Description

731/8/10 MAIN STREET
11-OCT-49 NEWBOLD ON AVON
(South side)
Church of St Botolph

(Formerly listed as:
MAIN STREET
NEWBOLD ON AVON
Church of Saint Botolph)

I
Mainly C15, chancel rebuilt in the C19 (architect unknown). Tower base possibly C12.

MATERIALS: Sandstone ashlar with some mixed rubble. Slate roofs.

PLAN: West tower. Four-bay nave with clerestory, lean-to aisles, two-bay chancel.

EXTERIOR: The west tower of pinkish sandstone is not tall, thought of four stages. The lower two stages have heavy clasping buttresses, usually a sign of the C12 or early C13. It must have been refaced during heightening in the Perp style, with diagonal buttresses rising from the tops of the clasping ones. The west window has three cinquefoil lights, hoodmould and mask stops. The bell stage has a single louvred opening on each face, of two cusped lights. Embattled parapet. Perp north and south aisles have three-light windows under four-centred heads. Much of the tracery throughout the church has been renewed in the C19 or later. The north porch is C15, perhaps coeval with the doors (c. 1455). The porch has a low-pitched gable, diagonal buttresses with cusped gables, and paired niches with elaborate vaulted canopies flanking the outer arch. No figures survive. Clerestory with three light windows and embattled parapet. On the south side, a yet more imposing Perp porch, intended for the congregation from Long Lawford, across the river to the south. Side-facing buttresses, renewed pinnacles. It has a raised centre to the gable, with an C18 Gothick statuary niche. The Victorian chancel is of finer buff-coloured ashlar, with solid parapets and more delicate two-light Perp windows under two-centred arches.

INTERIOR: The interior is high and spacious, with plastered walls except in the south aisle. The tall arcade piers have lozenge-shaped bases, rising to circular attached shafts at the cardinal points, and polygonal shafts between. Only the circular shafts have capitals. The arcades are double chamfered, as is the chancel arch. Continuous hoodmoulds run around the arcade arches, and wall shafts rise to corbels supporting the roof trusses. All the roofs were replaced in the 19th century. The north aisle chapel has a piscina. South of the chancel arch are doors to the rood stairs. The south porch now serves as a vestry. It has a C15 stone rib vault with traces of original gilding.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: North doors, c. 1455, with vertical panelling and the three churchwardens' names carved on the outer face. The communion table is C17, with turned communion rails perhaps c. 1680-1710. Oak pulpit dated 1909, with linenfold panels. At the east end of the south aisle is a sunken area with early C14 encaustic floor tiles. Octagonal Perp font with panelled stem and sides. The pews are of oak, fairly simple, probably early- to mid-C20. In the south aisle east, a low table tomb to Galfridus Allisley, d. 1441, with arcaded sides and on the top, inscribed figures of Allisley and his wife. In an arched recess nearby, a finely preserved slab to Thomas Boughton, d. 1454, depicted in armour. Around the Allisley monument, two early Renaissance Boughton monuments: a two-tier design to Edward Boughton, d. 1548, and his family. Stiffly posed Mannerist figures; classical pilasters, those in the lower tier arranged asymmetrically. Facing it, that of Edward Boughton d. 1625, with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, the two facing couples kneeling at prayer desks. In the chancel, Sir Egerton Leigh, d. 1818; an obelisk in front of which a female figure points to heaven while nursing the dying man. John Ward-Boughton-Leigh, d. 1868. Gothic frame with an angel and a mourning wife. Opposite, a very big Baroque standing monument to Sir William and Lady Boughton, 1716, signed by John Hunt of Northampton, a pupil of Grinling Gibbons. His most important work, with life-sized standing figures, an urn between them, and rather stiff drapery above. The frame has fluted Composite pilasters supporting a swan-neck pediment with an achievement of arms. Organ of c. 1800 installed in 1858 from Rugby School chapel; moved to the tower arch, 1978. Above and behind it is a wrought-iron screen c. 1716, formerly around the Boughton monument. Over the chancel arch, Royal arms of 1796. Unsigned stained glass, mainly late Victorian and Edwardian.

HISTORY: The church has been restored several times: the architects remain unidentified. New pews were installed in 1820, the chancel rebuilt reportedly in the 19th century, and what must have been a major restoration took place in 1908-9 (reopened on July 30, 1909). This work included fitting screens around the Boughton monuments, and removal of a west gallery.

SOURCES:
Pevsner, N and Wedgwood, Buildings of England, Warwickshire (1966) 360-1
Country Life, May 28, 1943 (Boughton monuments)
Warwickshire Record Office, St Botolph faculties DR0323

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The Church of St Botolph, Main Street, Newbold-on-Avon, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons:
* A spacious parish church of local pink sandstone, rebuilt and enlarged mainly in the C15
* Simple Perpendicular west tower, its base possibly of the C12 or C13
* Imposing C15 porches with vaulting (south), doors of 1455 and image niches (north)
* Splendid series of Boughton monuments (from 1454 to the late C19); especially a knight of 1454, and a Baroque standing monument of 1716
* C14 encaustic tile floor preserved in part of the south aisle

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Botolph, Newbold-on-Avon at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17528258

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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