Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Pimhill, Shropshire

Description

BOMERE HEATH C.P. FITZ
SJ 41 NW
5/83 Church of Saint Peter
13.6.58 and Saint Paul

GV II*

Parish church. Circa 1722, restored 1878-9, at the expense of Mrs Carew
of Mytton Hall and Richard Middleton of Fitz Manor. Chancel rebuilt,
organ chamber and vestry added and interior remodelled in 1905 by Sir
Aston Webb, at the expense of Sir Offley Wakeman. Red brick with yellow/
grey sandstone ashlar dressings. Plain tile roofs. 3-bay nave with
2-bay south aisle and west tower, and 2-bay chancel with one-bay organ
chamber and vestry to south. 1905 work in a free early C18 style.
Tower: 3 stages. Plinth with moulded stone top, chamfered stone quoins,
stone floor bands, moulded stone cornice and parapet with stone coping,
ramped up to corners with tapered square ashlar obelisks. Louvred round-
arched belfry openings, each with curved Y-tracery and moulded architrave
with impost blocks and triple keystone. Round-arched west window to
second stage with curved Y-tracery and moulded architrave with impost
blocks and triple keystone. Louvred keyed oculi with moulded architraves,
high up in second stage to north and south. Round-arched west doorway
with pair of 6-panelled doors, and moulded architrave with impost blocks
and triple keystone. Round-arched doorways to north and south, each
with moulded architrave, impost blocks and triple keystone, that to north
with 5-panelled door (top glazed) and that to south has C18 door with
8 raised and fielded panels (top 4 glazed). Stone memorial tablet to
left of south door (illegible at the time of survey - January 1987).
Nave: red sandstone plinth with moulded grey sandstone top, chamfered
stone quoins, stone band above windows, moulded stone eaves cornice (breaking
forward over windows), and parapeted gable ends, C18 to left with shaped
stone kneelers and moulded stone cornice, and that to east rebuilt in
1905, with plain coping. Round-arched windows, each with moulded cill,
moulded architrave, impost mouldings and triple keystone, flush with band
above. West end with floor band of tower carried round, band above nave
window carried round and moulded cornice, broken forward over quoins.
Small round-arched window to north-west with moulded cill, moulded architrave,
impost mouldings and triple keystone. Small lean-to addition to south-
west has door with 6 raised and fielded panels (top 2 glazed). Chancel:
moulded ashlar plinth, raking ashlar buttresses with moulded plinths and
scrolled tops, flush stone cill and impost bands, parapet with flush stone
geometrical patterns and moulded stone coping, and parapeted gable end
to west with moulded stone coping and cross at apex. Round-arched windows,
paired in western bay to north, each with Gibbs surround, shaped apron,
and shaped keystones with moulded tops; 1905 glazing with circle-in-lattice
motif. East end: Venetian window with bracketed moulded cill, Tuscan
antae, frieze and moulded cornice, and central arch with Gibbs surround
including hollow moulding, shaped keystone and three-quarter Tuscan columns,
dying into wall at rear. Flush stone bands in apex of gable above and
hollow-chamfered keyed oculus. Cast-iron down pipes and cast-iron rain-
water heads, superscribed: "LAVS:DEO". South aisle and organ chamber/
vestry: 3 gables, vestry to right and 2-bay south aisle to left. Vestry
with flush stone quoins, raised stone eaves and parapeted gable with stone
coping. Round-arched doorway with small-paned half-glazed door, radial
fanlight, moulded architrave with blocked rustication (square jambs at
base of arch) and keystone. Right-hand return front with flush keyed
oculus and pair of old memorial tablets reset in wall, one to Sarah Anne
Withers (d. 1865) and one to William Withers (d.1814) and John Withers
(d.1811). South aisle to left; parapeted gables with stone coping and
shaped kneeler to left. Round-arched windows, each with moulded cill,
moulded architrave, impost mouldings and triple keystone. Circa 1905
door to right, with 2 panels (the upper one with shaped head) and hollow-
chamfered reveals with flush blocks. Blocked round-arched doorway to
left. Cast-iron downpipes from valley gutters. Interior: C18, remodelled
in 1905. Porch beneath tower: C18 door with 6 raised and fielded panels
to lobby of former south doorway (now cupboard). Nave: moulded cornice
with coving to central large recessed rectangular panel. Chancel: barrel-
vaulted ceiling; large shouldered moulded round chancel arch and transverse
arch, with triple keystones. Moulded cill string, carried over hollow-
