Nominal: 968 Hz Weight: 784 lbs Diameter: 33.25" Bell 1 of 4
Founded by William Tosier 1731
Dove Bell ID: 3531 Tower ID: 14579 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Idmiston: All Saints
Overview
Grid reference: SU 197 373
The church is a compact building, this impression being chiefly the result of the short, but tall, nave and the fact that the north and south aisles embrace the west tower. The external appearance of the church is all late Decorated, with three-light cinquefoil-headed windows under drip stones in the north and south aisles (save for the south-east window which is of an earlier form with two ogee-headed lights and incipient panel tracery).
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
West tower, short nave with aisles which embrace the tower also; north porch, chancel.
Description of Archaeology and History
The lower part of the tower dates from the Norman period; the chancel is the next earliest part to have survived, being thirteenth-century in the lancet style (although very heavily restored in 1866). The nave may retain some work of this period, but the north and south aisles and north porch were added in the fourteenth century in the Decorated style. The whole church was restored in 1866-67 when the chancel was rebuilt and the present Neo-Norman belfry stage and shingled pyramidal spire were built to replace a stone spire which had been removed in c.1560.
Exterior Description
The church is a compact building, this impression being chiefly the result of the short, but tall, nave and the fact that the north and south aisles embrace the west tower. The external appearance of the church is all late Decorated, with three-light cinquefoil-headed windows under drip stones in the north and south aisles (save for the south-east window which is of an earlier form with two ogee-headed lights and incipient panel tracery).
The clerestory has small two-light windows, also rectangular with cinquefoiled heads to the lights and both the clerestory and the aisle have simple parapets with continuous mouldings. Clerestory and aisle aach have two gargoyles on the north side and one on the south side.
The lower part of the tower, in the same plane as the west walls of both aisles, is divided from them by pilaster buttresses, which give a Norman date for the original building. The pilaster buttresses are repeated within the church, on the north and south walls, suggesting that before the aisles were built the tower stood free of buildings at the sides. The middle stage is lit by a tiny slit lancet in the north and south walls, and above that on the south is a small sundial canted at an angle to the wall and with an illegible inscription. The upper, belfry, stage has three identical louvred lancets in each face, and above that the angular wooden spire sits directly on the walls without any parapet. The design of the spire is eyecatching in the valley because of its unexpectedness. In Sussex, or perhaps Essex, such constructions are familiar but not often in Wiltshire.
The chancel s it now appears is almost entirely nineteenth-century but seems (by the irregular placing of the windows) to represent what was the before.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
c.1890
The east window, of three lights, has Christ the Good Shepherd flanked by two Saints, all in vesica- shaped panels against a patterned background of scrolling leaves. Above are the Agnus Dei, the six-pointed star and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.
Stained Glass
c.1860
The west window is bright and shows four scenes representing deeds of Charity.
Interior
Interior Description
If the tower looks like a fugitive from Sussex, the interior of the church is more reminiscent of Northamptonshire. This is chiefly due to the short nave (with only two bays to the arcades) and the tall effect which results from it.
The arch in the east wall, opening into the nave, is, like the nave arcades, Decorated, but is presumably an enlargement of a Norman arch, the corbels from which have been re-used.
The arcades of the nave are carried on carved corbels at the west and east ends, and on grouped colonettes of quatrefoil section centrally. These piors have moulded bases and capitals, and the arches above are simple, of two chamfered orders enlivened by the use of alternately fawn and buff stones. The corbels mentioned are decorated with small whorls of leaves in the south aisle, but in the north aisle the west corbel is merely moulded.
The nave roof is supported on a series of eight carved stone corbels, representing (in pairs, from the east) a tonsured priest's head and a sombre male head (perhaps the parish clerk) opposite. The next pair are a female head and an angel bearing a blank shield (no doubt originally painted). Then come a bearded man with a pork-pie hat and his hands over his ears, and an angel bearing a scroll, and finally at the west end a female head with bobbed hair and a small figure (full-length) of a man in a kirtle bearing an unidentifiable object. The roof itself is said to be modern, but from the floor of the nave seems to be genuine fifteenth-century work of the date of the clerestory which supports it; there are four moulded tie beams with curved braces springing from the corbels just described, and from these small struts with arcading rise to the low-pitched principal rafters. There are carved bosses at the intersections, mostly carved as foliage but some with grotesque faces.
The north aisle has a small vestry screened off at the west end, and in the middle bay is the doorway sheltered by the north porch; the left of this is a narrow doorway giving access to the stair to the parvise. Between the two doors stands the font, of unpolished Purbeck marble and octagonal shape.
The east end of the south aisle was formerly a chapel, since it has a piscina in the north-east corner . Above this is an arch with four steps, once forming part of the rood stair.
The chancel arch is nineteenth-century, carried on half-round attached responds with semi-octagonal capitals. The arch is of two chamfered orders, outlined by a hood-mould. To the north stands the pulpit, of the samo date; and to the south is a wooden lectern-cum-reading desk.
The long narrow chancel is almost entirely nineteenth-century in appearance, with simple reveals to the lancet windows and choir-stalls along each side.
Fixtures and fittings
Organ (object)
The Organ, by an unknown maker, stands in a pine case with a pipe-rack front; it has one manual and eight speaking stops.
Pulpit
The stone pulpit, of octagonal plan, has panelled sides with roundels of carved decoration in the upper row.
Font (object)
The font is an octagonal Purbeck marble bowl upon a moulded octagonal stem; the original long stone to the base survives.
Bells
Nominal: 1305 Hz Diameter: 26.13" Bell 2 of 4
Founded by John I Lott 1661
Dove Bell ID: 25954 Tower ID: 14579 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 1155.5 Hz Diameter: 28.75" Bell 3 of 4
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1882
Dove Bell ID: 25955 Tower ID: 14579 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 1038 Hz Diameter: 30.63" Bell 4 of 4
Founded by Thomas Thresher 1639
Dove Bell ID: 25956 Tower ID: 14579 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: SU 197 373
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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