Austrey
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The church of St. Nicholas has been the focus of worship, and of village life for at least seven hundred and fifty years and perhaps more. The village of Austrey has the good fortune to have, at its centre, a building, which is not only very old but is exceptional within the county as being all of a piece since the 14th century.
The church consists of a chancel and nave, with north and south aisles, a south porch and a west tower with a spire.
The earliest part of the church is the west tower with its broach spire which dates from the thirteenth century. The rest of the church was rebuilt and enlarged about 1330. In 1844 new stonework was used to reface the exterior of the chancel and the windows in the chancel were renewed in the style of the fourteenth century. There was an early west porch but the present one dates from 1844. The modern roof is composed of four bays and there is a clear storey with a bay over each window. In recent years major restoration has been carried out. The spire was restored in 1995 and restoration on the tower finished in June 2002. Both projects have been successful due to large grants from English Heritage and the generosity of local people.
More detailed historical information can be found by clicking here [All information courtesy of Alan Roberts].
There are several indications of the Early English style of architecture of the 14th century in the church, such as the four half-round filleted shafts of the roof piers. The broach spire, pointed arches and moulded column capitals confirm the style along with the distinctive plan of the church.
In the east face of the tower marks of the 13th century gabled roof can be seen and at the base of one of the old roof copings is a carved human head.
Remains of a 14th century piscina can be seen in the south wall of the chancel. This is a small basin with a drain used in the past for washing the sacred vessels. Alongside this are 3 sedilia, or seats for the clergy.
Other historical features of the church include 14th century glass in the south east window of the south aisle, above and around the setting of S:WILEM:EBOR. A representation of a person would normally be found here but is missing. Also in the church there is a 16th century oak chest with fleur-de-lis straps, and the 7’ long stone coffin beside the organ dates from the 13th century.
There are five bells in the tower. Four were made by Hugh Watts II at Leicester in 1632 during the reign of Charles I. The fifth bell was recast in 1770.
?1155 Hugh, son of Ricard of Hatton, gave the church of Austrey to the Priory of St. Mary of Monmouth, but it reverted to his heirs.
1252 Margery, great granddaughter of Hugh, granted the advowson (the right of donation of the living) of the church at Austrey to Thomas de Clinton in exchange for the church of Melcombe in Dorset.
c1270 Thomas de Clinton gave the church to his son Osbert.
1271 Osbert gave the chuch to the abbey of Burton.
1322 Church taken into the possession of the abbey until the dissolution of 1537.
1540 Henry VIII leased the rectory of Austrey to George Clifford.
1546 Advowson included in the grant of the manor to Sir William Paget.
c1570 Advowson in the hands of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester.
1579 Dudley gave the church to Queen Elizabeth in part exchange for land in Denbigh, and the living then remained with the crown.
The web site http://www.british-history.ac.uk gives the following narrative:
CHURCH
The parish church of ST. NICHOLAS consists of a chancel, nave, north and south
aisles, south porch, and west tower with a spire.
The tower dates from the 13th century. The remainder was rebuilt and enlarged c.
1330 and is a good example of the best architecture of this period, graceful and
well proportioned and with typical mouldings but few carvings. In 1844 the
chancel was refaced externally with new stonework and the windows restored. The
south porch is of that date, but there was an earlier porch.
The chancel (about 35½ ft. by 19½ ft.) has modern windows, presumably
restorations or copies of the original 14th-century windows. The east window is
of four cinque-foiled lights and tracery in a two-centred head. Each side-wall
has two windows each of two trefoiled lights and a quatrefoiled circle in a
pointed head; the splays are cemented. The priests' south doorway between the
windows may be ancient; it has jambs and a pointed head moulded with a round
between hollows, and a chamfered segmental-pointed rear-arch. The walling inside
is faced with grey and pink sandstone rough ashlar, but at the tops of the
side-walls are several courses of modern bricks. The modern external facing of
walls and buttresses is smooth cream-tinted ashlar. The plinth is moulded and
the lowest two or three courses above it are badly perished in all three walls
as compared with the upper masonry although of the same material. The roof is
modern, in three bays with arched trusses and panelled soffits up to the ridge.
Plan of Austrey Church.
In the south wall are the remains of an original piscina and three sedilia. The
piscina has a plain chamfered ogee-head and round basin. The sedilia now have a
single segmental arch and are in one recess with remains of half wall-shafts at
the back. The heads originally had projecting ornately carved facing stones.
Three of these were found buried in the walling during a restoration, and are
now lying loose in the nave. They show that the sedilia had cinquefoiled ogee
heads under a square main head, all projecting about 10 in. from the main
wall-face; the faces and projecting sides are treated with tracery panels. A
fourth piece is probably half the head of the piscina and is similarly treated.
The nave (about 56½ ft. by 19½ ft.) has lofty north and south arcades of four 14
ft. bays. They and the chancel-arch are all of one date (c. 1330) and design.