chamfered organ-chamber arch to south as shouldered moulded architrave.
Windows with moulded imposts and keystone paired window to north divided
by central pilaster. East Venetian window with three-quarter Tuscan
columns, antae, pulvinated frieze and cornice. South aisle: 2 beaded
elliptical arches with moulded imposts to left and right; 2 transverse
elliptical-arched barrel vaults, supported by cast-iron column at division.
Fittings: mainly of 1905 by Sir Aston Webb, but with some reused earlier
items. C18 west gallery with attenuated cast-iron columns supporting
frieze and cornice, and front with raised and fielded panels and cornice,
and ramped up to dies at end end with raised and fielded panels. Central
painted royal coat of arms. Painted inscriptions, to frieze: "FEAR
GOD / HONOUR THY KING / LOVE AS BRETHREN" and to 4 panels: "REVERENCE /
MY / SANTCUARY", "THOU / SHALT WORSHIP / THE LORD THY / GOD", "AND / HIM
ONLY / SHALT THOU / SERVE", and "TAKE HEED / HOW / YE HEAR". Coving
beneath gallery with barrel vault to west door. Pews of 1905 with ends
carved by Waldegrave Brewster, rector from 1901, and wrought-iron candelabra.
Dado panelling, probably reused box pews; some raised and fielded panelling
at rear. Fine 5-bay chancel screen of 1905, by Webb, consisting of panelled
stone base, second and fifth bays projecting as pulpit and lectern with
crosses to front, round-arched oak arcade above with panelled pilasters,
moulded arches with pierced spandrels and keys (wider central arch with
pierced pendants), and frieze and cornice, breaking forward over second
and fifth bays, with painted inscription: "HAVING THEREFORE / BOLDNESS
TO ENTER / INTO THE HOLIEST BY THE BLOOD / OF JESUS LET US DRAW / NEAR
WITH A TRUE HEART". Section of C18 shaped-head raised and fielded panelling
to right of screen, probably reused from former C17 pulpit (see old photo-
graph in vestry). Panelled sanctuary, the upper panels with bolection
moulding. Small, projecting shaped stone table to right with single carved
scrolled bracket. Pair of free-standing wrought-iron candelabra. Plain
wooden altar rails with panelled dies and moulded rail. Choir stalls
with panelled backs, pierced sides and arcaded frontals with pilasters,
and panels below. Oak screens to organ chamber/vestry with tall turned
balusters. Octagonal stone font in eastern bay of aisle with step, stem
with moulded base, plain bowl with carved cross, and plain wooden cover
with carved cross, and plain wooden cover with central urn-shaped finial.
Probably late C19 wooden lectern consisting of tapered octagonal stem,
octagonal base, and reeded wedge-shaped top. Various pews in south aisle,
some with brass name-plates, and some reused panelling to south wall,
also with brass name plates (probably from former pews). Reset C12 carved
stone capital in south wall, now a piscina with square bowl. West door
of 1905 with 2-panels, the upper one with shaped head. Probably early
C19 Gothic octagonal stone font in porch, with panelled stem, moulded
bowl with fleurons, and plain oak cover with urn-shaped finial. Former
gas lamps in nave, now electric. Tiled floor to nave, 2 steps up to
chancel with black and white stone and marble floor, and 2 steps up to
sanctuary with marble floor. Stained glass: east window in a Holbein
Renaissance style by W.E. Tower in memory of Edward O.R. Wakeman (d.16
May 1915). Further glass in 2 windows of nave. Various C18 and early
C19 memorial tablets. Old photographs in vestry, showing church before
1905 alterations, with C18 apse and C18 fittings, including box pews and
pulpit. There has been a church on this site since the C12 (see reused
C12 capital). In 1721 a brief for £1,509 was issued for the building
of a new church at Fitz. The builders of the 1905 work were Messrs. Bridge-
man of Lichfield. This is a fine and well-detailed example of a C18
church, made more interesting by Sir Aston Webb's additions in a free
early C18 style. Aston Webb was the architect of Yeaton Peverey (q.v.),
Sir Offley Wakeman's house nearby, built in 1890-2. B.o.E., p. 131;
D.H.S. Cranage, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire,
Part 9, pp. 756-7; M.N. Ponsford, A History of the Parish Church of ST.
Peter and ST. Paul, Fitz (1972); Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire and
Shropshire (1900), pp. 95-6.

Listing NGR: SJ4487717840

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Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

A Grade II* Listed Building in Pimhill, Shropshire

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