bay collar truss nave roof with cusped collars and arched bracing; principal rafters supported on horizontal projecting wall beams bearing carved shields on ends; 2 rows of moulded purlins and 3 rows of cusped arched windbracing; iron tie rods added; tall composite moulded tower arch and piers; lierne vaulted below tower; 4-centred arched doorway to tower stairs; medieval coffin lid stands against west wall. West arch to former tower has chevron mouldings and pelleted hood mould terminated by animal heads; scalloped capitals to columns on west side of piers; cross vault below former tower; shouldered arch to doorway of columbarium stairs in north wall. Three-dimensional chevron arch to chancel with crenellation ornament to hood; hollow mouldings to respond faces; roll moulded cross-vault to chancel with central carved boss of 4 grotesque masks and belt; chevron arch with paterae to deeply splayed east window. South chancel window has single piscina bowl in sill; trefoil-headed credence-table in east reveal. C17 woodwork incorporated into communion rail. Hexagonal carved pulpit dated 1609, crudely cut off and mounted on octagonal moulded stone base with pierced trefoil ornament. Reading desk mounted on front of box pews made from pulpit tester, dated 1604. Box pews appear C18, but may date from 1850 restoration. Large memorial on south nave wall to Thomas Horton of Combend Manor, died 1687: black marble inscription panel has stone bolection moulded surround; pulvinated frieze to segmental pediment over with oval marble panel in tympanum with Baroque surround; central death's head below with swags. C19 memorials on north wall. Stained glass is mainly C20. Columbarium has pigeon holes in north and east walls and is reached by stone spiral stairs. Church formerly had central tower, but this was removed in C13 when second cross-vaulted bay with columbarium over was built in its place. (N. M. Herbert, 'Elkstone' in V.C.H. Glos. vii, 1981, pp. 210-218; F. W. Potto Hicks, Description of Elkstone Church, 1982; and D. Verey, Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979.)

Listing NGR: SO9671012296

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

127215

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 1 The Cotswolds, (1970)
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Gloucester, (1981), 210-218
Potto Hicks, F W, Description of Elkstone Church, (1982)

End of official list entry

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