Church of St Oswald

Details

MALPAS C.P. CHURCH STREET SJ 44 NE (North Side) 2/27 Church of St.Oswald 1/3/1967 GV I

Church. Late C14 largely rebuilt above cill level late C15. Red sandstone with lead roofs. West tower, aisled nave with south porch, chancel with cross-axial crypt or treasury, north vestry and organ-chamber. East bay of south aisle is the Brereton Chapel; east bay of north aisle the Cholmondeley Chapel. Massive 3-stage tower has diagonal west buttresses and angle east buttresses, south-east octagonal turret, bands above bell chamber and at base of crenellated parapet with crocketed corner pinnacles, round-arched west door, C14 reticulated 5-light west window and simple 2-light reticulated bell-openings; an empty niche to each side of west window. The aisles have C14 east windows and C15 4-light panel-traceried, segmental-arched west, north and south windows; the Tudor-arched clerestorey windows have 4 lights. Tower, nave and aisles have gargoyles. Small doorway under west window of north aisle. 2-storey south porch has priest's chamber with a loophole to east and west and a window of 2 trefoil-headed lights to south, and wall sundial dated 1819. Crenellated parapets to nave, aisles and porch have crocketed pinnacles. Aisle buttresses have gables with crockets and finials. Chancel has 5-light panel-traceried basket-arched east window and 4-light north and south windows. Vestry added in 1717; C19 organ chamber between north aisle and vestry. Interior. A springer north of chancel arch, gable marks on west and east walls and possibly the chancel arch show that C14 church was much lower, with separate ridges over nave and aisles. Rib-vaulted baptistry in west tower. Nave of 6 bays with wide aisles has slender lozenge-shaped piers with half and three-quarter shafts. Fine late C15 camber-beam panelled roofs with ornate bosses and angels (restored) on corbels, to nave and (with simpler detail and quatrefoil panels) to aisles. Chancel of 3 bays has canted south side and camber-beam roof with carved bosses. Cross-axial crypt of 2 bays has quadripartite rib-vault. Vestry (1717) has round-headed windows and oval plaster ceiling-panel. 4 cusped recesses in north aisle wall. 3 sedilia in south aisle, with 2-arched piscina east; 4 sedilia in south wall of chancel. Brasses to Philip de Egerton and family circa 1400 and to Urian Davenport, rector of Malpas, 1495, in stones in north aisle and south of pulpit, moved in 1950 from Cholmondeley Chapel. The Brereton Chapel, shortened to 1 1/3rd bay of south aisle in 1717, has traceried oak screen, 17 panels replaced (fascimile) in cast iron 1717(?). Inscription on head-beams of screen. The Brereton monument, outstanding, is to Sir Randal, baronet, and his wife Eleanor, erected circa 1522 with admirable naturalistic effigies on a chest tomb. The Cholmondeley Chapel, shortened to 1 /3rd bays of north aisle in 1717, has 4 panels of traceried oak screen replaced (fascimile) in cast iron 1717(?), Latin inscription on head-beams and monument (1605) to Sir Hugh Cholmondeley and his 2nd wife Mary, similar in form to Brereton monument, but stiffer. Glass includes medieval fragments in south aisle next to porch; roundels of 16th/17th century Flemish painted glass depicting Biblical scenes (formerly at Cholmondeley Castle and given by Marquess of Cholmondeley 1847 and 1956) in west window of north aisle and north window of Cholmondeley Chapel; east windows of the Chapels, 1845, by Warrington; 2 windows in south aisle by Kempe; east window a memorial to Bishop Heber, born in Malpas Rectory (q.v.). Beam of former rood-loft in chancel arch; C15 octagonal font with 1627 oak cover; C13 wrought-iron-bound oak chest; 9 C15 stalls with misericords, 6 much restored; 6 box pews (from Brereton Chapel) at west end of south aisle, with the armorial bearings of their owners removed to screens at west end of nave and within north porch. Picture of St.Peter's denial, mid C18, by Hayman, above chancel arch; 3 pairs of hatchments (Dod family of Edge Hall; Tarletons of Bolesworth Castle; Cholmondeleys of Cholmondeley Castle. Much of the church's furnishing was lost in Kenyon's restoration of 1880-90. The church is one of the best examples in Cheshire of late C15/early C16 work, prolific in the county; the nave roof and the memorial chapels are very fine and the effigies of Sir Randal and Lady Eleanor Brereton are outstanding. The vestry 1717, by Gardner.

Listing NGR: SJ4864447189

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

55570

Legacy System:

LBS

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