The piers are clusters of four half-round filleted shafts with smaller rolls
between them, and the responds of the arcades and chancel arch are similar. They
have moulded bases and bell-capitals. The two-centred arches are of two
sunk-chamfered orders with hood-moulds towards the nave; all of a white stone.
(fn. 35)
The clearstory has a window over each bay, of two pointed trefoiled lights and a
quatrefoiled spandrel in a two-centred head with a concentric rear-arch. The
walls are of ashlar; the gable-ends have old copings, and the kneelers at their
bases are carved with human-head corbels.
The roof is of four bays with arched trusses, all modern and covered with
slates. On the east face of the tower are the marks of the gabled roof of the
former 13th-century nave rising from the level of the base of the clearstory. It
also appears in the north aisle, and presumably the original nave was wider than
the present one.
The north aisle (10¼ ft. wide) has an east window of three trefoiled ogee-headed
lights and modern foiled intersecting tracery in a two-centred head with an
external hood-mould having return stops. The jambs are wave-moulded and the
splays of ashlar. In the north wall are three windows, each of three trefoiled
pointed lights under a two-centred head with an external hood-mould. Some of the
jamb-stones outside are scratched with masons' marks, crosses, arrows, &c.
The north doorway in the third bay has moulded jambs and pointed head; it is now
blocked. The west window, probably of two lights, has lost its mullion, &c., and
is walled up inside with 18th-century masonry. The walls inside and out are
faced with cream-tinted ashlar and have plinths like that of the chancel. At the
angles are square buttresses and the north buttresses divide the wall into four
bays; all have gabled heads.
The south aisle is a replica of the other, except that the doorway is a little
more elaborately moulded. On the masonry are many masons' marks and at least
four scratched medievalsun-dials. The west window is walled up inside with
modern masonry. In the south wall is a piscina with moulded jambs and trefoiled
ogee-head.
The lean-to roofs of both aisles are modern.
The south porch is modern, but on the aisle-wall are marks made by the higher
roof of a former porch.
The west tower (10½ ft. square) of about mid-13th-century date is built of small
square grey stones in courses; it has a plinth with a projecting top course
above two splays. At the top is a corbel-table of heads and masks with trefoiled
arches between them. At the angles are massive square buttresses of four stages
reaching nearly to the corbel-table and having gabled heads. On the north side
are two additional modern lower buttresses.
The lanceolate archway towards the nave is of three chamfered orders; the two
outer of grey-white tooled stones are original and die on the square jambs, the
innermost, of darker and smooth stones, was inserted in the 14th century and is
carried on corbel caps, the northern carved as a man's head, the southern now
cut square. The archway is now closed by a thin modern wall and the lowest story
is used as a vestry, another wall closing off the lobby and stair inside the
west doorway. The doorway, of the 14th century, has wave-moulded jambs and
pointed head of two orders with an external hood-mould. Above it are traces of a
former window. The lancet window in the south wall appears to be a modern
insertion.
The second story sets back a little in each face. It has a small restored lancet
in the west wall and a south window of two trefoiled lights and a quatrefoiled
circle in a two-centred head. In the south half of the east wall below the
markings of the 13th-century naveroof is a blocked round-headed doorway or
hatch. It is too high for a gallery and was perhaps put in to give a view of the
high altar from the ringing chamber.
The bell-chamber has a similar two-light window in each wall. There is a crack
up the middle of the west wall. The broach-spire is of ashlar; at the apices of
the broaches are carved bosses. The spire has two ranges of four gabled windows,
each of two trefoiled lights and a quatrefoiled spandrel in a two-centred head.
There is a little 14th-century glass in the south-east window of the south side.
(fn. 36) The head of the middle light has richly coloured tabernacle work,
yellow with green in the middle tracery, blue in the side tracery, and red
background to the pinnacles above. At the bottom of this setting are the
Lombardic capitals S: WILELM: EBOR but no figure. In the top foil is a red
shield charged with emblems of the Passion in green, white, blue, and yellow.
The whole has a border of heraldic leopards' heads alternating with plain red
and blue squares. The trefoiled heads of the side lights have borders of running
vine with yellow stems, green leaves, and red background. They are filled in
with quarries having a scroll tendril pattern and small yellow flowers. In the
small spandrel piercings are yellow foliage patterns in plain borders.
The font has an octagonal bowl, plain stem and base. It may be of the 15th
century, but looks modern. There is a 5-ft. framed oak chest of the late 16th
century with fleur-de-lis straps. In it are copies of Foxe's Book of Martyrs,
with a ring for chaining, and Jewel's Apology; also churchwardens' accounts from
1708, and overseers' accounts from 1755. (fn. 37) In the nave stands a
13th-century stone coffin 7 ft. long.
There are five bells; the third of 1770 by Thomas Rudhall, the other four of
1632 by Hugh Watts of Leicester.
The communion plate includes a cup and paten, silver gilt, of 1706.
The registers date from 1558, the first volume continuing to 1760 baptisms, 1753
marriages, and 1768 burials.