Wednesday, June 08, 2011

All Saints, Bradbourne, Derbyshire

A lovely hillside setting with views across to the Dales, All Saints is a place of considerable antiquity. Before the church door is reached the visitor is confronted by an AngloSaxon cross shaft dating from c800 complete with a relief of The Crucifixion. In fact part of the nave's north wall contains Saxon long and short work. Next comes the west tower in age a bulky Norman structure of three stages with original corbel table but later battlements. It has two doorways, a small plain west door and an elaborate south door unusually. The church was rebuilt in the C13 as evidenced by lancet windows and enlarged c1300 by the south aisle. Strange tracery in a south chancel window, which also has some unusual stained glass (by whom?), and another odd window to its east, square headed but with a detached shaft dividing the recess in half. Two fonts, one broken Victorian bowl lies on the floor by a big bulky square font decorated with quatrefoils; is this one old too? By the south door in the aisle a painted text set amid turrets and towers, unusual and Pevsner reckons this is C17.

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