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
