Church of St Editha

Details

POLESWORTH HIGH STREET SK2OSE (South side) 5/85 25/03/68 Church of St Editha

GV ll*

Church, originally part of a Benedictine nunnery church, C11 origins. Early Cl2 nave and north aisle, C14 tower has C17/C18 top. Aisle probably widened C14. chancel and north parch added and drastic restoration 1869 by G.E. Street. Sandstone ashlar. Old plain-tile roofs have coped gable parapets. Navel chancel, north aisle and porch, north east tower. 4-bay chancel, 8-bay nave, Chancel ha east window of 5 stepped lancets in a blank arch. South side has a blocked C12 Romanesque doorway of 2 orders with hood mould, originally to the cloister, set against the western end. 2 pairs of lancets. Nave has Cl9 windows. South side has 3 triplets of lancets set in-blank arches. Set high up are 2 straight-headed restored C14 windows of cusped ogee lights with pierced spandrels. Between them, and set lower, is a C19 lancet. West front composed of nave and very slightly projecting aisle. Nave has renewed 4-light Perpendicular window. Aisle has northern and massive southern buttresses, both of 2 offsets. Early C13 doorway, set off-centre, of 2 chamfered orders with old double-leaf doors and ironwork. Window has cusped Y-tracery and small buttress below. Gable has trefoil opening and CIA cross finial. North side has splay plinth and shallow buttresses. Wide, low porch with moulded doorway and double-leaf doors, C12 doorway inside of 2 moulded orders. Trefoiled faucet to west. To east of porch are 3 triplets of lancets, similar to nave windeows. Massive tower of 2 stages has diagonal buttresses; each with gablet and 2 offsets, to all except the south-east corner. Very large restored 3-light Decorated north window rises into the second stage, and has reticulated tracery, a transom and a hood mould with head stops. Bell chamber has 2-light openings with reticulated tracery and wooden louvres. East side is blank apart from 2 large slit openings to the bell chamber. Embattled parapet has slits below. Clock face to west. Interior: chancel has east window with nook shafts. North tower arch of 3 segmental painted chamfered orders and fieep splayed jambs. Cusped arched brace roof. C19 chancel arch of one chamfered order without responds or imposts. Nave has 8-bay early C11 Romanesque arcade of low narrow arches with shallow scalloped capitals and string course above, Former clerestory of small windows with splayed jambs. Medieval head corbel sat high up. Cl9 seven-bay crown post roof. Aisle has similar roof. Tower arch has outer chamfer, and 3 inner chamfered orders with deep splay jambs, Fittings: C14 octagonal font has trefoiled blind arches and simple shafts. Iron-bound dug-out chest. C14 sculpture panel set on a head corbel in the aisle. C19 stalls etc. Monuments: effigy of an Abbess c.1200, in second bay of arcade, is in low relief, and set on a C15 Perpendicular tomb chest with shields in quatrefoils. Early C15 effigy of a lady, third bay. Similar Perpendicular tomb chest with blind arches to the angles. Francis Nethersole 1652; nave east wall. Panel with moulded architectural surround and lozenge of arms. (Buildings of England: Warwickshire: pp372-373; VCH: Warwickshire: Vol lV, pp194-197)

Listing NGR: SK2633202433

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

435566

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Warwick, (1947)
Pevsner, N, Wedgewood, A, The Buildings of England: Warwickshire, (1981), 194-197

End of official list entry

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