Church of St Faith

Details

KELSHALL CHURCH END TL 33 NW (Northwest side) Kelshall 4/1 Church of St. Faith 27.5.68 GV II* Parish church. Early C15. Thoroughly restored 1868-70 by Messrs. Nash and Sons, tower restored 1911, further restored 1982. Flint rubble, mostly knapped, with clunch and Bath stone dressings. Slate chancel roof, nave roof not visible. Perpendicular. 3 bay chancel, 4 bay nave and aisles, S porch, W tower. Chancel: 3 light E window with pointed head, diagonal buttresses with moulded bases, kneelers to stone coped gable parapet with ridge cross. To N and S two 2 light windows with Tudor arched heads, S entrance with pointed head, buttresses, continuous plinth. Nave: 4 clerestorey windows to each side, 4 centred arched heads, 2 lights each, mask stopped hood moulds, cornice to embattled parapet. Nave is taller than chancel with shallow pitched roof, embattled parapet to E. N aisle has 2 windows of 2 lights each with 4 centred arched heads, mask stopped hood moulds. Entrance towards W end with moulded pointed arch. Embattled parapet and diagonal buttresses to returns. E window of 3 lights with 4 centred arched head, rectilinear tracery, mask stopped hood mould, to E a canted angle to chancel for rood loft stairs. Taller 2 light W window with 4 -centred arched head,mask stopped hood mould. S aisle: 2 windows, 2 lights each with segmental arched heads, diagonal buttress to E end with a 3 light segmental arched headed window. Embattled parapet continues over large 2 storey S porch: 2 centred entrance arch with engaged shafts in jambs, Bishop and King mask stops to hood mould. Upper chamber with slit window. Inner entrance has pointed arch in moulded square surround, quatrefoils in spandrels. Original plank and muntin door with early iron lock, latch and hinges. Diagonal buttresses to porch returns with 2 light segmental arched headed windows. W return has semi-octagonal stair turret leading to upper chamber abutting a diagonal buttress to S aisle W end which has a 2 light segmental arched headed window. 3 stage W tower: 3 stage diagonal buttresses, high plinth. Tall 2 light W window with hexafoil traceried pointed head, deep embrasure, slit windows to SW for stairs and in lower stages to S. Second stage foiled lancet to W. Belfry has 4 pointed openings of 2 lights with hexafoil heads, embattled parapet, weathervane finial. Interior: pointed chancel arch with casement between 2 wave mouldings to both sides, engaged column responds with outer quarter columns with moulded caps and bases. Tower arch: taller 2 centred arch, triple moulded with middle casement, compound responds, semi-octagonal shafts with moulded caps and bases returned on W wall of nave. 4 bay nave arcades; 2 centred arches with casement between 2 wave mouldings, composite piers with 4 engaged shafts, larger to E and W, hollows in angles, moulded caps and bases. Niche in NW corner of N aisle, about 4m in height, pointed arched head to a circular recess, hooks for door, probably for processional stave. Pointed head to door to belfry stairs in SW angle of tower. Pointed head to early plank door to porch upper chamber stairs. Lower door to rood loft stair blocked but upper opening still in place to N of chancel arch. C15 piscina, double moulded pointed arch, at E end of S aisle S wall. 4 carved bracket supports for statues on E wall of chancel and at E end of N aisle. Nave roof retains some early timbers, arched braces on angel corbels, roof painted with vine leaf ornament, masks and bosses, apparently following traces of original decorative scheme, similar lean-to aisle roofs with painted star pattern at E end of N aisle. Steeply pitched C19 chancel roof, arched braces on mask corbels, painted decoration. Dado survives from early C15 rood screen, 4 panels with foiled and cusped heads, painted figures, St. Edmund, St. Edward the Confessor and 2 bishops, restored. C19 octagonal font copying C15 predecessor. Monuments: chancel N wall, an epitaph in stone to E. Franklin, d.1617, and wife, 2 kneeling figures, female decapitated, flanking caryatids Faith and Charity, seraph at base, lengthy inscription, 'Opus ..... Browne'. Brass figures of R. Adane and wife, dated 1435 at E end of nave floor, various floor slabs. Fragments of C15 glass at head of N aisle window. E window: 1875 figures of Faith, Hope and Charity attributed to Heaton, Butler and Bayne. Chancel N and S windows 1875 by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake. (RCHM 1910: VCH 1912: Pevsner 1977: Dr. E. Roberts, A School of Masons in C15 North Hertfordshire, 1979: A. King, The Parish Church of St. Faith, Kelshall, 1984.)

Listing NGR: TL3286536216

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

162324

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Roberts, E, A School of Masons in Fifteenth Century North Hertfordshire, (1979)
Doubleday, A, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1912)
King, A, The Parish Church of St Faith Kelshall, (1984)
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977)

Other
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)

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