Description

ST52NE BABCARY CP CHURCH STREET (West side

3/6

Church of the Holy Cross
17.4.59

GV II*

Anglican parish church. Pre-conquest origins; fabric of C14, C15 with chancel and north aisle added in C19, latter by
Benjamin Ferrey in 1875-6. Local lias stone cut and squared, Doulting stone dressings: stone slate roofs between
stepped coped gables having cross finials. Three-cell plan of 2-bay chancel and 3-bay nave and north aisle, with west
tower and south porch. Chancel may incorporate early work (church described as having nave only in 1822): rough plinth,
no buttresses; 3-light early C15 style traceried east window under arched label with square stops; above a store block
with sundial, set on skew on iron bracket; on north side two 2-light windows, the east flat-arched with cinquefoil
cusped lights under square label with headstops, the west matches east window; on south side two 2-light early C15
style printed arched windows with square stop labels, and between them a small doorway with moulded 4-centre arches:
head under square stopped label. The C19 north aisle has a plinth, angled corner buttresses with moulded offsets:
2-light arched window matching the chancel window in the east wall, with plain stop label and external terrmenta
this could be a reset C15 window: the north wall has a shallow coping over eaves moulding with gargoyles; the centre
bay has a 3-light and the others 2-light windows with C16 style tracery of ogees and quatrefoils to flat arched lights
with deep square labels to foliated stops: no west window to aisle. Nave has chamfered plinth, bay buttresses with
moulded offsets; in south wall the eastern window is 3-light possibly C15, with ogee traceried flat arched window in
hollowed recess under square label with animal stops; western window is a C19 version of the chancel windows of
2-light: between these the south porch, which has angled corner buttresses, moulded pointed outer arch and plain
chamfered inner arch; the roof probably C15, an archbraced collar truss of 2 bays with moulded main members and various
timber bosses; bench seats, a small open cusped lancet in east wall, and early C20 gate with traceried panels. Tower
could be C14: 3 stages, with plinth, string courses, with gargoyles to top string, shallow battlemented parapet; angled
corner buttresses 2 stages high; square plan north-east stair turret with 3 slit windows and two double quatrefoil
pierced panels: on west face low moulded pointed arched doorway with arched label, and above a 3-light C15 traceried
window in slightly hollowed recess under arched label extended as side string; the other sides plain on first stage
second stage has small 4-centre arched 2-light window in south side only: stage 3 has similar 2-light windows each
face, with wood louvres, and with a small doorway of unknown purpose on south face. Interior largely C19 in character:
chance1 austere, with C19 arch braced collar truss roof; early C14 tall pointed arched piscina with stone shelf
chancel arch nearly 4-centred, with small centre shaft columns and turned caps; door to former rood loft in north wall.
Nave arcade C19, with bell-cap stilted segmental arches, C19 roof; tall moulded pointed tower arch with stiff-leaf
foliage capitals to full-length shafts; north aisle unplastered. Fittings include octagonal panelled wood pulpit dated
1632; font probably C14, octagonal with quatrefoil panelled faces, traceried underbowl and rather slim traceried
octagonal shalt on C19 base. First recorded rector 1319: Parson Woodforde, diarist, was curate here from January 1764
to October 1765. (Pevsner, Buildings of England, South and West Somerset, 1958; C and J Greenwood, Somerset Delineated,
1822).

Listing NGR: ST5614828774

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of the Holy Cross at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17554613

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

• 
  ENGLAND GUIDE TO POST WAR LISTED: A Guide to Post-war Listed Buildings
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)