Description

SK 93 SE ROPSLEY & HUMBY CHURCH LANE
20-9-66 Ropsley
5/61 Church of St. Peter

G.V. I

Parish Church: C11,C12, C13, C14, C15, C 16, C17; coursed limestone rubble
with ashlar dressings, lead and plain tiled roof. Western tower, nave,
2 aisles, chancel, south chapel and porch. An unbuttressed C13 tower in coursed
rubble with quoins, of 3 stages with moulded plinth and 2 string courses. It
has in its south east corner a small stair turret and plain doorway. The west
face has a C15 2 light window with a rectangular niche over which pierces the
string course. The 2nd stage has a small round headed window. In the 3rd
stage on all faces except the east are C13 double belfry lights with colonettes
and blank trefoils in the tympana. On the east face is a single opening above
the original steep pitch of the nave. The tower has a C14 broach spire with
3 tiers of lucarnes, the lower two in the compass directions, the top in the
diagonals. The spire has fine weather vane. To north west corner of the nave
long and short Anglo Saxon quoins are exposed. On the 4th stone up is a small
flaring arm rood. These quoins stand proud of the nave wall probably to act
as a stop for original external plaster. The north aisle has a lead roof.
There is a plinth on its north face and it has a plain moulded parapet. It
has 2 stepped buttresses and a larger east buttress containing the rood loft
stair. The north door is C15 with a square hood mould and is flanked to the
west by a C15 2 light window and to the east by a pair of C14 2 light windows.
The east aisle window is a C14 light with curvilinear tracery having hood mould
with human mask stops. The north clerestorey has a plain parapet with a lead
roof behind drained by 2 grotesque gargoyles. The 2 windows are C15 with 2 lights
under shallow 4 centre heads with hood moulds. At the north east corner of
the nave further Anglo Saxon quoins are exposed. The chancel is in dressed
rubble with a plain tiled roof having stone coped gable with cross fleury to
ridge. The north side has a C17 2 light cross mullioned window with ogee heads
under a square shallow hood mould. The east window is a similar one with
3 lights, set between clasping corner buttresses. The south side has 2 string
courses between which is found a C12 round headed single light. The south
chapel has a shallow lead roof behind a raised gable on the east side which is
lit by a C14 2 light window. On the south side a small C14 priests door is
flanked by to the east a small C15 altar window and to the west by a C16 3 light
window and a C15 single light. The north aisle has a splayed base and plain
moulded parapet concealing a lead roof which is drained by 2 gargoyles.
Stepped buttresses mark both ends. There are 2 large C15 3 light windows east
of the porch and a small niche or light to the west. The porch has a panellel
parapet with shields in quatrefoils and 3 pinnacles to the gables, the one at the
ridge containing a niche. The opening is set between angle buttresses and
has a hood mould with foiled circles in the spandrels. An inscription over
reads"Hac non vade via, nisi dicas Ave Maria" translated "go not away unless
you say an Ave Maria". The C15 south door has a niche over it and an
inscription recording the porch's construction in 1486. The south clerestorey
is as the north but with 4 windows under a continuous hood mould.
Interior; the 3 bay south arcade of C13 double chamfered arches has keeled
responds which would originally have been flanked by 2 smaller piers, and a
circular eastern pier and a replacement octagonal western pier on which an
inscription reads "ista columna facta fuit ad festum Sancta Michaelis Anno
Damini MCCCLXXX at nomen factoris Thomas Bate de Corby" translated "This
column was made for the feast of St. Michael in the year of our Lord 1380
and the name of the maker was Thomas Bate of Corby". The C12 3 bay north
arcade has circular piers, square abacii and nicked corners and heavily scalloped
capitals and round arches with one step, one chamfer and a half roll. In the
south aisle is a small piscina. In the north aisle are the rood loft stairs
which lead to the loft, via an unusual triangular arched bridge across the
aisle. The bridge is decorated with carved faces, 2 being very small.
Beside the east north aisle window is a tiny pointed niche for a relic.
The tower arch is a recut C13 opening, the chancel arch is C13 and matches the
south arcade. The nave roof is C15 and braced with human mask corbels. The
chancel has a C14 aumbry on its north wall and a C14 double niche or sedilia
on its south side. A tomb recess with C14 ogee decoration, damaged, shows
that the chancel was shortened in C17. The south chapel is early C13 with
one bay of triple responds and a double chamfered round arch. It has a C14
piscina and aumbry. Fittings: The C18 altar rails are fitted as a rail
to the chancel. The pews are C19 although some retain C15 poppy head bench
ends. The pulpit is C20. The octagonal font is C15 with shields in quatre-
foils. There is one monument in the south aisle under a recess, a C14 lady
with her head resting on 2 cushions beneath an ogee canopy on which are carved
further small figures, probably of her children. In the east window of the
north aisle are remnants of medieval glass and a small fragment of an
inscription "de Welby". An engraving by Fowler dated 1809 shows this window
before it was damaged and it is clear that it referred to Sir John Welby of 1376.
The porch was built by Bishop Richard Fox, founder of Corpus Christi College,
Oxford, who was born in Ropsley in 1447/8.
Sources: H.M. Taylor and Joan Taylor: Anglo Saxon Architecture
Treasure beyond Measure: Lincolnshire Churches Trust p.83.

Listing NGR: SK9926534220

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Peter's Church, Ropsley at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q15978813

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)