Winderton: St Peter and St Paul
Overview
Grid reference: SP 325 404
A large and substantial church, designed with great economy of means and producing a fine impressive effect. The material used is brown sandstone, of an attractive colour; roofs are tiled. The siting of the church at the top of a steep hill, contributes to the powerful impact of the building.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Aisleless nave and chancel, the chancel terminatingin an apsidal sanctuary; tall south-west tower, the lowest storey of which is the entrance porch, lean-to vestry on the north side of the chancel.
Description of Archaeology and History
By William Smith 1876-8. The architect nay have been a relative of the incumbent of Brailes, and was also responsible for the restoring of the church there.
Exterior Description
A large and substantial church, designed with great economy of means and producing a fine impressive effect. The material used is brown sandstone, of an attractive colour; roofs are tiled. The siting of the church at the top of a steep hill, contributes to the powerful impact of the building.
The style chosen is Early English and the tower is perhaps the most telling element of the building. It is of four clear stages, and above it rises a pyramidal shingled spire of about half its height again. The entrance to the church is on the south side of the tower: a tall arch, with two orders of shafts and a hood-moulding enriched with rosettes at the point on either side where it terminates on meeting the prominent string course which divides the lowest storey of the tower in two and is carried right round the rest of the building; the archway is framed and again emphasised by prominent gablets placed in the buttresses on either side. Four stops lead up into the porch, and this entrance chamber has a ribbed and panelled vault. From the centre depends an exceedingly handsome iron lantern. Across the entrance arch is a pair of iron gates, designed with the sane care as the other furnishings of this church, and above them is a frieze of fleurs-de-lysand tiny fleurettes.
The west front of the nave, joined to the tower by an octagonal stair turret, has three tall lancets, nobly placed, each with their own hood mould; in the gable is a quatrefoil opening - the kind of 'punched' opening beloved of this period. It is noticeable how effective the visual link is with the tower. The string course previously mentioned carries across the west fronts. Below it, i.e. on the tower, is another giving the base of the tower a substantial plinth. Higher up no less than three firmly defined string courses delineate the upper storeys of the tower. The third storey is arcaded - a thin light in the centre of the east, west, and south faces and the outer arches blank. The fourth storey is unrelieved stonework and the fifth the bell-stage with three linked louvred openings on the north, east and south and two (because of the stair-turret) on the west. At the top are four prominently extending gargoyles. The spire has a tall thin lucarne on each of its faces. At the summit is the traditional weathercock.
The south wall, between tower and chancel, is divided by a buttress into two bays, each with a lancet linked to its fellow by a string course which rises to form a hood moulding over. At the junction between nave and chancel is a more substantial buttress. The north side is articulated into tree bays, with a double light window. In the eastern bay and single lancets like the south side in the other two. The chancel and the sanctuary apse is, like the tower, an area where greater force of design is concentrated, On the south side of the chancel is a window of three lancets, divided from each other by stone colonettes and making a rich sculptural effect; then there is a buttress, then a light, then a buttress and so on round the apse - the upper and lower string courses remorselesslycarried round.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
Late 19th Century
Apse: five windows, i.e. (left to right) AEsLin the Garden, Christ Carrying_the Cross, Crucifixion, The Risen Lord, Supper at Ammaus. All by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, c. 1878 -1900.
Stained Glass
Late 19th Century
Chancel south: three lights in memory of the Revd. Charles Morgan, d.1875. Doubting Thomas, Ascension of Our Lord, Assumption of the virgin. All by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, c. 1878 -1900.
Stained Glass
Late 19th Century
West window three tall lights, each with two tiers of figure subjects and trails of foliage. In the quatrefoil at the top a winged angel. All by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, c. 1878 -1900
Stained Glass
Late 19th Century
Four lights in the nave north wall and two in the south. All by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, c. 1878 -1900
Interior
Interior Description
Key aspects of the interior are the drama of the tall chancel arch, and the still greater drama of the use of alternate bands of white and pale brown stune. All the great Spanish and Italian precedents flood into the mind, and Butterfield's powerful remodelling of Rugby parish church in the same diocese and county. This brilliant use of structural polychromy is made more telling by the contrast with the flat plastered walls of the nave. Window reveals and decorative bands round their edges are of the same brown and white mixture. But in the chancel all is brown and white with rich arcading round the apse at the tower level (the same vertical and horizontal divisions are maintained as outside) and a singing polyphony above of solid alternatingwith void, the 'solid' being enriched on either side by the attachedcolonnetteof the window and in the middle by the more pronouncedvertical accent of an attached shaft which springs fronklinth level to window arch level and supports the wooden ribs of the roof. On the north side is an opening, with plate tracery above a two-lobed opening, into the north chapel or organ chamber.
Fixtures and fittings
Reredos
Fairly straightforward design, substantially made, of stone and marble and enriched with three moulded blank arches and a cornice.
Altar
Stone top on oak legs, gilded.
Stall
Short front and back stalls on either side. Elaborately moulded ends and panelled backs. Tne panelling of the front stalls is chamferedat the edges - characteristic of 'tough' 1860/70's design.
Lectern
Plain brass book rest, i.e. not the usual eagle, a standard Jones and Willis design.
Pew (object)
Simple and agreeable in design of the bench type with serpentine carved ends.
Font (object)
Of stone, with a four-lobed bowl enriched with a frieze round the waist - burgeoning into a large rosette on the west face. Supported by stubby pillars.
Pulpit
Wooden pulpit, three sides of an octagon. What is of special interest is the book-rest in full-blown Arts and Crafts manner but signed and dated 'C.j. Frost, Banbury, 1954'.
Rail
Simple roll-form brass Communion rail.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SP 325 404
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
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
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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