The best Arts and Crafts church in the county. The building seems to have been completely rebuilt although retaining early elements in the early 1880’s by Carpenter and Ingelow. The most notable feature to remain of the earlier church is the Norman arch across the chancel.
The internal decoration waited another twenty years and another incumbent, the Rev. Henry Blencowe Gottwaltz. He had studied at Jesus College Cambridge and he employed another Jesus man William Milner Fawcett (1832 – 1908) to undertake the work. The result is a perfect, if small, well preserved example of Anglican high church decoration.
The spirit of William Morris hovers here - indeed the draperies come from his emporium. In contrast to bare walls are dark green panelling often enriched with painted decoration. The organ is placed high up on a rood screen and the seating is college like. Don’t miss either the small ritualistic north chapel with it’s staircase to the organ loft nor the 1920’s wood cuts of the Stations of the Cross. A wonderful survival of a type of church decoration that is rare.
Please refer to the Glossary for any terms in the text that you are unfamiliar with.
