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Monument Types

• CHURCH (Late Anglo Saxon to Modern - 850 AD? to 2050 AD)

Summary

Saxo-Norman church with intact Norman doorway, west tower of around 1200 and late C13th aisle.

Additional Information

Listed building description:
Church of C12, C13, C15 and C19. Granite and slate rubble stone with stone dressings and Swithland slate roof. West tower, nave, north aisle and chancel chapel, chancel and south porch.
West tower of 3 stages, lower part C13, upper C15, with clasping buttresses, 4 bell openings and battlements. Blocked north and south lancets. Nave of C13 with Perpendicular 3 bay north arcade of double chamfered arches supported by octagonal piers. Similar lower 2 bay north chancel arcade. Nave roof of 3 1/4 bays. Cambered tie beams with wall pieces and curved braces rising from corbels. King and angle struts with collars. Double purlins with waved wind braces. North aisle of C13 with north-west lancet and north door. North-east window, C19 Reticulated type tracery and 2 north windows, C19 Geometric. Roof probably C15/C16, part lean-to and part low-pitch tie beam type at same angle. Chancel chapel screen partly C14 and possibly from chancel. Chancel has wooden chancel arch and 2 south windows with restored Y-tracery, 1 with stained glass of 1935 by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London. Restored Perpendicular east window with fragments of C15 stained glass. 3 1/4 bay chancel roof, queen post tie beam truss, partly boarded C19. On exterior of chancel, a blocked window with Geometric tracery and small window above east window. Nave has timbered east gable. In nave south wall, 3 Perpendicular windows with stained glass of 1930 in one. South door with C12 arch. South porch has 2 bay double purlin roof with curved wind braces, curved collars and no tie beams. Interior includes C13 stone coffin lid, C15 font, C17 and C18 slate floor stones, slate headstone of 1641 and Latimer monument of 1843 by Broadbent of Leicester.

In 2007 a photograph was sent in of a strange stone object, possibly the lid of a tomb, at the end of the north aisle. Details are in the parish file.

Print of south doorway in parish file (taken by RR Sept 98). (RK 07/01/99)

Project Gargoyle survey work in 2011 noted that the capital in the tower arch with two foliate-sprouting 'green men' are presumably of the same date as the lower part of the tower, i.e. 13th century (the stiff-leaf vegetation suggests early 13th century). The nave corbels are probably contemporary with the late 14th or early 15th century clerestory windows. Most are decorated with naturalistic human heads but one is a foliate face and another is a stylised lion. The chancel corbels are probably 14th century, although possibly 13th century. The English Heritage listing for this church (based on Pevsner’s description) is ambiguous about the date of the chancel. Again most of these corbels are decorated with human heads, although one is unusual in having a hand over his mouth. The only non-human one is a strangely stylised bovine head (one of the heads is depicted with a 'square' headdress which should allow more accurate dating.)
The small stylised heads on the label stops on the exterior of the chancel windows appear to be part of the nineteenth century restorations rather than medieval – although they may replicate original decorations.
On the label stops of the east window of the north aisle are portraits of Hugh Latimer and an unnamed bishop. The lack of weathering suggests these are nineteenth century; as Latimer lived in the early sixteenth century it is unlikely these carvings date from any prior rebuilding of the church. Inside the church is a more elaborate monument to Latimer erected in 1843.

<1> Pevsner N, 1984, The Buildings of England Leicestershire and Rutland, p407-8 (Bibliographic reference). SLE4.

"ALL SAINTS. Of various Charnwood rocks. Norman S doorway with one order of shafts and in the arch zigzag on the face and in the soffit, meeting at a heavy roll moulding. W tower of c.1200 with lancet windows and clasping buttresses to which diagonal ones were added later. Arch towards the nave with semicircular responds with capitals, one still with broad upright leaves, the other with small leaves still of a Norman shape and two heads with a trail between. Pointed arch with two slight chamfers. The tower top Perpendicular with flat buttress bands connected below the battlements by horizontal bands (cf. towers in Nottinghamshire such as Bunny, South Bonington, etc.). Late C13 N aisle, see the W lancet, the W respond, and the N doorway (double-chamfered in a continuous moulding). The arcade is later, its details standard. Perpendicular S aisle windows; Perpendicular also the S porch with its panelled entrance arch. Perpendicular nave roof of a type unusual in the county and probably earlier than the usual type; tie-beams, king-posts, and two diagonal struts leading up to collar-beams. Three sets of wind-braces. With this roof goes the chancel arch and wall above. The medieval timber chancel arch is a rarity, with one roll and fillet, and rests on stone corbels. Over the arch, exposed half-timbering.
"SCREENS. One in the N aisle with thin shafts below simple trefoil heads. At least two different dates are involved. The S part is much cruder than the rest, with scarcely discernible trefoil arches, a later imitation of which is the N part, claimed as of c.1300 or even C13. The base has C18 panelling. - Under the tower arch, a Perpendicular screen with one-light divisions. - FONT. Perpendicular. Unusual circular bowl with a protruding moulding above the octagonal panelled base. - STAINED GLASS. C15 bits in the E window. - MONUMENTS. Brass to John de Mersden, rector, d. 1425. Three-foot figure in his vestments as a canon of Windsor under a tall canopy. - Headstone of Elias Travers, rector, d. 1641 (nave SW). The earliest of slate in Leicestershire. Very elementary lettering and no decoration. - Latimer Memorial by Benjamin Broadbent of Leicester, 1843. Very remarkable in that it is neither Gothic nor classical not indeed Tudor, but a free treatment of early C18 motifs."

Sources

Associated Finds

None recorded

Designations

• Listed Building (II*) 1074627: CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS
• Conservation Area: Thurcaston

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