Description

SO 91 SE ELKSTONE ELKSTONE VILLAGE

3/115 Church of St. John the
Evangelist
26.11.58

GV I

Parish church. C12, partly rebuilt C13; C13 porch and C15 tower.
Random rubble and ashlar limestone; stone slate roof. Nave
without aisles; west tower, south porch, and chancel with former
columbarium over. South doorway has carved lintel with canted top
as tympanum over doorway with shouldered arch; inner arch of
beakhead ornament and outer of chevrons; billeted hoodmould;
tympanum depicts Christ in Majesty with the hand of God above,
surrounded with the emblems of the Evangelists and the Agnus Dei;
2 orders of supporting columns, the outer with scalloped capitals
and the inner with carved grotesque heads. Parapet gable with
simple pointed porch arch and hollow saddle stone above; small
trefoil-headed side windows and stone seats internally; banded
plank south door with C15 closing ring. Corbel tables with set of
carved animal heads to north and south nave walls. In south wall
2-light C15 ogee-headed window to right of porch with some masonry
showing Norman chevron decoration; 2 offset buttresses at south
east corner, 1 linked to corbel table. Blocked north doorway with
canted top opposite south with window matching 2-light in south to
left; right 2-light with rectilinear tracery head; offset
buttress at north east corner. Small round-headed east chancel
window with crenellation ornament and pellet moulded border within;
billeted string course indicates original eaves line; plain lancet
in parapet gable above; clasping corner buttresses; offset
buttress below east window added in 1824. Central offset buttress
to south chancel wall with lancet either side; one stone has
intersecting arcade decoration; central flat buttress on north
wall with fragment of corbel table attached lining through with
eaves line on east wall; C15 2-light to left; very small window
with round head to right, and beyond at junction with nave
projecting rectangular stair turret with 2 small laricets and hipped
roof. Large C15 3-stage tower with diagonal offset buttresses;
continuous moulded plinth broken by west door with 4-centred arched
head, moulded with hood and square carved labels; image niche
mounted on sill of 4-light west window which lids rectilinear
tracery and carved angel stops to hood bearing heraldic shields;
offset to each buttress in 2nd stage has carved figure, 2 bearing
musical instruments: a citole and a shawm; cinquefoil-headed
window to west and south faces of ringing chamber; stair turret on
south side is rectangular, has 2 small trefoil-headed windows, and
reduces in size after ringing chamber; 4-light Tudor-arched belfry
openings with stone louvres and lozenge laurels to hood;
crenellated parapet with diagonal animal gargoyles linked by
moulding below.
Interior is plastered and limewashed; inner openings to north and
south doors are round-headed, that to north having area of
uncovered medieval painting adjacent; C15 4-bay collar truss nave
roof with cusped collars and arched bracing; principal rafters
supported on horizontal projecting wall beams bearing carved
shields on ends; 2 rows of moulded purlins and 3 rows of cusped
arched windbracing; iron tie rods added; tall composite moulded
tower arch and piers; lierne vaulted below tower; 4-centred
arched doorway to tower stairs; medieval coffin lid stands against
west wall. West arch to former tower has chevron mouldings and
pelleted hood mould terminated by animal heads; scalloped capitals
to columns on west side of piers; cross vault below former tower;
shouldered arch to doorway of columbarium stairs in north wall.
Three-dimensional chevron arch to chancel with crenellation
ornament to hood; hollow mouldings to respond faces; roll moulded
cross-vault to chancel with central carved boss of 4 grotesque
masks and belt; chevron arch with paterae to deeply splayed east
window. South chancel window has single piscina bowl in sill;
trefoil-headed credence-table in east reveal. C17 woodwork
incorporated into communion rail. Hexagonal carved pulpit dated
1609, crudely cut off and mounted on octagonal moulded stone base
with pierced trefoil ornament. Reading desk mounted on front of
box pews made from pulpit tester, dated 1604. Box pews appear
C18, but may date from 1850 restoration. Large memorial on south
nave wall to Thomas Horton of Combend Manor, died 1687: black
marble inscription panel has stone bolection moulded surround;
pulvinated frieze to segmental pediment over with oval marble panel
in tympanum with Baroque surround; central death's head below with
swags. C19 memorials on north wall. Stained glass is mainly
C20. Columbarium has pigeon holes in north and east walls and is
reached by stone spiral stairs. Church formerly had central
tower, but this was removed in C13 when second cross-vaulted bay
with columbarium over was built in its place. (N. M. Herbert,
'Elkstone' in V.C.H. Glos. vii, 1981, pp. 210-218; F. W. Potto
Hicks, Description of Elkstone Church, 1982; and D. Verey,
Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds, 1979.)

Listing NGR: SO9671012296

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St John the Evangelist at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17540266

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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